Judges 21:25 -- On The Days of No King

"In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."
Judges 21:25


This verse and another one at the beginning of chapter 19 kind of bookend a really distressing story. A man is traveling, but doesn't want to stop in foreign lands and instead goes on to one of the cities of Israel. He eventually finds shelter but a gang then rapes and kills his wife... and that, as bad as it is, is putting a positive spin on the circumstances. He then cuts said wife into twelve pieces and sends her off to each of the tribes, asking for a meeting about how he was treated among his own. The meeting happens, the tribes ask Benjamin to turn over the men that committed the crime and are refused. So the tribes, with counsel from God, go to war and also they lost badly at first, they eventually slaughter most of the offenders, including their wives and children. Then, they are sad that there will be only 11 tribes, so even though they swore not to let their daughters marry into that tribe when all of this came up, they find creative (and additionally barbarous) ways to solve the problem and get them wives anyway, so that the tribe could continue.

Part of the barbarism we can chalk up to it being the Old Testament. Honestly, the world has progressed IMMENSELY since then in terms of basic rights and some generally accepted ethical guidelines. (I mean, Abraham was going to be a human sacrifice. Not a good time.) I imagine we will also seem like barbarians to people who read about us in the future. I find it a little ironic that they wouldn't break their word but it was okay to kidnap and murder (as part of the creative solution at the end). Nevertheless, it's a story with a lesson, in the Bible. So what is that lesson? Many to choose from, but what struck me today is the lack of authority that these bookend verses mention. There was no king in Israel... and I was thinking that in a lot of ways that was true not just literally, but also figuratively/spiritually. Even among the "chosen" people, the lawlessness and barbarism indicate that they weren't taking God as their king either.

This happens in our own lives. We wake up and do what is right in our own eyes. C.S. Lewis said it well:

"That is why the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind. / We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through." (from Mere Christianity, 1952)

Today, let's try not to be our own kind of barbarian, but instead listen to God and do what is right in HIS eyes, and look to our King.