In Judges chapter 20 we note that to some in 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 wrong? 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 ones, “The root of all sin is a weak concept of the holiness of God”. When we lessen God’s view of sin to accommodate our habits and actions, we are changing His character and weakening His nature of Holiness in our minds and in so doing “Things become right in our own eyes”!