SOUTH ASIA INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED CHRISTIAN STUDIES

Assignment 4
“Obey God to keep safe from the bad influence of surroundings.”

Submitted to
Dr. Andrew B. Spurgeon

In partial fulfilment of the requirements of the course

English Exegesis: Judges

Deadline for submission: August 19, 2021 Date of submission: August 2, 2021
Expected word count: 1000 words Actual word count: 1157 words

John Murthy
Registration #1913
Israel did not drive the localities away and disobeyed God
Israel disobeyed God. They did not completely execute His plan. Though God’s plans for us
are perfect and prosperous, we should play our part to own the blessings. God planned
everything to give Israel the promised land, the angel of God said, “I brought you up out of
Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break
my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but
you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. …” (Judges 2:1b,2). God’s
plan was very clear and simple for Israel to take control of the promised land, but when we
look into history it was and is, always, streams of red blood following in this process. This
made me think of the reasons for which this process had become complex. Israel disobeyed
God’s instructions and made their decision against the plan. This disobedience and unplanned
unholy relations with the natives led them into serious troubles.

There is a great influence of Canaanites’ practices and beliefs on the Israel religion.1 This is
one of the main principles of the covenant Israel made with God. It was very clearly said,
“and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down
their altars. …” (Judges 2:2). Israel failed to keep up this covenant. Lewis Bayles Paton says
that some attributes of Canaanites’ gods are transferred to the God of Israel, YHWH.2 One
example from the book of Judges is, “When you, Lord, went out from Seir when you
marched from the land of Edom, the earth shook, the heavens poured, the clouds poured
down water. The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai, before the Lord, the
God of Israel.” (Judges 5:4-5). In the above-mentioned verses, we see a striking resemblance
between Hadad (the storm god) and theophanies of YHWH.3

Our God is jealous God. God of Israel doesn’t want them to have any godly figure before
Him (Exodus 20:2-3). He can’t tolerate them putting someone in a higher or equal rank with
Him. They kept doing evil in the eyes of the Lord (Judges 3:7, 3:12, 4:1, 8:33, etc.),
worshipped other gods. This mixing of religious practices with the natives has highly
influenced the worship methods of Israel.

1
Lewis Bayles Paton, “Canaanite Influence on the Religion of Israel,” The American Journal of Theology 18,
no. 2 (1914): 210.
2
Lewis Bayles Paton, “Canaanite Influence on the Religion of Israel,” The American Journal of Theology 18,
no. 2 (1914): 210.
3
Lewis Bayles Paton, “Canaanite Influence on the Religion of Israel,” The American Journal of Theology 18,
no. 2 (1914): 210.
C. F. Graesser mentioned cultic stones in his article “Standing Stones in Ancient Palestine.”.4
Cultic stone is an exact spot where cultic intercourse between deity and worshipper takes
place. This is an essential part of a high-place setting and it is called massebha (standing
stone).5 Israel is often found to offer sacrifice on these high places (standing stones, rock,
messebha). There are several instances in Old Testament. Gideon offered sacrifice to the
angel of the Lord (Judges 6:20) and Manoah offered sacrifice to the Lord (Judges 13:19).
These are two instances from the book of Judges. This practice was later discarded
concerning God’s instructions noted in Leviticus 26:1, Deuteronomy 7:5, Exodus 23:24.6

