God is Bigger Than Our Mess- Judges 21:1-25

 While there are incredible joys associated with parenting young children, sometimes this precious territory includes messes. Sweeping, wiping, and picking things up off the floor are consistent behaviors in our home in this season of life. While most of the time we call upon our children to clean up the messes they create, as I am sure many parents will testify, sometimes the clean up leads to a worse mess than was there before. There are certain messes that our small children are incapable of cleaning in their own power. In fact, sometimes, they will make a bad thing worse if they try to wipe certain spills or pick up the broken jar themselves. This is not unlike what we have seen in our Judges series. In our journey through the Book of Judges we have witnessed the people of God create a mess for themselves again and again and then prove to make matters worse by trying to clean things up in their own power. The final chapter of this Old Testament work is a prime example of this and, in many ways, summarizes the condition of God’s people in this period of Israel’s history. Today we are going to conclude our Judges series by looking at four elements of the mess God’s people find themselves in as a result of their idolatry in Judges 21:1-25. Afterward, we will be reminded that there is a better way to live and a loving Father who is both qualified and willing to completely clean our mess of sin and death.   

a. ELEMENT #1: The People of God Recognize Their Mess-21:1-7

Given the atrocities committed by some of the Benjamites in Judges 19 and the unwillingness of the Benjamites to hand over the criminals who committed the crimes, the men of Israel determine than none of them should marry off their daughters to this tribe—“Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, ‘None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin in marriage’…” (21:1). Remember, in chapter 20, the men of Israel had already gone to war with this tribe, destroyed Gibeah, and run off most of the surviving Benjamites. The women of Benjamin had also been slain and only 600 men escaped—doomed to live a life of celibacy unless they decided to marry outside Israel. This would have seen to it that the tribe was in jeopardy of going extinct. Such a sanction would have significantly crippled the ability of the tribe to continue its line and was, at least in the ancient world, perhaps the worst punitive measure taken so far in this saga.

After this oath is made, the Israelites appear to immediately regret it—“So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. They said, ‘Why, O Lord, God of Israel, has this come about in Israel, so that one tribe should be missing today in Israel?’ It came about the next day that the people arose early and built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings…” (21:2-4). The people’s weeping described here is similar to the cries heard in a funeral dirge (Block, Judges, Ruth, 570). This wailing is voiced as the Israelites mourn what they believe to be the death of an entire tribe. Notice, however, their outrage over the situation is directed toward heaven. The mourner’s question why this has all come about when all the while their own actions and idolatry was to blame for this predicament. That is the thing about unchecked and unrepentant sin—it blinds a person from their own culpability/responsibility in the situations in which they find themselves.

Desperate to hear from God, the people rise early the next morning, set up an altar, and offer their whole burnt and peace offerings. Perhaps they believed that God was obligated to show up and speak if they performed the right rituals. However, God does not answer (and I cannot say that I blame him) and the people are thrown back on their own resources. This is an important element in the story. God is under no obligation to speak/move at the beck and call of those who have so consistently ignored or betrayed him. The Israelites had pretended their God and his Word didn’t exist and now God was allowing them to feel the full weight of what that may actually be like. YIKES!

The mess grows even worse as we keep reading in verse 5—“Then the sons of Israel said, ‘Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up in the assembly to the Lord?’ For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the Lord at Mizpah, saying, ‘He shall surely be put to death’…” (21:5). Evidently, prior to the civil war that commenced in chapter 20, the men of Israel had made another promise that anyone who did not participate in the battle against Benjamin would be executed. Therefore, you have a tribe on the verge of extinction (Benjamin) and a warrant out for the execution of non-participants in the questionable war that was waged against this same tribe. Ill-conceived oaths and commitments abound as the people of God produce this mess of epic proportions. It really is as simple as this: The Israelites had determined to extinguish Benjamin and anyone who did not help them do it. Now Israel appears to be sorry for their brother and without any recourse to help them.

The ambivalence and confusion in this situation continues as we read verse 6-7—“And the sons of Israel were sorry for their brother Benjamin and said, ‘One tribe is cut off from Israel today. What shall we do for wives or those who are left, since we have sworn by the Lord not to given them any of our daughters in marriage?’…” (21:6). This was not the first time that the people of God placed themselves in hot water after a questionable oath was sworn. Remember Jephthah? He had foolishly and unnecessarily promised God that he would offer the first thing to come out of his house as a sacrifice after his victory in battle. This led to the tragic death of his own virgin daughter! Here, God’s people were making oaths left and right that they believed they could not get out of. As a result, they have painted themselves in a corner and, at least as far as they could tell, they are made to try to clean up the mess as best as they can by themselves.

b. ELEMENT #2: The People of God Try to Clean Their Mess-21:8-15

First, the people of God decide to make good on their promise to kill those who did not join them in the battle against the Benjamites—“And they said, ‘What one is there of the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the Lord at Mizpah?’ And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. For when the people were numbered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there” (21:8-9). Apparently, no one from Jabesh-gilead was found on the battlefield in chapter 20. As a result, they become the target of the Israelites (the in-fighting that began between Israel and Benjamin now leads to more infighting here).

“And the congregation sent 12,000 of the valiant warriors there, and commanded them, saying, ‘Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones. This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every man and every woman who had lain with a man’…” (21:10-11). Let us quickly remind ourselves that this whole effort is NOT sanctioned by God. God has remained silent for the better part of the last half of the Book of Judges in response to Israel’s idolatry and this campaign is a mis-guided man-driven effort to clean up a mess that this nation has gotten herself into. When men and women are driven by idolatry and are then left to their own devices to clean up the messes they inevitably get themselves into, disaster always ensues. Here, the disaster takes the form of bloodshed, including of women (married women) and children.

