The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 21:20-22,
"Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come
out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of
you [the remnant of Benjamin] seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh
and go to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers
complain to us, we will say to them, 'Do us a kindness by helping
them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you
are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.'"
When the other eleven tribes of Israel attacked the tribe of Benjamin
for the rape and murder of a Levite's concubine and Benjamin's
protection of the culprits, they slaughtered all of the men, women and
children of Benjamin, except for 600 men that fled into the desert.
Did the Lord want all the men, women and children of Benjamin
slaughtered? When the eleven tribes approached the Lord on attacking
Benjamin, he gave them the go-ahead. In Judges 21:15 we are told,
"...the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel." Benjamin was
protecting predatory rapists and murderers. The text doesn't tell us
how far the Lord wanted the eleven tribes to go in their pursuit of
justice with Benjamin. It does tell us what happened though. The tribe
was nearly wiped out in total. As the eleven tribes began to mourn the
loss of a whole tribe from the nation (that they themselves had
brought about), they came up with a convoluted way to provide the 600
man remnant with wives so they could make a come back as a tribe.
After supplying 400 virgins from the town of Jabesh Gilead, a town who
failed to show up for the fight against Benjamin originally, they
still needed more wives for the remaining men of Benjamin.
Since they had made an oath to not give their daughters to any
Benjamite as they prepared for war against them, they had a dilemma in
providing wives to the Benjamites for the survival of the tribe. Their
solution was to manufacture a group kidnapping. When the virgins from
Shiloh came out to dance at an "annual festival of the Lord" the
remaining Benjamites were to hide in the vineyards, rush out when the
girls came out and take them.
The Israelites banked on the fathers and brothers of these kidnapped
girls to go along with it after the fact. And, since the men of Shiloh
had no idea their daughters would be kidnapped, they would be assured
they were free of guilt in not breaking the oath in giving daughters
to the Benjamites.
I don't know about you, but I wonder how these Israelites thought they
were free from the guilt of breaking the oath to the Lord, even though
the men of Shiloh were not? I also wonder why they cared about
attempting to re-establish Benjamin as a tribe since they were the
ones who slaughtered them all in the first place? The text does say
the people grieved "because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of
Israel." It is difficult for me to determine whether the Lord wanted
them to go that far. The text also doesn't provide perspective on it,
but why was it necessary to slaughter the whole town of Jabesh Gilead,
save the 400 virgins? The text doesn't say.
One thing the text is clear about is the utter depravity Israel had
sunk to in their rejection of God. As a nation, they represent what
sin brings to any people. All of these actions stem from a series of
events spawned by the depraved hearts of individuals.
The Lord had revealed himself to Israel. He had redeemed them from
slavery in Egypt and sought their faith and trust in him. He provided
them the law, a very important tool to demonstrate how depraved their
hearts were and how dependent upon him they were for a right standing
before him. He provided them leaders, he provided them prophets, he
provided them the Scriptures, he provided them many manifestations of
his holiness, his character and nature, his love and his provision.
The Lord had provided Israel with everything they needed to keep
themselves from spiraling into a vortex of depravity resulting in the
kinds of events that we read about in Judges 17-21.
I am reminded the Lord has done the same for me and more. In addition
to all he had provided Israel, he has provided me the Holy Spirit as a
constant companion of encouragement and direction. He has provided me
with wonderful brothers and sisters, likewise filled with his Spirit,
as an encouragement, filled with various gifts to minister to us all.
He has provided his Son as an atonement for my sin as an historical
fact that I can look back to and measure his incomprehensible love for
me. He has also provided additional Scriptures that provide for me
everything I need that I might be "equipped for every good work." 2
Timothy 3:17.
The message could not be any clearer: follow the Lord and avoid the
horrific things of the type we find in Judges, or reject the Lord and
live it all for ourselves.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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