Judges 21:1-15.  First of all sorry for the typos in yesterdays post and the misplaced “more” button if you were reading it on the home page.  I’m sure there are more typos and Cookie is working hard to edit back posts.  She’s amazing.  the problem is, I publish these posts right after writing them so you can have them each day so she doesn’t get a chance to edit before publication.

We are coming to the end of the book of Judges.  One more chapter to go.  Today we will look at the first part of chapter 21 and tomorrow we will finish it.  Hopefully you have read the “Intro to Judges” which I hope was helpful in understanding this book.  If you have been reading along you know we are in the last section of the book which gives us a little look at life on the streets during the time of the Judges.  the last section is marked at it’s  beginning and end by the phrase “In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  We have just seen the results of that kind of thinking and they were very destructive.  55,000 people lost their lives over the span of a few days.  The problem involved several people not following God’s rules and got much for the same reason.  Today we will see more stupid moves by people following their own ideas.

Notice that the reading today starts by telling us about a vow or oath (a promise) that the men of Israel had made.  They had decided that none of them would let one of their daughters marry a man from Benjamin’s tribe.  The last time I remember someone making a vow in Judges was in chapter 11.  That story involved a daughter too and that was a disaster.   I can’t help but think this will be another mess.   Usually the first sentence of a paragraph gives us an idea of what the paragraph is going to be about (Don’t use my stuff as an example unless Cookie has edited it because I am very lazy about paragraphs.).  In this case it starts out by mentioning the vow and then describes how sad the people are about the destruction of a tribe of Israel.  Now last thing I remember there were 600 men from Benjamin left.  And it looks like the fighting had ended because four months went by and they were still alive.  So Benjamin’s family still existed.  Why the crying?  According to the Law which God had give the Israelites to live by they  were not to marry anyone who was not a part of the 12 tribes (Deuteronomy 7:1-5).   Oh yea, the vow.  It didn’t matter how many were left, if they followed God’s law they would de the last generation from that family.   After a day of crying the Israelite ask God why this has happened.  Notice that God doesn’t answer but the answer should be obvious; the stupid vow they had made, plus the fact that they killed all the women in Benjamin.  Doing what was right in their own eyes.

The next day they got up and made some offerings to God.  Then they start talking about who had attended the “assembly at Mizpah”.  Remember that they are at Bethel now so they are not talking about the assembly the night before, they are talking about the one where they made the promise about their daughters.  I don’t really like where this is going.  They didn’t wait for an answer from God and now they are thinking again.  And what’s worse is that we found out that there is another promise they had made:  Anyone who hadn’t come out to the battle against Gibeah (remember it all started with this one town) was to be killed.

What is wrong with theses people?  Remember from yesterday’s post that there had to be witness for crimes.  According to God’s law for the Israelites you could only be put to death based on two or three witnesses and only  for certain crimes.  I looked back at the Law and there were several crimes that you could be executed for but not joining in a battle was not one of them.  Yesterday I made the comment that the people of Gibeah were guilty for not stopping the rape.  I said the Benjamites were guilty for defending the men who had committed the crime.  Neither of these groups should have been put to death.  In fact since the Israelite army had killed people who were not guilty of capital crimes (ones that have a death penalty) they were actually guilty of murder.

Then the discussion returns to the poor wifeless Benjamites.  I’m not really liking the cards I am seeing on the table.  Fact one:  There are only 600 Benjamite men left and no women.  Fact two:  The Israeiltes think this is a problem.  Although the day before they were on a rampage to destroy everyone in Benjamin now the idea of no more Benjamin bothers them.  Fact three:  Israelites are not supposed to marry outside of the twelve tribes.  Fact four:  We all promised not to give our daughters to anyone from Benjamin as a wife.  Fact five:  We also promised to kill anyone who did not join us in the fight.  Talk about painting yourself into a corner.  Theses guys had made up rules that left them only one way to get out.  They were going to get some paint on thier shoes.  Red paint in the form of blood.

They realized that no one had come to fight from Jabesh-gilead.  Jabesh-gilead was a town on the east side of the Jordan River in the territory of Gad,  in the region called Gilead.  this region was a  quiet farming and ranching area.  At the beginning chapter 20 when the Israelites responded to the Levites “bodygram” the author specifically tells us that men came from the land of Gilead.  Evidently it was not enough for the territory to be represented they wanted guys from each city.  Remember that this oath was the idea of those who had gathered fro the battle and none of this was ordered by God.  I think they were making up the rules as they went along.

