Example 1
The context of this account is
that Joy Dawson's son, John, has joined YWAM, and while working at
one base has noticed one of the girls there. There came a time when
John asked his parents to pray about the relationship, which all
other things being equal I would have considered a wise thing for him
to do. But the questionable part is what Joy Dawson writes about the
supposed confirmation.
“It was several weeks before we
were able to contact John again. When we did, I said to him, “You’ll
need to fasten your seat belt while I tell you how and what God spoke
to me.” I shared that I had simply asked God, “Is John to pursue
Julie in a serious friendship?” God spoke into my mind, “Turn to
Second Kings, chapter fourteen.” I hadn’t a clue what was in that
chapter until I looked it up and found verse nine, “Give your
daughter to my son for a wife.” Wow! I could hardly believe my
eyes.” Forever Ruined for the Ordinary (Kindle Locations 301-305,
section 2)
Here is the context of that
phrase.
II Kings 14
In the second year of Joash the
son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of
Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's
name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 3 And he did what was right in the
eyes of the LORD, yet not like David his father. He did in all things
as Joash his father had done. 4 But the high places were not removed;
the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.
5And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he struck
down his servants who had struck down the king his father. 6 But he
did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what
is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded,
“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor
shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one
shall die for his own sin.”
7 He struck down ten thousand
Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm, and called it
Joktheel, which is its name to this day.
8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to
Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying,
“Come, let us look one another in the face.” 9 And Jehoash king
of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, “A thistle on Lebanon
sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son
for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled
down the thistle. 10 You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart
has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for
why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with
you?”
11 But Amaziah would not listen.
So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah
faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
12 And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home.
13 And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son
of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem
and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, from
the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 14 And he seized all the gold
and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the
LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he
returned to Samaria.
15 Now the rest of the acts of
Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah
king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of
the Kings of Israel? 16 And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was
buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son
reigned in his place.
17 Amaziah the son of Joash, king
of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of
Jehoahaz, king of Israel. 18 Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah,
are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of
Judah? 19 And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he
fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to
death there. 20 And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in
Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21 And all the
people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him
king instead of his father Amaziah. 22 He built Elath and restored it
to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.
This account is about Amaziah, a
man who appears to have been a decent king of Judah, but who let some
success on the battlefield get to his head. After soundly defeating
the Edomites, He challenged the King of Israel, Jehoash, to battle,
and got the reply in the form of a small story, which is where we
find the phrase Dawson singles out.
“A thistle on Lebanon sent to a
cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a
wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the
thistle. 10 You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart has
lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why
should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”
So, Jehoash compares Amaziah's
challenge to be like a thistle giving orders to a cedar tree, trying
to tell it what to do, in this case give the thistle a daughter to
marry. But the thistle is a weak plant, and a beast can come along
and stomp it down. Jehoash is essentially mocking Amaziah, telling
him that he's weak and in no position to order Jehoash to do
anything. And when it finally does come to battle, Jehoash backs up
his boast and defeats Amaziah.
Joy Dawson's use of this phrase
is atrociously bad. She ignores the passage as a whole, ignores the
immediate context of Jehoash's reply, and even ignores the small
story in which the phrase was given. Why, for example, did she stop
with that one phrase, and ignore both parts of the rest of the story;
the first part about a thistle giving orders to a cedar tree, and the
last part about a wild beast coming along and trampling down the
thistle?
Not only does Dawson's guidance
depend upon only one phrase, but it's a phrase that is so badly taken
out of context that her interpretation of it, and the advice she
gives her son based on it, are essentially the opposite of what the
context shows the phrase to be about.
Context is important, especially
when it comes to interpreting and understanding the Bible. To take a
phrase out of context, and to insist that God is giving you a message
from that out-of-context phrase, is a bad idea of immense
proportions.
God was not the one who gave told
Joy Dawson to turn to II Kings 14. He was not the one who pointed out
this completely out of context phrase to her. This passage was never
intended as any form of marital advice.
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