Perhaps to kill two birds with one stone (dealing with their guilt over the expected extinction of the Bejamites and executing those who did not join them in battle against the Benjamites), the Israelites have the foresight to exclude the virgins in their campaign against Jabesh-gilead. See if you can follow the logic here: We hate the Benjamites for allowing the atrocities against the Levite’s concubine so we are going to kill as many of them as we can and promise not to marry our daughters off to any survivors; we are going to execute anyone who didn’t join us in battle against the Benjamites; we now regret that we’ve nearly extinguished the Benjamites; we will find virgins from among those who didn’t join us in battle to hand over to the Benjamites so that their line may continue. If this sounds backwards and crazy that is because it is! However, once again, this is the kind of logic that is possible and the kind of clean up effort that can take place, when God is forgotten and people are being led by their own devices. As before, women are being treated like property that can be easily exchanged (which is, by the way, how this whole mess started back with the Levite and his concubine). Such treatment of women is again another horrible stain on God’s people’s record here in the days of the Judges.

The determination to hand over the virgins to the remaining Benjamites is confirmed in verses 13-15—“Then the whole congregation sent word and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had kept alive from the women of Jabesh-gilead; yet they were not enough for them. And the people were sorry for Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.” Even this backwards crazy solution to the problem they created for themselves does not appear to be enough to clean up the mess of their own doing. Unfortunately, rather than learn from their many mistakes, the people of God take matters into their woefully incapable hands AGAIN and create a new mess in verses 16-24.

c. ELEMENT #3: The People of God Create a New Mess-21:16-24

After coming up short on wives for their Benjamite cousins (as if wives are something you can just go out and get in such a casual way), “the elders of the congregation said, ‘What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?’ They said, ‘There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be blotted out from Israel’…” (21:16-17). While the Israelites seem bent on procuring wives for the Benjamites so that their line may continue, the hurdle that remains for them to help continues to be the oath that they made about marrying off their own daughters to this tribe—“’But we cannot give them wives of our daughters.’ For the sons of Israel had sworn, saying, ‘Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin’….” (21:18).  What are they to do? Given the track record of how they have handled things, I’m not sure we can be optimistic concerning what their response here will be.

The account of the solution to this problem is given in verses 19-22—"…So they said, ‘Behold, there is a feast of the Lord from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south side of Lebonah.’ And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, ‘Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, and watch; and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, then you shall come out of the vineyards and each of you shall catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. It shall come about, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we shall say to them, “Give them to us voluntarily, because we did not take for each man of Benjamin a wife in battle, nor did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.”’…” (21:19-22). Wow! While before women were treated like property to eb exchanged, here they have been devalued even further to prey that can be snatched up. The Benjamites are encouraged here to hunt for a wife among the dancers in Shiloh and then, if the fathers of these women cause friction, they will be pressured into giving them up by force. Here, the common cousins of idolatry are in full view. Entitlement, satisfying fleshly lusts, and disrespect of human persons made in the image of God are all involved in this final scene in the book of Judges.

The advice given is taken and things return to relative normal in verses 23-24—“The sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who danced, whom they carried away. And they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the cities and lived in them. The sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and each one of them went out from there to his inheritance. In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes…” (21:23-24). While for the tribes of Israel things seem to be back on track (at least in some ways), one must wonder “at what cost?” The atrocities witnessed in chapter 19 were reacted to in such a way that more atrocities were committed involving destruction, death, and the devaluing of those made in the image of God. What a mess! How is this possible, especially among the people of God? The answer is given as we read the final element in the book.

d. ELEMENT #4: The People of God are a Mess-21:25

The people of God (in and of themselves) are a mess. The final verse, which is a repeat of what has already been mentioned three times prior in the book, indicates two related reasons for why things have gone so wrong. First, there is a lack of godly leadership—“In those days there was no king in Israel” (21:25a). You might say, “I thought Israel didn’t need a king and should not have required such.” Later in 1 Samuel, the desire for a king was questioned and discouraged as God was to be understood as the supreme leader of his people and that was to be enough. Applied here in Judges, it is clear the vacancy of a godly human leader also indicated that God’s people were not submitting to God himself as their king.

This vacuum of godly leadership led to pervasive selfish autonomy. The book concludes with “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (21:25b). This, perhaps more than anything else, indicates how the mess that is this final chapter (and, perhaps this entire book), took place. People acted according to what was right in their own eyes and in this way they followed the path of idolatry of the self rather than submission to the Lord God Almighty.

So What?

Ultimately, this sad concluding chapter in Israel’s history reveals that there are ultimately two ways to live your life—reveling in a mess of your own creation or following the Lord’s leadership to ultimate blessing. The good news following this disastrous end of the book is that God has made a way out of the mess that we all find ourselves in. He has given a king of kings so that we are not left to our own devices. He provides the godly leadership that we require each and every day of our lives. His name is Jesus. He alone is worthy of calling the shots, leading the way, and carrying us to where God wants us to go. Perhaps you need to turn away from the mess you are in, quit trying to fix the problem in your own strength, and trust in him instead.

Perhaps you have already placed your faith and trust in Christ Jesus. Maybe today you need to be reminded that the mess of this world is not going to be fixed by man-made efforts, strategies, and schemes. The mess of this world has been answered in the person and work of Christ who put an end to sin and death through his own  death and resurrection. This same Jesus will come again one day to forever eradicate the evil and wickedness we see around us. This ought to instill hope amid the brokenness and keep us from pridefully considering how we can take the place of our only Savior in this or that situation. While in the case of the Judges for God’s people there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes, let us remember as God’s people today that there is a King in our lives (his name is Jesus) and may we commit ourselves to doing what is right according to his word.