Scripture Passage
Scripture Focus
In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. (Judges 21:25 NLT)
Observation
If you’ve completed today’s readings, surely you share my frustration (and nausea). Heinous offenses are being committed left and right, and the whole scenario goes from bad to worse to worse even still.
It starts with the Levite from Ephraim who has a concubine from Judah. You have to wonder what it’s all about when she won’t stay with him, and he waits four months to go inquire about her at her father’s house. The behavior of the mob at Gibeah is unspeakable, but so are the actions of the Levite when he gets up the next morning to leave.
The response of all the other tribes is understandable—and seems sensible—until you read of their experiences battling Benjamin (losses on both sides were expressions of God’s judgment, I believe) and their rash vow made at Mizpah (21:5). So the rest of the Israelites not only wipe out most of the tribe of Benjamin, but also the people of Jabesh-gilead, and then are required to arrange for the theft of virgin women from the fathers and brothers of Shiloh.
And perhaps most remarkable of all, when all is said and done, it’s like they simply brush the dust off their hands and head home, as if this were all in a day’s work!
It is a stomach-turning look at what happens when a nation disregards their God, Jehovah, and the holy covenant they’d made with Him. And sickening is exactly what it’s supposed to be, I expect.
The author of Judges has a point to make—that all of this has deteriorated to the point where a king is necessary. That’s a shame, friend, because that was never God’s plan. God Himself was to be Israel’s King, in a relationship of holy intimacy.
But it was not to be—not because of God or any fatal flaw in His plan, but because of the persistent rebellion of God’s people.
It does beg the question of what we might be missing out on today…of what “second best” plan God has needed to implement (or may yet need to implement) because we’ve not pursued with whole and holy hearts His first and best option.
And so I think of the Apostle Paul, and what he writes in Romans, chapter 12, and pray that I might embrace this challenge:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:1-2 NIV).
1 comment:
It is just amazing to read of all the blood shed stuff that goes on and putting your concubine out for the night, wow can't imagine. tough reading to get thru and figure out what it is saying to us to strenghten us except as you point us to in romans 12. thanks
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