Day #96

Sermon - Audio
Judges 19-21 - Audio
Judges 19-21 - Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

The closing chapters of the book of Judges describe the spiritual wasteland that Israel had become. These chapters describe a morally unthinkable event happening in Israel that can only be compared to the wickedness of Sodom in Genesis 19. When faith in God disintegrated the unity of Israel was broken too. They could have taken complete possession of the land if they had obeyed God. But when they forgot the Lord, they all did what was right in their own eyes.


19.1-19 This painful event represents the spiritual low point of the book of Judges. Notice how eerily similar the experience of the Levite is with Lot's experience with the men of Sodom in Genesis 19. A concubine was an accepted part of Israelite society, but clearly not pleasing to the Lord. They had many of the responsibilities of a wife, but with few of the privileges. The incident is even more painful because the uncaring Levite actually surrenders his concubine to save his own skin. It makes all of us ask ourselves if we have sacrificed the health and stability of our families for our own selfish and self-centered reasons. If so, we are the ones that should accept the consequences of our own behavior. The Levite blamed the Benjamites and did not recognize his responsibility in the turn of events. If certain behaviors or some other problem is harming our loved ones, we need to be looking at our responsibility for the problem. When we come out of denial and accept responsibly we can get the help we need.


20.8-25 Perhaps the leaders of Benjamin did not have all the facts, but is more likely they were too proud to admit that a serious crime had been committed in their territory. The effects of this crime did not need to be experienced outside of the local community where it occurred. The men who did this act should have been brought to justice. We are often highly resistant to the fact that we are in need of recovery or help of any kind. The tribe of Benjamin self-righteously set out to defend its honor. This is a powerful illustration of what denial is like how things go from bad to worse if we are unwilling to get honest about our sin and character defects. Because the Benjamites had been unwilling to discipline Gibeah, the rest of them could have survived. But their lack of humility and repentance kept them from confession and almost all of them were destroyed as a result.


21.1-12 In the heat of anger or strong emotions, many people needing recovery or find themselves moving through difficult times make rash or unrealistic vows. Here the Israelites were forced to keep their vows because they were made publicly and before God. They had not learned from Jephtha the danger of making a vow before thinking it through.


21.25 The people of Israel experienced pain because everyone became his or her own authority and acted on their own opinions as to what they thought was right and wrong. The results brought death and disaster, as it always does. We live in a similar day with similar results. We have become our own voices of authority without reference to God or the people that God has placed in our lives to lead us. As we would say in recovery, "How is that working for you?"