12,000 troops were gathered and sent to Jabesh-gilead and all of the people are killed; men, women, and children.  The only ones spared are 400 women who had never been married and never been “with” a man.  The 400 virgins are taken across the river to the town of Shiloh.  Representatives of the 11 tribes were sent to the 600 survivors of Benjamin men who were hiding out and offered them peace. the men returned to Shiloh where 400 of them were given wives.  But the people are still sad for Benjamin because “the LORD had left a hole in the tribes of Israel”.

This reading is one long paragraph.  And the first sentence is what the paragraph is about, vows.  Stupid vows.  Human vows without consulting God and the disaster they can make.  There was no fleece on the ground, twice, like with Gideon.  And that was after he was directly told by God to fight a battle against a declared enemy.  To be fair this story may have happened earlier than Gideon’s so we have that advantage.  The language used in chapter 20 by the Israeilites and by the Levite show us that they considered them selves a group:  sons of Israel (Judges 19:30; 20:7; 21:3.  See also Judges 20:13; 21:6), Israel (showing unity Judges 20:6, 10, 13), and brother (Judges 20:23).  And there is enough remorse in this story about Benjamin to show us that the Israelites knew that they were part of the nation.  According to Judges 20:1 they “gathered as one man” at Mizpah “to the LORD”.  After almost destroying Benjamin and after 4 months of cooling off they went to Bethel, where the Ark of the promise between the Israelites and God was, and talked to God about about the problem.  And when they finally brought the exiles back to get their wives they did it at Shiloh where the “Tabernacle” (the portable “church” where they had worshipped God as the wandered in the wilderness before moving into the promised land) was.  All of this shows that they had some idea of who was supposed to be in control of the nation but they didn’t live it out.  N0 waiting for God to answer, just a bunch of religious looking actions (prayer, offerings, getting together to the LORD”) and then they move forward with their plans.

God takes the things we say very seriously (See “What’s in a Name” and also Deuteronomy 23:21; Ecclesiastes 5:4-5; James 5:12; Psalms 15:4; matthew 23:16-22).  We need to be people who do what we say but we also need to do what is right.  Once Jesus and his followers were walking through a grain field on the Sabbath.  the Law of God for the Israelites said that you could not work on the Sabbath.  In fact if you did you were to be put to death.  Some religious leaders were walking along with them and noticed that they were picking some of the grain and eating it.  The leaders asked Jesus why they were breaking the law and eating on the Sabbath.  Interestingly Jesus didn’t say, “Come on that’s not work!”  Instead he told them that men were not to be enslaved by this rule.  The Sabbath was to be a day for us to remember who God is and what He has done not to be a day when we focus on what we are or aren’t doing.  The Israelites in our story today needed to focus on who God is and what He has done.  They had made a stupid vow and followed their own way.  They were being religious.  They needed to realize the mistakes they had made and stop and ask for forgiveness.  We are like them though.  We play at our relationship with God.   We focus on our plans.  We pretend to ask God but then run ahead with our own plans.  Then in the end we blame God for the holes in our lives.  God let me not run around living by my own rules, tacking you on when there is trouble.  Help me not blame you for the trouble I make.  I know there is always a way to escape.  Help me know when my vows are stupid and need to be broken.    Thank you for your forgiveness when it goes that way.   Help me stay in touch with you.  “It is a snare for a man to say rashly, “It is holy!”  And after the vows to make inquiry.” (Proverbs 20:25)  Let me ask first, wait, then act.

Judges 20:29-48.  Yesterday we saw the “sons of Israel” go to battle against one of their own tribes, Benjamin.  That tribe had stood behind one of their cities, Gibeah, who had been involved in a very evil act (if you haven’t read them go back and read the posts from Judges 19).  The battle hasn’t gone very well for the Israelites.  Although they outnumbered Benjamin, 400,000 soldiers verses 26,000 male citizens, the Israelites lost 22,000 soldiers on the first day of battle and 18,000 on the second day.  both times they asked God about the battle but both times it was on their terms.  They eventually went to the place of worship of God and had the priest ask  Him if they should continue to fight.  The response was “yes”  and “I will give them to you.”

