A few years ago, I did a lengthy blog post on what I then termed as “the most difficult passage in the Bible.” It was part of a three-post series in which I explored and explained why the Bible is indeed a history book. It is not one of the most well-known passages in Scripture, and for very good reason: it is brutal what happened.
Interestingly, Judges 19 was a story that stood out when I
did my first pass through reading the entire Bible in one year. And yes, I was
horrified. But what got me was a few years later, I was discussing reading
through the Bible with a friend, and she had mentioned that this passage
affected her so much that she stopped reading Scripture for a while after that.
In disclosure, this was a friend that was a faithful churchgoer her whole life
up to that point (and even afterwards), but she admitted that there were parts
of the Bible that she really struggled with, to the point of not wanting to
read it. This was one of those times. So, when I endeavored to blog about
Judges 19 I did so, knowing that this would indeed be a difficult passage. A
different friend, a few years later, in another discussion about the Bible, had
shared with us a similar reaction of horror upon reading the same passage.
Today’s reading through the Bible chronologically not only
brought me back to the horrific events of Judges 19, but also the aftermath. As
I am reading through the Bible this year, I am often finding more and more
examples of how just God is. For those who were truly horrified by the events
of Judges 19, I want to assure you that these acts did not go unnoticed in God’s
eyes. Judges 20 and 21 bear witness to it.
So all the children of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord at Mizpah. And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers who drew the sword. (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?” So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “My concubine and I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night. And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died. So I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. Look! All of you are children of Israel; give your advice and counsel here and now!” So all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house; but now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up against it by lot. We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel.” So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man.
Judges 20:1-11 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Judges%2020:1-11&version=NKJV
I’m not going to copy and paste every verse from the
following chapters, but suffice to say, the people from the other tribes of
Israel consulted with God, and He gave them not only the OK but the order to
wipe out the people of Gibeah, and much of the tribe of Benjamin, from whom
they came. Again, the aftermath is just as brutal as the events that
precipitated it. This is how history unfolded. The below passage illustrates
how deeply God cares and is involved in the lives of His people Israel:
Then the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God to inquire of God. They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” The Lord said, “Judah first!” So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel put themselves in battle array to fight against them at Gibeah. Then the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down to the ground twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites.
Judges 20:18-21 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Judges%2020:18-21&version=NKJV
And because God is a God of justice, and because He hates
evil so much, sometimes His orders to make things right will go beyond our own
human sensibilities. The following passage illustrates as such:
Then the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, “Shall I again draw near for battle against the children of my brother Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Go up against him.” So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day. And Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah on the second day, and cut down to the ground eighteen thousand more of the children of Israel; all these drew the sword. Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, went up and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.
Judges 20:23-26 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Judges%2020:23-26&version=NKJV
Here, although the other Israelites were horrified at the
events that happened in Gibeah, and although they dutifully carried out God’s
orders in order to make right what was wrong, even the other Israelites were
moved by their own actions. That said, in this they chose to trust and obey
God, no matter the orders.
And the people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a void in the tribes of Israel.
Judges 21:15 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Judges%2021:15&version=NKJV
Sometimes I think people who struggle with the idea that the
Bible is really the true authority and the source of all authority (myself
included, at times), will look at these types of passages and think: “this is
so horrible! There’s no way a God who is good would allow such things to
happen!” Or, “why does God punish people so harshly?”
The answer lies in the fact that so often people’s hearts
are so evil that even we, who claim that we would be merciful in such
situations, would be horrified still if we knew the real truth about the evil
that these people committed. To which: the passage that started this round of
events:
While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him. ”
Judges 19:22 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Judges%2019:22&version=NIV
Considering that we currently live in the “MeToo Movement”
era, we already believe that it is indeed wrong to violate any person sexually.
The cold, hard truth of the matter is that the people of Gibeah truly were that
evil. And I bet that the very same people who would claim that they would be
merciful to people of all sorts of different tribes, including those in Gibeah,
would turn around and automatically condemn anyone in the current day and age
who attempted a crime not even half as bad. God is still on the throne, and He
is still a God of justice, and as such He will see it through that justice
happens. And to wrap up my points about this section of the book of Judges, the
following verse basically spells out the state of all the tribes in Israel and
surrounding nations at this point in time:
In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
Judges 21:25 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Judges%2021:25&version=NIV