Judges 20:17-28.  We have been reading a story about a Levite and some trouble he had while on a journey.  Actually trouble doesn’t even come close to describing the evil he encountered in Gibeah.  But he wasn’t innocent either.  (For more read Judges 19:1-15, Judges 19:16-30, and Judges 20:1-16).  The story has led up to the brink of civil war in Israel.  Eleven tribes against one, Benjamin (The town of Gibeah was part of Benjamin. (See “The Twelve?” and “The Old Testament Connection” for more on Israel and it’s twelve tribes)).  In the first part of the book of Judges (Chapters 1-16) we have seen several cycles where the people would turn their backs on God and God would eventually bring them back to Himself (See “Intro to Judges” for more on the cycle).  But we also saw the cycle spin downward.  In the beginning the people were aware of the trouble, cried to God, and he delivered them from the invading people.  By the end of that section the people didn’t seem to care that they were being ruled by outsiders, they were comfortable enough, and didn’t bother asking God for help.  But the nation of Israel has always been part of a plan (See “The Old Testament Connection”), God’s plan, and God’s plans alway moves forward.  God’s plan will be finished.  That first section of the book is probably mostly in order, time wise.  But we must remember that the author is trying to make a point and has arranged these little looks at Israel’s history to make that point.  That first section shows us (at least) how easy it is to slip away from God.  The slow slide from one generation to the next away.  In the book each generation had to make a choice for their generation but their attitudes also affected the generations after them.  They cried out to God (at first) but for their own reasons, not God’s.   Eventually the people lost God’s view of their life altogether.  God still worked but all of those people were missing out in their personal relationship with God.  And in the end that is what God’s plan is all about (See “The Old Testament Connection”).

This second section of the book is a more personal look at life in the streets.  The cycles give us a view of that too but are more a look at the big picture, seeing God move the big pieces of His plan forward.  The first part is about the nation.  I think there is another difference between the two sections.  There is a hint at the way the second section is arranged.  The second section started with the story of a tribe looking out for their own interests.  They needed a place to live.  They didn’t want to take over the place God had given them they wanted life to be easier.  The next story the one we are in now focused on one man and his personal life.  So the book of Judges has gone from nation, to tribe, to one man.  But as we will see that one man affected a tribe and the nation.  The book seems to be going from the effect to the cause, from the what happened to the why it happened.  To be sure all through the book it tells us what is going on and all through the book it gives hints at the why, but this second section seems to be focusing more on the why this is all happening.

So we are at the very edge of a civil war, 400,000 against 26,700.   The larger army stops and asks God for orders “Who should fight first.”  This is a hopeful sign, or is it?  They didn’t ask if they should fight, it looks like they assumed that they should.  And if that is true why wouldn’t you just march your whole army up there get it over with?  Did they not really want this fight?  Was their whole heart not in it?  I don’t know.  So one tribe gets they orders and they go. And they get destroyed, 22,000 from tribe of Judah wiped out in one day and Benjamin is still standing.  What is going on, the good guys asked God and he told them to send in Judah and the bad guys won?  Judges 20:22 says that the men of Israel encouraged themselves and set up for another battle at the same place.  Wow, I wonder how you get 22,000 bodies out of the way that quick and how you can be encourage after such a big defeat.   So they cry all day while they get set up and near evening they go back to the God.  This time they ask, “Should we fight again?”  No assumption this time and notice too that the don’t ask who, it’s going to be the whole group this time.  The answer is yes. the next day another battle and 18,000 are dead, the “good guys” again.  So they go back to the place where they are supposed to worship God.  this time they go all day without food, crying and offering sacrifices to God.  Then they ask God again.  It’s interesting that the first two times that they ask God for guidance that the author uses a plural:  “Who shall go up first for us to battle” and “Shall we again draw near for battle”.   But this third time we meet a priest, Phinehas, and he asks, “Shall I again go out to battle”.  And the answer is yes along with the information that God will give them victory.  I wonder if they were still a little uneasy that night.  I would be, I think I would be praying all night,  selfishly for myself, but I would be praying.  Our reading stops there today, tomorrow we will see the outcome of the battle, but we should already know.  Remember God’s plan gets done.