In todays reading we see the third day of the battle and the Israelites finally win, sort of.  From a military point of view they definitely win.  but from a spiritual point of view the battle is a disaster.  Judges 20:29-35 give an overview of the battle and the victory by the Israelite.  Judges 20:36-48 give more detail.  In the overview we learn that 25,100 men of Benjamin died that day.  From the more detailed account we learn that the Israelites set an ambush for the Benjamites.  When the Benjamites saw that the were surrounded and cut off from the town they ran “toward the wilderness”.  Gibeah was near the westen border of Benjamin’s territory and the wilderness was to the east.  So the Benjamite troops ran through their own territory with the Israelites army right behind them.  Perhaps they were trying to abandon the fight and go home.  .  Gibeah was completely destroyed, every one and everything.  As were all the cities which they found.  Since the territory was rather small and the Israelite army quite large, it seems reasonable that most of the population of Benjamin was affected.  Near the end of todays reading we will see that only 600 Benjamite soldiers escaped.  The note that they stayed in their hide out for four months hints that there is more to this story.  As we will see tomorrow they alone survive.  There are not even any women or children left in Benjamin and a disaster is brewing.

A few interesting notes.  First we must remember what is going on historically in the book of Judges.  The Israelites were living in a land which God has given them.  They were supposed to take over the land and get rid of the people that are already there, the Canaanites.  If you have been following the posts for very long you know that God loves people and is interested in having a relationship with them.  But there are rules.  We cannot live any way we want to and still have a relationship with God.  The Old Testament is about God telling us about this fact and the nation of Israel is a big part of how we get God’s message (See “The Old Testament Connection” for more about this.)  Israel was supposed to live a life dedicated to God.  During the times of the Old Testament most of the world was polytheistic, that means that they worshipped more that one god.  The god’s that they worshipped were all made my their hands and according to their ideas.  Although all people know that there is one true God we consistently reject Him and make up our own gods (Romans 1:18-25).  Israel was supposed to be a reminder of the true God.  God knows we are week and turn from Him, especially when tempted so He told the Israelites to not allow the Canaanites to stay among them. Unfortunately in the book of Judges we learn that they did not follow through on what God had told them to do.  And as we have seen, by the time of Samson they were completely comfortable living with the Canaanites and other people groups among them.

Another interesting thing is that during the battle the Israelites destroyed “Gibeah and all the cities which they found.”  In Deuteronomy 6:10-12 God indicates that they were not to destroy the cities and crops in the land as they took it over.  There were rules about not using some of the crops at first.  There were times they were ordered to destroy all of a city and not to take or use any of the stuff from it.  But in general they were not to destroy the cities, just get rid of the people.  It was a common practice of many nations at that time to burn cities that the conquered and take all the stuff they found,  They would even kill the men and take the women as part of their “spoil”.  So destroying these cities is  one way in which the Israelites were falling into the very trap they were supposed to avoid, one way they were becoming like the people around them.

Finally the last verse says they destroyed all the cities that they found.  Hebrew seem to be a less exact language than some others.  Words in Hebrew seem to have broad meanings.  Like “chathan” which can mean father-in-law, son-in-law, mother -in-law, bridegroom, husband, marriage, and law (See the post for 2/18/12).  The word for “found” in verse 48 can either mean they found theses cities by accident (Just happened to find they) or on purpose (went looking for them).  Based on what we will learn tomorrow I think they went looking for them.

The Israelites were given laws to rule their nation by.  These laws dealt a lot with purity.  They were to deal with sin, avoid it, get rid of it. Sin was usually dealt with on an individual basis.  People would be punished for their own sins (Deuteronomy 24:16) and there were to be witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:16).  A few times we see a whole city destroyed ((Sodom (Genesis 19 but look at the conversation between Abraham and God in Genesis 18) and Jericho (Joshua 6-10. But Rahab and her family were allowed to escape)).  And there is a story of a whole family being destroyed (Achan’s in Joshua 7 but it looks like they were all in on it).  It appears that the Israelites went way beyond what they were supposed to do in the battle against the Benjamites.  When a woman was assaulted in an Israelite town she was to be protected by all of the citizens (Deuteronomy 22:23-27) so most of the city of Gibeah was guilty.  Maybe the Benjamite soldiers were guilty for being on the side of the Gibeonites, but the rest of the people of Benjamin were not guilty.  If this story actually happened early in the period of the Judges it is sad how quickly the people went their own way.  But really all of these stories show us that each generation has to make the decision to follow God.  We each have to make the decision to follow God.  And this story really show us how bad things can get if just one of us does things our own way.  Lord help me realize that the things I do affect others.  My actions spread like ripples in a pond.  I cannot even come close to knowing what the end results of my actions can be, so help me, show me the right way to go.  You know the beginning from the end so show me the right place to start and the right place to stop.  Thank you for being here.  Give me eyes to see and ears to hear.