Revelations from the Word

Man oh man is Judges a wild book. Every story is like an episode of Game of Thrones. Sordid. Weird and lawless. It’s a brutally candid representation of God’s chosen people. Much like the Jonny Depp, and Amber Heard trial. An exposé of their darkest secrets made public for the world to see.

Welcome to Judges.

There’s one particular story in the book of Judges where a Levite’s concubine runs away (only the Lord knows what business a Levite has with a concubine…) He fetches his runaway concubine and heads on home. On route home it gets dark and a kind old mind in the state of Benjamin invites him to spend the night. Later that evening a group of the town’s vagabonds begin pounding at this old man’s door demanding the Levite come out so they can have sex with him.

Hold up. what!?

A group of men wanting to have intercourse with a random dude. This is a complete breakdown of society. Imagine staying at someone’s house and a group of wayward men comes banging at the door demanding to have sex with you. The Bible doesn’t beat around the bush. It’s honest about humanity. About the evil that exists within our hearts.

Anyway - the story continues (and gets increasingly sordid - if you can fathom that) and the old man and priest give these malevolent men the Levite’s concubine instead (save yourselves - give the girl - these are some upstanding gentlemen!). The girl dies. What follows is a massive civil war where almost the entire clan of Benjamities is wiped out.

The key theme throughout the book of Judges is: ‘there was no king in those days and everyone did what was right in his own eyes’.

They did what was right…

in their Own eyes.

The book of Judges depicts a continuous downward moral spiral until complete moral depravity. When there is no king, humanity slides into moral depravity. It’s therefore a fitting title for Jesus: the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He should be the king of our hearts. Without Him as king - we do what’s right in our own eyes. And the world around us becomes very messy.

In an age where almost everything that was once self-evident is questioned…

May you do what is right in His eyes! Amen.

by Cyle