OVERVIEW: The corruption of the tribe of Dan; the wickedness of the Gibeonites; the division between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of Israel; the destruction of the tribe of Benjamin.
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
As we finish the Book of Judges today, it is vital that we recall where we are at this point of Israel’s history. After several years of complacency, summarized in chapters 1 and 2, Israel entered into a long period of compromise, found in chapters 3 through 16. During that time, God’s people endured seven major cycles of oppression at the hands of those over whom the Lord had previously given victory. The final five chapters of the Book of Judges sadly describe for us the corruption that ultimately takes place when they forgot God and His Word! Some of the most bizarre and horrific stories in all of scripture appear in this final part of the Book of Judges. Remember, the key to understanding this whole book is found in the last verse of the final chapter: “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”
In chapter 18, the tribe of Dan convinces Micah’s own personal priest, whom he called “father” (Jud. 17:10) to leave with them to be the priest of the entire tribe. (Jud. 18:19) This, of course, was very appealing to the priest because it was a pretty incredible “promotion,” so to speak. He was so excited about this “promotion” that he stole Micah’s ephod (“priestly garment”), his teraphim (“household idol”), and his “graven image” (Jud. 18:20) so he could perform his priestly duties for the tribe of Dan. Micah was, of course, devastated because what had actually happened is not only did he lose his priest, but his entire religion had been stolen! (Jud. 18:24) The simple but profound lesson here is beware of any “religion” that, because of its external ritualism and idolatry, can be stolen! Notice in this passage, Micah’s “religion” couldn’t resist the weapons of warfare (18:11,16–17). When push came to shove, his priest would not stand by him (18:18–20), the congregation was powerless to do anything but cry out in despair with him (18:22–23), and its final end was nothing more than heartache and loss. (18:24–26) Note, the beautiful reality is, you can’t steal the “religion” of someone who has been truly born again, because, first of all, it’s not based on EXTERNAL realities but INTERNAL ones (Luk. 17:21), and in the final analysis, it’s not actually even a “RELIGION!” It is an eternal “RELATIONSHIP,” whereby the holy, omnipotent, Creator-God of the universe has become our Father, and we, His sons and daughters! (2 Cor. 6:18) That is something, hallelujah, that can’t be STOLEN! (Joh. 10:28)
In chapter 19, a Levite sets out on a long journey to recover his unfaithful concubine. He discovers, however, that she had been abused all night long until the dawning of the day, and had been divided into pieces by the sword. Although this isn’t a perfect picture by any means, it is still a very sobering reminder of the fact that in the very near future, Jehovah God will come back in the morning (Mal. 4:2) after the biblical “nighttime” of the Church Age (Rom. 13:12; 1 Thes. 5:2, 5), to look for His unfaithful wife, the Nation of Israel, who has been abused all through this biblical nighttime, and has been spiritually dead to Him. Remember, we just happen to be in the Book of Judges and, at this point, there is no king in Israel, and Israel is “dead,” as it were, to God. In the next book of the Bible, the Book of Ruth, a Jewish kinsman-redeemer takes a gentile bride to himself, and then the Son of David (Solomon) will come back to give Israel life once again. This, too, points us to the glories that await Israel in the future!
Chapters 20 and 21 teach us the story of how Israel decides to deal with this despicable sin that happened within their borders (the abusing of the concubine by the men of Gibeah). There is a division between the men of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin over this issue. Shockingly, Benjamin takes the side of the Gibeonites and decides to fight against Israel. It allows us to see the amazingly disgusting depths to which sin is capable of taking us! The Benjamites actually wanted to defend the unthinkable wickedness of the Gibeonites! What does that tell you about the moral state of this tribe at this time? The tribe of Benjamin was defeated by Israel in the war and it appeared that the sin at Gibeah had been dealt with. The only problem is that history teaches us that they never truly repented, because once again, they returned to their sinful ways. (2 Cor. 7:10) All of chapter 21 is a counterfeit repentance that does nothing more than make them feel good about themselves for “confessing their sin.” They were not, however, actually turning (repenting) from their sin, by “cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Cor. 7:1) Like much of the confession of sin done by Christians in the 21st century, it is “worldly sorrow” which brings about “worldly repentance” as opposed to “godly sorrow” that brings about “godly repentance!” (2 Cor. 7:8–11) We would do well to consider of what sort is our sorrow over repentance of sin!
CHRIST IS REVEALED:
Through THE HOUSE OF GOD – Judges 20:18 (God’s dwelling place among His people Israel. Unfortunately, this corrupt time in Israel is much like the Laodicean church period (Rev. 3:14–22), where our Lord Jesus Christ is on the outside looking in, while all the people on the inside think He’s in their midst!)
As the LEVITE – Judges 19:1 (See details in the “Highlights and Insights” above)