Hindu religious influence on Indian Christians

Hindu religion has its root in Vedas and has completely transformed into ‘recent’ Hinduism
due to ‘syncretic mixture’ with composite Harappan and Indo-Aryan civilization and
cultures.7 This, ‘recent’ Hinduism, is indeed highly influenced by ideas and practices found in
Vedas. Vedas are the Pramana (Authority) for Hindus, and similarly, Buddhists and Jains
have their scriptures as Pramana.8 These Indian religions, especially Hinduism, have a high
degree of influence on Christianity in India. Bible occupied the holy place of Vedas or
Bhagwat Geeta or other religious scriptures. Hindu practices are integrated into Christian
worship and some symbols are used as embodiments of the power of Christ.9 A few of them
are, cross symbols painted on the doors and room walls, cross-tied to wrists and to a
necklace, prayer oil to heal diseases, Bible replacing the earthen pots carried in marriage
processions and funeral processions.10 Religious identities, authority, and borders of Indian
Christianity are not rigid but often subject to negotiation and fluidity.11 Dayanand Bharati in
his book Living Water and Indian Bowl said, “Contextualization is not compromising, nor
conforming to the image of the world, but rather allowing the gospel to become incarnate in
the existing culture in faithfulness to the Bible.”.12 God clearly stated not to make any
covenant with local people or accept their religious practices (Exodus 20:5, 34:14).
4
Carl F. Graesser, “Standing Stones in Ancient Palestine,” The Biblical Archaeologist 35, no. 2 (May 1972): 44,
https://doi.org/10.2307/3211046.
5
Paton, “Canaanite Influence on the Religion of Israel,” 216.
6
Paton, “Canaanite Influence on the Religion of Israel,” 217.
7
Ashok Mishra, Hinduism - Ritual, Reason and Beyond (StoryMirror Infotech Pvt Ltd, 2019), 19–20.
8
Eṃ St̲tī̲ phan, A Christian Theology in the Indian Context (ISPCK, 2001), 110.
9
John B. Carman and Chilkuri Vasantha Rao, Christians in South Indian Villages, 1959-2009: Decline and Revival
in Telangana (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014), 140.
10
Carman and Rao, 140.
11
Selva J. Raj and Corinne G. Dempsey, Popular Christianity in India: Riting between the Lines (SUNY Press,
2012), 2.
12
Dayanand Bharati, Living Water and Indian Bowl: An Analysis of Christian Failings in Communicating Christ to
Hindus, with Suggestions Towards Improvements (William Carey Library, 2004), 76.
Therefore, we should understand the fine difference between contextualizing the Gospel and
incorporating the wrong theology of natives into Christianity.

We should keep God’s instructions in mind, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For
what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have
with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a
believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of
God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. …” (II Corinthians 6:14-16). As long
as we obey His instructions, we remain safe in His hands.

Conclusion
It is always important to keep us safe from wrong influence in this world and remain faithful
to the Word of God. Israel kept repeating the same mistake in the book of Judges. They did
not obey God’s word in driving away from the natives after capturing the promised land. As
those natives kept drawing Israelites’ attention from God to otherworldly things, Christians in
India are also prone to the same risk. Indian Christians should not let the religious practices
of natives influence their Christian way of life. Giving priority to God and His instructions
will help us in executing the perfect plan God has for each one of us.

Very good, John Murthy

Bibliography
Bharati, Dayanand. Living Water and Indian Bowl: An Analysis of Christian Failings in
Communicating Christ to Hindus, with Suggestions Towards Improvements. William
Carey Library, 2004.
Carman, John B., and Chilkuri Vasantha Rao. Christians in South Indian Villages, 1959-
2009: Decline and Revival in Telangana. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014.
Graesser, Carl F. “Standing Stones in Ancient Palestine.” The Biblical Archaeologist 35, no.
2 (May 1972): 34–63. https://doi.org/10.2307/3211046.
Mishra, Ashok. Hinduism - Ritual, Reason and Beyond. StoryMirror Infotech Pvt Ltd, 2019.
Paton, Lewis Bayles. “Canaanite Influence on the Religion of Israel.” The American Journal
of Theology 18, no. 2 (1914): 205–24.
Raj, Selva J., and Corinne G. Dempsey. Popular Christianity in India: Riting between the
Lines. SUNY Press, 2012.
St̲ t̲ īphan, Eṃ. A Christian Theology in the Indian Context. ISPCK, 2001.
ACADEMIC HONESTY DECLARATION
I declare that this assignment is my own unaided work. I have not copied it from any person,
article, book, website, or other form of storage. Every idea or phrase that is not my own has
been duly acknowledged.
John Murthy
Date: July, 26, 2021