It is interesting that in the first request that the enemy is “the sons of Benjamin” and in the second request the enemy is “the sons of our brother Benjamin”.  It looks like the Israelites are starting to see things God’s way.  They are supposed to be an nation not just a bunch of tribe acting as allies.  As I already mentioned I think it is interesting that the third time the priest seems to be doing the talking. Those were the rules God had laid down for the Israelites.  Now they seem to be one nation under God.  But there is still sin and the question is do we need to deal with this?  The answer is yes.  Part of God’s purpose for Israel was to be an example.  The world would get to see what God is like through His relationship wit them.  And part of what God is about is purity.  Remember that I said I though that this second section of the book was going to help us understand why the world falls apart.  The focus went from the nation falling apart to a tribe looking out for them selves.  Then the story took us to a man living for his own pleasure.  And that mans actions led back to the nation almost falling apart.  But remember that this story probably happened way back in the beginning.  the nation was falling apart, the people were not being blessed by God, because each person was doing what he wanted.  Remember that this end section of the book is like a message in the an envelope or parenthesis (See the 2/16/12 post).  And the envelope helps us understand what is inside.  Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:25 both tell us that there was “no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes”.  It’s not about the fact that Israel had no king but about the fact that there was no king in each persons life. Yes they needed to see themselves as one group and yes they did need to go to God through a priest.  But that was their part of God’s plan.  Peter told the early followers of Jesus that they were a royal priesthood and a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9).  If you are a follower of Jesus then you are part of that, you are a priest.  You get to go straight to God.  Jesus said no man comes to God except through him (John 14:6) but that is about Jesus taking our punishment.  because he has done that we can approach God crying out to his as a child would to his father (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6).  We are a nation, we are a priesthood, wee are a people, and we are a family.  God is the all powerful creator, god is our king and ruler, but God is our Father too.  We each need to come to Him.  the plan, is about the kingdom, the kingdom is about the people.  It’s about you and me.  God help me remember that I have a relationship with you.  Wht zi do affects others.  You want me to honor you with my life.  And it’s according to your rules.  Don’t let me be the problem by doing what is right in my eyes.  Let me be part of the solution by doing what is right in your eyes.  Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of fixing people’s relationship with you.  Thank you for caring. Thank you father.  Be my G

Judges 20:1-16.  We are not done yet with the story of the Levite.  When we left the story yesterday he had cut up his dead mistress and sent parts of her body to leaders of each of twelve tribes (See “The Twelve?”).  And the leaders were out raged.  In todays reading we find the leaders calling an all Israel meeting.  The meeting took place in Mizpah.  Mizpah was about 7-1/2 miles north of Jerusalem in the Benjamin’s territory but near the border with Ephraim’s territory.  It was about 3 miles north of Gibeah where the woman was abused.  It looks like the leaders were more than outraged they were going to do something about this evil act.  They had an army of 400,000 men ready.  Although verses 1 says “all the sons of Israel …came out” it looks like the tribe of Benjamin was not there.  Verse 3 tells us that the Benjamites “heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.”  As we will see they were going to taken sides with their “brothers” in Gibeah.  One last interesting note from these first few verses.  Verse 2 tells us that the leaders took their stand in “the assembly of the people of God.”  Could this be a break in the cycle of disobedience? Let’s continue.

At the end of verses  3 the leaders look into what has happened. In verses 4-6 the Levite tells his story.  It is interesting that the Levite is back.  Remember that the man was identified as a Levite at the beginning of the story but through out the rest of chapter 19 he is only called the man.  The word for man can mean husband.  And it looks it look like it is the word in Hebrew that is usually used to talk about a husband.  There is another word in Hebrew, “chathan”, that is used a few times to mean husband.  Chathan is used a several times to mean bridegroom but it is mostly used to mean son-in-law of father in law.  That is the word used by the author in Judges 19:4-5.  It seems that the main idea of that word is that there is some sort of legal relationship.  In the 2/16/12 post when I tried to describe what a concubine is I said she was sort of a mistress or girlfriend.  She was not a wife.  But there was some sort of legal connection.  She was definitely equal to a wife though.  The only other word used for husband in Hebrew is “bawal” and it’s main idea is one of ownership.  that word is not used in Judges.  In this story the Levite  sure didn’t act like much of a husband, or a priest for that matter.  So it is interesting that the author goes back to that description.  I think the point is that, now that there is an assembly (That word (v. 2) often had a religious “feel” to it like the word church.  It could also be a military assembly.  Both ideas are combined in verse 2) of the people, that the guy wanted to be thought of as the Levite, the priest and so the author of Judges brings that out.

