December 23, 2009 (Judges 17-21)

I'm going to preface this posting by saying, it's really confusing. If you happen upon this blog for the first time and have never read any before, go to December 12th. It's an entertaining one if you read to the end!

After reading these chapters I said out loud, "What a mess!" I don't know if I can adequately recap what happened, but I'll try. This section begins (17:6) and ends (21:25) with these same words: ⁶ In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

First of all Chapter 17 talks of a man named Micah. He apparently stole 1100 pieces of silver from his mom, and when she discovered them missing, she cursed whoever it was that stole them. Well, I guess his conscience got the best of him, so he fessed up and said "“I heard you place a curse on the person who stole 1,100 pieces of silver from you. Well, I have the money. I was the one who took it.”
Here's how his mother replied: “The Lord bless you for admitting it,” ³ He returned the money to her, and she said, “I now dedicate these silver coins to the Lord. In honor of my son, I will have an image carved and an idol cast.” ⁴ So when he returned the money to his mother, she took 200 silver coins and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into an image and an idol. And these were placed in Micah’s house. ⁵ Micah set up a shrine for the idol, and he made a sacred ephod and some household idols. Then he installed one of his sons as his personal priest.

So, instead of cursing him, she found a way to bless him instead, and in doing so they brought idols into their house.

When I read this next section, I was reminded of a sermon that Chris and I listened to, preached by a guy named Paris Readhead on January 1, 1980, entitled "Ten shekels and a Shirt". I remember him saying that this was one of the most powerful sermons he had ever heard. I did a google search and found it online:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=10180222445

Over these next couple of days I'm going to listen to it again. I viewed the PDF version and it's 17 pages long, so it will take some time that I don't have at the moment. After I listen to it, I'm going to come back to this and update this blog.

But from my reading, a Levite (the only ones that were supposed to be priests, and were only supposed to worship at the temple) happened to come by Micah's house and saw his little shrine he had set up in his home. Micah was thrilled that an actual Levite stopped by and asked if he would like to be his "personal priest". So for "10 shekels and a shirt" this Levite agreed.

In the mean time, the tribe of Dan was trying to find a place to settle. They discovered fertile ground and people living peaceful lives, and decided to go conquer that land. But on the way, they happened by the house of Micah and discovered he had a Levitical priest living with him. So basically, they offered the priest a "better job" - he could be the priest over many, instead of just that one family. So he agreed, and they took Micah's idols and were on their way. So basically, the priest stole Micha's idols and was on his way. He wasn't worshipping at the temple as God had commanded, and he also had idols. So he was "looking out for number one" and for sure wasn't doing what God wanted.

The next story is hard to believe. The cliff note version is: a Levite was traveling with his concubine (baby machine...not the same status as a wife, I don't think) and came across a town inhabited by the tribe of Benjamin (not a town of foreigners, but one of the tribes of Israel) as the sun was setting. No one would take them in for the night. One guy was coming in late from working in the fields and took them in because he didn't want them spending the night in the town square. Later that night the men from the town surrounded the house, wanting to have sex with the male traveler. So the homeowner offered up his virgin daughter, and the Levite offered up his concubine, but they wouldn't take them because they wanted the man. So the Levite took his concubine and pushed her out the door (true love). So the men of the town abused her all night, taking turns raping her. At daybreak she collapsed at the door of the house and the Levite found her there dead. So he put her body on his donkey, took her home, cut her up into twelve pieces and sent a piece to each tribe of Israel, using it as a call to action to get rid of evil. So all the Israelites assembled and asked how this terrible crime happened. Here is his response: “My concubine and I came to spend the night in Gibeah, a town that belongs to the people of Benjamin. ⁵ That night some of the leading citizens of Gibeah surrounded the house, planning to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she was dead." I found it interesting that he neglected one little detail, that he pushed her out the door!

So long story short, everyone mobilized against the tribe of Benjamin, killing all but 600 men, who went into hiding. They also made a vow to never give their daughters in marriage to a man from the tribe of Benjamin. Later, the reality of what they had done sunk in and they realized that one of the tribes of Israel would be extinct because of their vow to never let their daughters marry. So, they thought about who had made the vow and realized no one from Jabesh-gilead was there. They sent warriors to that town and killed every man, every child and every woman that was not a virgin. So there were 400 young virgins they let live. They called the 600 men out of hiding, made a truce with them and gave them these 400 virgins. But they still needed 200 more. So then they thought of an annual festival where the women would come out for their dances. They told the men of Benjamin that still needed wives to hide in the vineyards and while the women were dancing, rush out and take them home to be their wife. Then when their parents and brothers would come to protest, they were going to tell them to please be understanding, and to let them go with the men of Benjamin. They said "You are not guilty of breaking the vow since you didn't give your daughters in marriage to them." Talk about justifying your sin. What a sad state of affairs they ended up in.

And this book ends with the words "In those days Israel had no king, so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes." Kind of what happens today when Jesus isn't our king...we do whatever is right in our own eyes.