May 4- Israel Had No King

May 4, 2011

Scripture Readings:
Judges 19:1-20:48; John 3:22-4:3;
Psalm 104:24-35; Proverbs 14:22-24

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned.  
~William Butler Yeats

Judges 19:1-20:48

When moral decay becomes a norm in society horrors abound.  In 2003 and 2004 at the height of the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, non-Arab African women were subjected to severe brutality.  It is hard to believe that other human beings could do this to their fellow man.  The Arab pro-government Janjaweed militias swarmed a town and gang raped the women.  Reports of their evil deeds included singing while they raped young girls, pregnant women having their unborn children cut out of their wombs, girls having their legs broken after being raped, and many girls being killled mercilessly.  When darkness prevails evil reigns.  Today in our reading, Israel is in a dark time.  They have no king.

We have another story of a gang rape.  This is the story of a Levite who owned a concubine.  A concubine is a woman who is not married, but has a man's children and is cared for by him.  Under societal rules, the concubine's children would not get an inheritance or would get a much smaller inheritance, but no other man was allowed to have sex with a person's concubine.  Anyway, this Levite traveled to a town occupied by the men of the tribe of Benjamin.  As the Levite and his concubine stayed in an older man's home for the night, the men of the town came to demand sex with the Levite man.  Does this story sound familiar to you?  Do you remember Sodom and Gomorrah?  This is an almost identical situation, only it's a Levite they are trying to have sex with, rather than some angels.  Anyway, true to how they handled things back then, the woman was thrown out the door to the homosexual/sex-crazed wolves, rather than the man who they really wanted.  The concubine was repeatedly gang raped all night.  In the morning, she crawled to the threshold of the door and died. 

After the Levite carries her dead body back home, rather than give her a decent burial, he cuts her body into twelve pieces and sends one part to each tribe in Israel.  I feel like I am reading about Jeffrey Dahmer.  Remember him? This guy is incensed by what happened to his concubine and is hoping to stir up righteous anger among the people of Israel.  This incident tells us how bad things had gotten in Israel. For a man to have to cut up a victim and send the body throughout the nation in order to get someone to take notice reveals how depraved the society was.  Depravity, depravity, depravity.

The Israelites get furious about this injustice and muster an army to go confront the men from tribe of Benjamin. The town of Gibeah will not give up their guilty men (another strike against them), so Israel fights several battles in order to finally kill everyone in that tribe except 400 men who managed to run away to caves.  This prevents the whole tribe of Benjamin from being destroyed because of  the sexual sins.  God's judgment was upon the tribe of Benjamin because of their complicity in evil. Religious apostasy leads to moral decay.

As a people, we rely on civil government to protect us from evil.  God shows us through the writings of Moses that laws and civil government are a God-given protection on earth.  Israel's lack of good civil government resulted in moral decay going unchecked.  But the root of the moral decay was Israel's rejection of God as their King.  This was intended to be a theocracy, but the Israelites were not interested in that.  Israel was in disobedience against God at this time.  We are reading about the results.

What are you and I doing to turn people to the truth of Scripture?  Is God the Sovereign King of your life? Obedience to God leads to peace and order in a society. Biblical principles practiced by governments produce freedom for individuals and safety in society.  It behooves us to promote Christianity.  Think of ways that you can do this.

John 3:22-4:3

One of my favorite books of all time is The Purpose Driven Life.  What I like about the book is that it clearly defines what each of us is truly looking for on earth.  We live with the questions "Who am I?" and "What is my purpose on earth?"  Today, we see that John the Baptist had a purpose driven life.  John knew Who had created him, what his purpose on earth was, and John was faithful to do what God created him to do.

Let's review some of what John says when he is asked why everyone is starting to go over to the guy that John said was the Messiah, rather than continuing to come to be baptized by John.  Here is his reply:

• God appoints every one's work (or purpose). -Vs. 27
• I am not the Messiah. -Vs. 28
• I am here to prepare the way for the Messiah. That's all. -Vs. 28
• The bride follows the bridegroom, not the bridegroom's friend. -Vs. 29
• I am the bridegroom's friend, who is happy for the groom and rejoicing at his success. Notice how he refers to the marriage picture again.  This man "gets it." -Vs. 29
• He must increase and I must decrease. -Vs. 30
• He has come from above and is greater than anyone else on earth. -Vs. 31
• I am of limited, earthly knowledge, but he has heavenly knowledge and gives us Truth. -Vs. 31
• He tells us what he has seen and heard in heaven. -Vs. 32
• He speaks God's words because the Spirit of God is upon him without any limits. -Vs. 34
• He is God's Son. God loves him and has given him authority over everything. -Vs. 35
• All who believe in him will have eternal life. -Vs. 36
• Those who don't believe in him will experience God's wrath. -Vs. 36

What do you think of John's lessons to us?  He certainly knows how to prepare a path for the king, doesn't he?  My favorite verse is "He must increase and I must decrease."  I love this verse because I feel that in my life my sinful tendencies must decrease, while God's Holy Spirit should increase. 

Psalm 104:24-35

I love this psalm.  To declare God's role in creation is to acknowledge His creativity and brilliance.  His power over all that we see is magnificent.  "I will praise my God to my last breath! May he be pleased by all these thoughts about him, for I rejoice in the Lord."

Proverbs 14:22-24

Try to plan good, rather than plot evil.

What did you see today?  I want to hear about what you thought of these passages.

Blessings,

Jubilee Gal

Kathy Fullerton
© 2011