Judges Conclusion - 2023 Unused Items

BOTTOMLINE 2: A revelation of God is the best medicine for the soul.

bringing things closer & closer to what He told Moses.

Deut 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.

“At just the right time....Jesus!” Romans 5:6 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Othniel and Ehud had rallied all of Israel to fight their oppressors (3:10, 27); Deborah and Barak took two tribes (4:10); Gideon had only 300. By Samson’s time, sin had so devastated the people of God that no one (including, for almost all his life, Samson himself) was willing to give themselves to the liberation battle (15:9-13).

Keller, Timothy. Judges For You (God's Word For You) (Kindle Locations 2227-2229). Kindle Edition.

Verse 13 shows the whole goal of Micah’s (and his mother’s) efforts: “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.” The purpose of his religious efforts is to get access to God so that he can get God to do what he wants. The goal of true faith is to give God access to your heart so that he can get you to do what he wants. Religion’s true purpose is to get God to serve you; gospel faith’s purpose is to get your heart to serve him.

Josh 18:7 “The Levites have no portion among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their heritage. And Gad and Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.””

Joshua 21:3–40 “So by command of the Lord the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasturelands out of their inheritance. The lot came out for the clans of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, thirteen cities. And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities. The Gershonites received by lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. The Merarites according to their clans received from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. These cities and their pasturelands the people of Israel gave by lot to the Levites, as the Lord had commanded through Moses. Out of the tribe of the people of Judah and the tribe of the people of Simeon …”

Old Testament 19:1-21:25: The Civil War Against Benjamin

In this instance the Ephraimite apparently shifts his role from hospitable to inhospitable host by “callously” offering the Levite’s concubine to the crowd in order to save his honor and perhaps his own life. Technically the concubine could not be legally separated from the Levite and should have been protected by the customs of hospitality to the same degree.

IVPBBC OT Commentary

Old Testament 19:1-21:25: The Civil War Against Benjamin

21:25. no king. This chapter concludes with the same statement which appears earlier, explaining the anarchic conditions in the Judges period by noting that no king ruled at that time (see the comment on Judg 17:6). This provides an exclamation to the entire book. The stories filled with violence and death were an obvious case for the necessity of the monarchy. The covenant was ignored, the people rebelled, and no law was above breaking in a time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Thus the only hope for peace and the rule of order was a reestablishment of the covenant and the imposition of strong leadership.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Abridged: Old Testament 5. The Crime Report to Israel (19:29–20:7)

29 The shocking murder influenced the Levite to take drastic action. He cut up his concubine’s body as one divides the carcass of a sacrificial animal (Ex 29:17; Lev 1:6) and sent a part of her body to each of the twelve tribes, including the leaders of the offending tribe, Benjamin. Apparently the recipients of this gruesome parcel were expected to respond to the appeal or else risk being struck with the sword themselves (cf. 21:10; cf. 1Sa 11:7).

30–20:1 Predictably, the nation reacted with burning indignation. The Israelites had been guilty of numerous sins since the Exodus, but never of anything so repulsive as this. They

“No other book in the Old Testament offers the modern church as telling a mirror as this book. This book is a wake-up call for a church moribund in its own selfish pursuits. Instead of heeding the call of truly godly leaders and letting Jesus Christ be Lord of the church, everywhere congregations and their leaders do what is right in their own eyes.” (Daniel I. Block, Judges-Ruth, page 586)

Keller, Timothy. Judges For You (God's Word For You) (Kindle Locations 2656-2659). Kindle Edition.

Living by our own wits will always result in a loss of some kind – either physical or spiritual. Still, how often do we fail to seek God’s direction until we’re backed into a corner? In a time of desperation, you may quickly attempt to catch up on asking the Lord’s forgiveness or upping your church attendance. While those things are good, examine the condition of your heart that put you in such a precarious position to start with. How would God describe your attitude toward Him today? Rebellious or obedient? Willful or submissive? The Lord is ready to offer daily comfort and guidance, but we must first recognize His sovereign right to be worshipped and obeyed.

As Christians, we are often our own worst enemy. We can become so comfortable going through the motions of religion while dabbling in worldly temptations that we don’t realize how far we’ve moved from God Himself. Think back through the challenges you faced this week. How have your thoughts about those issues been affected by unbiblical views in the world? How might you have used your own reasoning to find a solution? Following Christ in a spiritually dark world requires constant communication with God –through both prayer and Scripture. Which version of yourself is being developed?

It is a religion that is not about God and his truth and will, but about me and my ideas and preferences. It is a religion which seeks to control and tame God, to remake him in an image we are comfortable with. It is an easy, or an exciting, religion—but it is not a religion which will bring blessing or rescue. - TK