Introduction
We have come to the second epilogue of the book of Judges, the first covering chapters 17-18. Both give us an in-depth view of the depths to which corruptness leads. Both focus on the role of the Levitical priesthood. As seen in the previous section, the sin of one superstitious yet religious family, a young priest wandering around where he shouldn’t have, resulted in a mega-church priest and the later annihilation of the tribe of Dan from the nation.
This section also speaks of a Levite not being busy with what he should be. Like the previous one, he was also “sojourning”, looking for a place to settle.
Both epilogues have one common theme to explain what happened. It is summed up by these words with which chapter 19:1 starts:
In those days, when there was no king in Israel…
The whole epilogue, as well as the book also ends with these words:
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (21:25).
Their everyday lives were shaped by this: they had no king and were therefore their own moral guides.
No king in the land …
Why does the writer emphasise this? We know Israel was busy settling in this new land. It would’ve been difficult to at this time have a king ruling over them. Up to now they have been led by two very competent leaders, Moses and Joshua. Yet, after them, the writer moves to argue, they had no king.
Israel was meant to be a theocracy, i.e., a nation ruled by God. His intent with them was for Him to be their King and whatever earthly king he would place over them, would be to establish His kingdom principles. Already from Genesis 3:15 there runs a golden thread of God establishing a Ruler who will eventually crush the serpent’s head. But He will rule and establish God’s kingdom over God’s people in God’s place.
In fact, God’s salvation plan hinges on two things:
- His anointed King who will rule and
- His High Priest who will minister before Him as Mediator.
Having “no king” should not have been a problem, because God was always there. He was constantly ruling and guiding, setting boundaries, and offering freedom. God did not die with Moses and Joshua. Unfortunately, the nation did not see it that way. They looked to earthly rulers and when they died, they took matters into their own hands. Instead of turning to God as their ultimate King, they rejected Him, and each became the ruler of his / her own destiny.
What happens in this Levite’s life, following his own heart and plans, becomes an example of the bigger picture when humanity rejects God as ruler and follows its own mind. “No king in the land” becomes synonymous with “they rejected God’s rule and authority.”
… leads to moral disaster,
As the story of the Levite unfolds, it becomes clear what this rejection means. It leads to nothing less than moral disaster. This is evident first in his own life and in what follows from his moral breakdown.
He travels around in the hill country instead of ministering in the Tabernacle at Shiloh. He takes for himself a concubine, which implies he already had a wife. Her own morals were corrupt and after cheating on him she leaves him and goes back to her father. One would think he would repent of his sexual lust, but no, he goes after her to bring her back. When things become heated and the evil men in Gibeah wanted him to gratify their pleasures, he shoved his concubine out the door for them to rape and leave for dead. When he found her dead, he concocted a plan to rally the whole of the nation to punish the men who killed her. Not once do we read of him reflecting on his own role in her death. Instead, he pushes the responsibility to punish onto the leaders of the nation.
Not only his morals, but also those of the other characters are highlighted. The adulterous concubine, her father who cannot stop eating and drinking; the inhospitable Benjaminites who did not take them in for the night; the promiscuous men who lusts after the Levite; and the leaders of the nation who accepts his half-truths and almost destroys the tribe of Benjamin.
It is unmistakably clear. When the rule of God is removed and the rule of man is set up in its place, morals go flying out the back door. The world around us needs no explanation. Even faith communities are suffering under this moral decay. One after another they are pressured into accepting anti-biblical, God-dethroning principles, all in the name of human dignity, tolerance, and religious inclusivity.
internal war and lies,
The Levite’s actions went so far as to cause internal war built on lies and deceit. This almost resulted in the removal of the tribe of Benjamin from the nation of Israel. After finding his concubine dead, he cut her up in twelve pieces which he distributed to all the tribes. This was a clear message to the leaders to consider and act “against the evil”. Pushing the responsibility onto them, he just needed to tell half the truth. And action they took.
Imagine this. One murder because of the immoral decisions of one out-of-place Levite made available an army of 400 000 men to fight against one of the tribes of their nation. In the previous section we learned how the actions of one mother resulted in the eventual removal of the tribe of Dan. Here almost the same happens, ending in civil war, followed by dubious actions and kidnapping to save the day for the 600 men left from Benjamin.
with no human solution
The Book ends in a very sombre tone:
And the people of Benjamin did so and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance b and rebuilt the towns and lived in them. And the people of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (21:23-25).
No real solution to the real problem, which was them rejecting God as their king. From their viewpoint they were free to live their lives as they pleased, each doing as he / she saw fit.
This is normally our default position. Some will argue what is right in their own eyes is way better than their neighbor’s. Some will argue humans are not as bad as we believe. Some will even argue each has his own version of the truth and nobody dare question it.
The book of Judges shows this position is not a viable one and it quickly deteriorates into chaos and ultimately to slavery to that to which you submit. Sin does not ask “May I?”. It grabs, entices, suffocates, and eventually kills. This it does to draw us away from our King and enslave us to the kingdom of darkness.
The human solution is exposed as no solution at all.
Conclusion
This is intentional. We must know the solution is not in humanity. Even if the world makes us out to be irresponsible idiots. Judges reveals the calamity of our natural, inborn, human nature. Left to itself, it will deteriorate. It naturally gravitates away from God; it naturally opposes His claim as King; it naturally rejects the idea that the death of a Man on a cross is the ultimate solution.
The human solution speaks to the situation, while God’s solution speaks to the very core of our being. We attempt to fix things on the outside, while God starts the fixing on the inside. Our inborn nature rebels. Not the situation.
Jesus’ message from the start is clear: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near.” His charge to his disciples is clear: “preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins.” Doing this, is acknowledging the rule of God’s King, and allowing Him as the High Priest to minister God’s grace to us.