Judges 19-21, with is story of the Israelite civil war against the tribe of Benjamin, is a fitting conclusion to the book of Judges. Judges began with promise, as Israel sought to complete the conquest of Canaan by completely driving out all the inhabitants of the land. But they failed to do so, and as a result, they were handed over time and again to their enemies around them, that they left there. The middle section of Judges describes the slow downgrading of the Israelites, as they fail to comprehend God's leadership through the Judges and continue to return to the false gods around them.
The theme for the events in Judges 17-21 is that everyone did what was right in their own eyes because they had no king. In Judges 19-21, this plays out through a Levite whose concubine is killed by men in Gibeah (in Benjamin). The Levite rallies Israel around this disgrace and they exact revenge. But in doing so, they leave Benjamin with no way of existing into the future, a problem they solve through deceit. The book ends with this statement: "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
The only way through this is to know what the book of Judges foreshadows: we have a king, Jesus, whom we must submit to and serve.
The theme for the events in Judges 17-21 is that everyone did what was right in their own eyes because they had no king. In Judges 19-21, this plays out through a Levite whose concubine is killed by men in Gibeah (in Benjamin). The Levite rallies Israel around this disgrace and they exact revenge. But in doing so, they leave Benjamin with no way of existing into the future, a problem they solve through deceit. The book ends with this statement: "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
The only way through this is to know what the book of Judges foreshadows: we have a king, Jesus, whom we must submit to and serve.
| 20120812_disintegration_and_re-integration.mp3 |
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