Look at how the “Levite” describes what happened (Judges 20:4-6).  What parts did he leave out?  Hmmmm, the part about him throwing her out to save his own skin.  Hmmm,  the part about sleeping all night while she was tortured.  Hmmmm, the part about sleeping in.    Hmmm, the part about how casual he was about her being dead.  Sure he was mad and sent his little bodygram (like a telegram only more gruesome) around, but I get the feeling it was because he wanted his little woman toy back.  He does say he cut her up and mailed the parts around  because what guys did was lewd and disgraceful.  But throwing her out was just as bad, in our legal system he would be seen as an accessory to the crime.  then the priest comes out in him as he challenges the people to “give their advise” about what ought to be done.  Seems a little self-righteous to me.

Proverbs 18:17 tells us there are tow sides to every story.  Deuteronomy 17:6 tells us that we need two or three witnesses before we act, that was God’s law.  By the time of Jesus, Jewish law required that some one facing death for their actions must have a chance to defend themselves.  And there was a waiting period and a sort of second trial  (none of which happened in Jesus’ rial by the way).  Did you notice that they all assembled as “one man to the LORD” (verse 1).  the were waiting to hear from Yahweh and the “priest” steps up and what does he tell them to do?  Think for yourself.  He didn’t bother to point them to God at all, which was his job.

The people decide to sent messengers through out the tribe of Benjamin and demand that the men of Gibeah be turned over for execution.  I hope that they had in mind just the guilty guys, but as we will see tomorrow, their quick decision and action will result in innocent (or at least less guilty) people getting hurt.  The reading today ends with a count of the population of Benjamin and a description of an elite fighting force that the tribe had.  This is a dark note just like the mention of it getting dark as the Levite and his entourage (his group) approached Gibeah.  This kind of information hints that a battle is coming.  In fact verse 14 says that that is their intention.  And Benjamin only has 26,000 total people and only 700 “Navy SEALs”, against an army of 400,000.  These are the worst odds we have seen in the whole book of Judges.  And it looks like the Benjaminites don’t have God on their side.

We will have to wait until tomorrow to see how this goes but for today what can we learn.  It may seem like I am a little sympathetic to the people of Benjamin, and I am.  It’s not that i am on the side of the men of Gibeah who committed the crime.  As I said yesterday or the day before this is the ugliest story in the Bible from a human point of view.  The actions of all involved have been the worst.  Even the old man offered his daughter as a trade.  And the people, the other eleven tribes, are running way ahead of God.  they are just listening tot he priest and running down a path to war.  Evil should be dealt with but God had given the Israelites rules and they were not following them.  As always in the book of Judges they were doing what they thought was right.  In a way the Benjaminites are the least guilty.  Notice that the voice they are not listening to is the voice of the people.  And the people had not really bothered to listen to God.  They were acting like they were but were not really listening to Him.  We are like that we advise ourselves and pretending that we are getting advise from God.  But it’s just our own voice, or the voice of the crowd.  We need to slow down when the mob is all up and yelling, especially when it is an offended religious mob.  I remember a story like that some where else in the Bible.  Wasn’t the crowd yelling something like, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him”?  Now you probably want to crucify me.  Jesus was innocent and the guys from Gibeah were not.  Yes they needed to be punished nd that was what the Israelites needed to do, but they need to follow the rules.  And to do that they needed to learn the rules.  There is no place in God’s world for mob action.  James 1:20 says, “the anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God”.  James tells us that instead that we need to be “quick to hear, slow to speak , and slow to anger”.  We also need to be careful to deal with our own sins before we start in on others (Matthew 7:3).  In the end God is watching and all evil will be dealt with, we do need to do our part, but our parts needs to start with us and in all needs to be by His rules.  God help me not be soft on sin but let me start on myself first.  Let me remember to alway live by your rules.  Let me never be a part of a mob even if it is a mob that says they are serving you.  Help me remember to get both sides of the story.  And let me alway remember your side, a side of forgiveness and restoration.  I know in the end you will judge.  If you can be so patient with me I should be patient with those around me.  Let me be salt and light.