No King in Israel

Judges 19-21

– The book of Judges began with a double introduction (1:1-2:5; 2:6-3:6), and ends with a double conclusion (17-18; 19-21).

– the first conclusion which we considered several weeks ago emphasizes Israel’s religious corruption

– the second conclusion which we will consider this morning emphasizes Israel’s moral corruption

I. Moral Depravity (ch. 19)

1)      The events which take place in these chapters are the darkest in all of Scripture – a stark picture of Israel without her King (cf. 19:1; 21:25)

2)      Each character bears the marks of depravity

a)      Concubine – adultery

b)      Levite – wife abuse/misogyny, deception

c)      Old Ephraimite – child abuse

d)      Men of Gibeah – sodomy, gang rape, murder, inhospitality

e)      Israelites – brutal vengeance

f)       Benjamites – kidnapping, rape

3)      Main Point:  Israel has become the new ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ – cf. Genesis 19

Application:

– The fact that each character is left anonymous (unnamed) hints that the application of the text is very wide – a portrait of humanity apart from God!

II. Misdirected Unity (ch. 20)

1)      Unity is based on deception – (vv. 4-7)

2)      Unity is unparalleled in the book of Judges

a)      Ironic that the unnamed Levite has more success in uniting Israel than any of the previous Judges we’ve studied

b)      Tragic that Israel is more eager to fight Israel than she is to fight the wicked Canaanites – Israel turns out to be her own worst enemy!  (Compare 20:18 with 1:1-2)

3)      Main Point:  Benjamin has become the new Ai – cf. Joshua 7-8

Application:  Although Israel was right to punish the sin of Benjamin, the tragedy is that they were more zealous for civil war than they were for conquest against the true enemy.   If we Christians are unified in a cause, let’s be unified in the right cause – fulfillment of the Great Commission!

III. Muddled Solutions (ch. 21)

1)      Blaming God instead of ourselves (vv. 2-3)

2)      Using Worldly wisdom instead of Godly wisdom

a)      The Israelites massacre a Jewish city     (Jabesh-gilead) under a pretense of godliness, and force 400 teenage girls into marriages with the men of Benjamin

b)      Foolish vows and wicked ‘loopholes’

i)        Israel didn’t learn their lesson from Jephthah’s terrible mistake

ii)       To fulfill another foolish vow they resort to the kidnapping and rape of 200 teenage girls

Application:  The author of Judges wrote this book to endorse King David as the solution to Israel’s problems.  Ultimately David failed, but we have a King in David’s line who will never fail – King Jesus!