Judges 19-21 - Wickedness in the Heart of Israel

Please turn with me to the book of Judges, chapter 19.

We are finally here at the end of our summer walk-through of Judges. Its been quite the ride! In Judges, we’ve seen Israel’s spiral into greater and greater neglect of God and His commands and His way of life for His people, and the tragedy that results. In today’s passage, we’re at rock bottom.

We’re going to dive right into the passage today. If I were to read the entirety of chapters 19-21, it would take the entire time allotted for the sermon, so we’re going to hit the highlights that show the progression of the plot, and I’ll interject a few comments to fill in the gaps in between.

To make sense of today’s story, you need to understand that the nation of Israel is named after “Israel”, another name of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. The nation of Israel (“Israel’s nation”) was subdivided into twelve tribes, each named after one of Jacob/Israel’s twelve sons. Today we’re going to meet a Levite (all of the priests of the nation came from that tribe), and the Benjamite tribe. We’ll also hear about Judah and Ephraim.

Our story today starts with an incident where a traveling Levite’s live-in-girlfriend (concubine) is brutally murdered by some Israelite men. This incident ignites a powder keg that blows up into a full-blown civil war. The whole story shows us just how far Israel has fallen from God’s design for the life and worship of Israel, and as we go, we’ll see some aspects of their society that should feel eerily familiar to us in our world today!

Judges 19:1 (CSB)
1 In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite staying in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim acquired a woman from Bethlehem in Judah as his concubine.

She runs away, and he goes to bring her back. They stay overnight in Gibeah, a Benjaminite town. The location of this incident is mentioned for a reason. (See this slide…) It shows just how bad Israel has gotten as a nation. Gibeah is directly in the center of the nation. And it is acting exactly like Sodom and Gomorrah. The parallels between our passage today and Genesis 19 are startling.

There’s a message that goes with this location: “There is wickedness in the heart of Israel.”

To begin the narrative, an old man takes them into his home for the night.

Judges 19:22;24-26 (CSB)
22 While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, wicked men of the city surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man who was the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!”

This is how bad things have gotten in Israel. We’re just getting started with the story, and already we see that at the heart of the nation. Three miles north of Jerusalem, the town is filled with homosexuality and sexual violence.

The kind old man who took them in for the night tries to protect his guest, but he does so by exploiting not only the guest’s concubine but his own daughter; he tries to throw them to the wolves waiting outside his door.

… 24 Here, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine now. Abuse them and do whatever you want to them. But don’t commit this outrageous thing against this man.”

You can see how convoluted his moral compass is. He sees that homosexuality and violence against his guest is clearly an “outrage”, clearly offensive, clearly wrong, but he has no sense that sexual violence against women is also outrageous. All of these offenses are punishable by death according to the law of Moses.

25 But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and took her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night until morning. At daybreak they let her go. 26 Early that morning, the woman made her way back, and as it was getting light, she collapsed at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was.

The Levite finds her dead, places her on his donkey, and returns home.

Judges 19:29-30 (CSB)
29 When he entered his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and then sent her throughout the territory of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or has been seen since the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until now. Think it over, discuss it, and speak up!”

The tribes of Israel gather at Mizpah to hear what had happened. The Levite gives a version of the story that appeals the outrage of the Israelites but omits his own guilt in handing his concubine over.

Judges 20:3b–9 (CSB)
…The Israelites asked, “Tell us, how did this evil act happen?” 4 The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered, “I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night. 5 Citizens of Gibeah came to attack me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, but they raped my concubine, and she died. 6 Then I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout Israel’s territory, because they have committed a wicked outrage in Israel. 7 Look, all of you are Israelites. Give your judgment and verdict here and now.” 8 Then all the people stood united and said, “None of us will go to his tent or return to his house. 9 Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will attack it.

The Israelites are following the law of Moses in Deuteronomy 13 in conducting an investigation to see what has gone on in the city. They rightly find the city of Gibeah guilty. Israel demands that the tribe of Benjamin turn over the guilty men. But, Benjamin refuses, raises its own army, and instead of supporting justice, circles its wagons around its own tribe, and initiates the worst thing yet in Israel’s history, civil war.

Judges 20:13-15 (CSB)
13 Hand over the wicked men in Gibeah so we can put them to death and purge evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to their fellow Israelites. 14 Instead, the Benjaminites gathered together from their cities to Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites. 15 On that day the Benjaminites mobilized twenty-six thousand armed men from their cities, besides seven hundred fit young men rallied by the inhabitants of Gibeah.

After two failed battles, Israel defeats (the tribe of) Benjamin.

Judges 20:35-36; 41-42; 47-48 (CSB)
35 The Lord defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 men of Benjamin; all were armed. 36 Then the Benjaminites realized they had been defeated.

…41 Then the men of Israel returned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had struck them. 42 They retreated before the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities slaughtered those between them.

…47 But six hundred men escaped into the wilderness to Rimmon Rock and stayed there four months. 48 The men of Israel turned back against the other Benjaminites and killed them with their swords—the entire city, the animals, and everything that remained. They also burned all the cities that remained.

