Judges 19-21
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25
This final verse of Judges is a repetition of Judges 17:6. Both instances point to the disastrous consequences of a lack of godly leadership, where everyone just flies by the seat of his pants, doing what is right in his own eyes.
What we see in today’s reading is horrific. It is horrific that in Gibeah only one old man offers any semblance of hospitality to the Levite. (Jg. 19:15-16,20-21) It is horrific that the Benjaminites of Gibeah seek homosexual relations with the visiting Levite. (Jg. 19:22) It is horrific that the Levite’s host offers up his daughter and the Levite’s concubine instead, knowing it means rape. (Jg. 19:24) It is horrific that the Levite forces his concubine out the door in self-protection. (Jg. 19:25) It is horrific that the concubine is raped and abused all night long. (Jg. 19:25) It is horrific that she falls dead at the old man’s doorstep. (Jg. 19:26) It is horrific that the Levite casually rises in the morning, finds the woman, and tells her it’s time to go, oblivious to her suffering. (Jg. 19:27-28) It is horrific that the Levite cuts her body into 12 pieces, distributing her throughout Israel. (Jg. 19:29) It is horrific that the entire tribe of Benjamin chooses to defend Gibeah, rather than give up the guilty parties. (Jg. 20:12-14) It is horrific that civil war ensues. (Jg.. 20:20) It is horrific that Benjamin kills 40,000 men of Israel. (Jg. 20:21,25) It is horrific that Israel kills 25,100 warriors of Benjamin. (Jg. 20:35) It is horrific that Israel then proceeds to strike down nearly all the rest of Benjamin, including women and children. (Jg. 20:47-48) It is horrific that the best idea anyone has for providing wives to the remaining 600 Benjaminites is to wipe out Jabesh-gilead to find 400 virgins (Jg. 21:10-12) and then to let Benjamin kidnap more women from festivities at Shiloh. (Jg. 21:20-23)
Woe to those without godly leadership!
We should note that the LORD is not absent from this entire scenario. On the contrary, He is very much involved in the war, granting Benjamin two huge early victories, but then giving the rest of Israel the final victory, nearly eradicating Benjamin. I think we can surmise that this war is God’s means of executing (partial) judgment on all of Israel for falling away from Him, and on Benjamin in particular for their extraordinary obstinance in refusing to seek justice. But none of that would be necessary if the people were all seeking the LORD to begin with, if they were not each turning away from the LORD and doing their own thing.
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25
Do we likewise just go our own way? Do we look to the LORD for guidance only in times of crisis? Thinking of “kings”, when it comes time to vote, do we pursue what the LORD desires, even if that means setting aside our own self-interest? (Clearly, that is not what most voters do!) Or do we surrender our will to Christ moment by moment? Do we recognize Jesus as the Anointed One, the One True King?
May we look forward to the full reign of Christ, to that day when we might all say, “There is a King in Israel. Everyone does what is right in the eyes of the LORD.”
One more thing…
Note that Phinehas is still the High Priest (Jg. 20:28) here, indicating that this story occurs rather early in the period of the Judges. I expect that this story’s placement at the end of the book of Judges is so that it remains fresh in our minds when we soon meet the individual who is to become the first King of Israel: Saul, who is of the tribe of Benjamin and from the town of Gibeah.
An item of interest, folks… In Judges 20:1 we see the phrase “from Dan to Beersheba”. This phrase is meant to reflect the whole of the Israeli tribes west of the Jordan: “From Dan to Beersheba is a biblical phrase used nine times in the Hebrew Bible to refer to the settled areas of the Tribes of Israel between Dan in the North and Beersheba in the South.” (From Dan to Beersheba – Wikipedia) We saw in Joshua 19 that the tribe of Dan could not conquer the locals (the Philistines) so they went to the far north of the Promised Land, defeating a peaceful people and settling there. Dan’s new territory was in the far north while Beersheba was in the far south of Judah, within Simeon’s territory (Joshua 19:2). I thought this item worth mentioning since we’ll see that phrase a few more times as we move through the Bible.