Chapters 20-21 Incompatibility
Chapter 20
“Were All Wet”
- Intro.
- Chp. 20 Swallowing a dog to catch a cat, imagine that
- Chp. 21 It’s God’s fault, let’s fix it
- Conclusion: Five lessons in faith and morality
Intro.
There is an old sailing story that talks about a sailor upon a ship traveling across the ocean that cut a hole under the waterline in the side of the ship next to his bed. When his ship mates came demanding to know what he had done he replied, “What’s it too you, the hole is next to my bed!” The story illustrates what these chapters speak of: That sin is not isolated individual events that have no relationship to each other. There is a vast “cause and effect” that if not dealt with will cause all on board to sink! There is no such thing as victimless sin all sin sends its water upon everybody sailing in this life.
As far as the group of men in Gibeah was concerned, rape and homosexuality was all right. To the farmer host and the Levite in the house, homosexuality and rape was morally outrageous but sacrificing innocent women to protect themselves and mutilating dead bodies to make a point was completely justifiable. The Benjamites thought it was right to over look the sin done by a group in Gibeah because no one took issue with the Levite and his host. To Israel, revenge and retaliation was justifiable and to solve the problems caused by their action it was right to blame God, massacre innocent people and advocate kidnapping of young virgins girls to correct the problem they created. All of this reminds me of the nursery rhyme of the “Old woman who swallowed a fly”.
Where did the nation go off? The answer is to be found in 20:26-28 where we are told by Samuel in verse 26 that they went to “the house of God”; literally it reads that they “went to inquire of the Lord at Bethel”. So important is that statement that Samuel interjects a commentary saying in verses 27-28 that “the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days”. Based upon passages in Joshua, Judges and 1 Samuel we know that tabernacle was located in Shiloh and the “Ark of the Covenant” belonged in the Holy of Holies at Shiloh but Phinehas a priest who once stood powerfully for God had cheapened the “Holiness of God” by allowing the “Ark of the Covenant” to be transported to Bethel in direct disobedience to God’s Word. Mark this dear one’s, “The root of all sin is a weak concept of the holiness of God”. When we lesson God’s view of sin to accommodate our habits and actions, we change His character and weaken His nature of Holiness in our minds and in so doing “Things become right in our own eyes”!
Swallowing a dog to catch a cat, imagine that
Vs. 1-3 The Levite had achieved the shock value he needed but surprisingly no one objects the actions of the Levite. What the nation need wasn’t to be shocked into action they needed to look into the mirror of the word and be broken hearted and personally repent! Twenty Three times in the Bible we hear those precious words of agreement with God as to why we are in the state we are in; “We Have Sinned!” But instead four hundred thousand men gather at Mizpah 8 miles north of Jerusalem in outrage to deal with what had been delivered to them in the body of the Levites concubine. This gathering for war is remarkable as it is the only recorded gathering in 350 years throughout the book of Judges and sadly they are not going to war against the enemy they are going to war against each other.
This seen has been repeated throughout Church history both in the broader scoop of Christendom as well as local church bodies. Saint’s we have real enemies that have united and banded together to destroy all that we hold as true and we have chose not to fight these enemies but we have no problem in gathering a muster to attack our own over some trivial dispute that has no eternal consequences.
Vs. 3-7 It appears based upon Samuel’s comment that the gathering of the army excluded the Benjamites as they heard about the gathering for war against them but was not asked until a diplomat was deployed in verse 12 with an accusation that they as a tribe were somehow involved in this. You wonder how differently things might have been if the nation would have gone and inquired of the Lord. But instead of going to the Benjamites they instead went only to the Levite who had “direct mailed” pieces of his concubine to them. Biblical law required them to get collaborating witness to establish truth but for this self-righteous nation they needed no other truth. The irony is they are after revenge from a tribe whom they accuse of doing what is right in their own eyes and are doing so without seeking God acting like the ones they accuse of doing what is right in their own eyes.
Because of this those present took three vows that would shape their future actions all because they didn’t seek God’s will and instead did what was right in their own eyes:
- No one was allowed home until the city of Gibeah had been wiped out and burned to the ground. As such they jumped into immediate military action, without any attempt of judicial negotiations or diplomatic solutions.
- Based upon 21:8-12 any person or group that didn’t join in the “Holy Crusade” against the inhabitants of Gibeah were to be treated as sympathizers and were to receive the same death sentence.
- No one present was allowed to give their daughters to marry any of the Benjamites.
Vs. 8-48 When Israel finally sought the Lord it wasn’t to ask whether they should go to war they already had decided to do that they only wanted to know which tribe should go first. The 11 tribes chose confrontation instead of intercession and reconciliation. As such the Lord gave no promise of victory and on the first day of the battle 22,000 men died. This brought them back to the Lord a 2nd time and this time based upon the outcome they asked, “Should we go up?” Again, the Lord promised no victory and the result was 18,000 men died. Finally with 40,000 men dead the nation was broken and wept and truly sought God’s direction and not only did they receive permission to go they also received assurance of victory. They ambush the Benjamites and the Lord defeated them as they inflected 25,000 Benjamites casualties from this small tribe reducing the number of men to only 600 that held up in the rock area of Rimmon. Oh, had the nation only carried out such hatred upon their personal sins!
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