This part is complicated. The law of Moses instructs Israel to destroy the city where such wickedness occurs. But Israel goes so far as to wipe out almost the entire tribe of Benjamin, including all their cities. Granted, the tribe of Benjamin started it by refusing to help their brothers carry out justice.

To their credit, the Israelites then weep bitterly over what they have done. But instead of repentance, they attempt to rectify their vow-bound predicament with even more destructive choices.

Judges 21:6–14 (CSB)
6 But the Israelites had compassion on their brothers, the Benjaminites, and said, “Today a tribe has been cut off from Israel. 7 What should we do about wives for the survivors? We’ve sworn to the Lord not to give them any of our daughters as wives.”

8 They asked, “Which city among the tribes of Israel didn’t come to the Lord at Mizpah?” It turned out that no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp and the assembly. 9 For when the roll was called, no men were there from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead.

10 The congregation sent twelve thousand brave warriors there and commanded them, “Go and kill the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the sword, including women and dependents. 11 This is what you should do: Completely destroy every male, as well as every woman who has gone to bed with a man.” 12 They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, who had not been intimate with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. 13 The whole congregation sent a message of peace to the Benjaminites who were at Rimmon Rock. 14 Benjamin returned at that time, and Israel gave them the women they had kept alive from Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough for them.

So Israel uses a religious festival at Shiloh as cover to abduct even more wives for the Benjamites. Adding insult to injury.What a mess!

The story, and indeed the whole book of Judges, closes with the final, tragic pronouncement:

Judges 21:25 (CSB)
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.

The situation is very bad

My deep technical, theological analysis of this passage for us today is this:
this is all very, very bad!

It’s as bad as it seems. The details in this passage would warrant an R-rating, along with multiple content advisories if it were to be made into a film. Some of the events couldn’t even be included in the movie.

There are a few parts of the story that seem to give us a little hint that Israel is still worshipping Yahweh. They use His name. We are told that Israel inquires of the Lord. God seems to answer their prayers. They have the appearance of worship and piety, but what we are being shown is that the details are all wrong.

They are at Bethel, not Shiloh, the prescribed place of worship, the prescribed location of the Ark of the Covenant.The ark was not to be moved except by God’s command; it was to be housed in the tabernacle and attended by a specific subset of the Levites. What we’re seeing here is not piety and faith from Israel; we’re seeing a collapse of obedience to God. That God responds to their prayers shows his participation in the judgment of Israel for their corruption.

What we are witnessing in the passage today is a total collapse of the religion and, therefore, the society of Israel. Over 30 of God’s direct commands are explicitly broken in our passage today, including all 10 commandments. Unjust war causes tens of thousands of Israelites to die. Women are kidnapped, raped, assaulted, and exploited. Priests fail in their role to instruct and uphold God’s law. The times God’s law is even close to obeyed, it is done in hypocritical, selective ways with double standards. Biblical marriage standards are ignored, and instead, the Levite has a concubine. Religious rituals are performed for pragmatic reasons rather than biblical ones. Guilty parties go unpunished. Innocent parties are punished.

I hope I don’t have to go too far out of my way to help you draw the parallels to our world today. Even within the church, those who call themselves Christians.

A King is Needed

The summary of the matter: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him” (Judges 21:25). Individualism reigned, and tragedy was the result.

Many modern social commentators, even secular ones, are calling the predominant philosophy of our day and age (for the past several decades): “expressive individualism.”

This is the idea that meaning can only be found by giving expression to our feelings and desires. No one can tell you who you are, and what is right for you, you have to look within, and figure out what you feel is true, what you desire to do, and then go do it.

This extends in our culture to everything from career choices to so-called “gender identity” - if I feel like a woman, then I must be a woman, regardless of my biology. This is a lie, and it is not a new one. We see in Judges, and in the world around us, the chaos that line of reasoning unleashes on individuals, families, and nations.

The men of Gibeah were acting according to their internal feelings and desires. It resulted in the rape and destruction of a vulnerable woman, who was put in a position of danger based on the feelings and desires of a couple of people trying to protect themselves.

What does the Book of Judges say is the problem? A lack of a king. Let’s get more specific about what is meant by that. A lack of a proclaimer, protector, and enforcer of God’s law. One whose job it is to see that God’s word is passed on from generation to generation. One whose job it is to ensure that worship is handled according to God’s commands.

But as we’ve said in past weeks, the rest of the story in 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings shows us that a human king is not the answer. It is no accident that Israel’s first king, Saul, is from Gibeah, where all this mess came to a head in our passage today.

The Real Problem and Real Solution

The reason the merely human king was insufficient was that the true problem still remains. All the prophets reflect back on this problem. It was also foreshadowed by the greatest of the prophets, Moses, just before entering the Promised Land.

Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses delivered the laws that God had given him to Israel. As we’ve been going through our series in Judges, we’ve been showing you specific instances where those laws were broken, and as I just mentioned, today’s passage has too many of those laws to point out! The law also came with a blessing and a curse:

Obey God’s law and you will be blessed in every facet of life, because that is what God’s law is always all about: God showing His people the way they were designed to operate and how we can flourish as we interact with one another! Disobey God’s law, by contrast, and as a natural result, you will be cursed! Not because God is arbitrarily angry with you, but because disobeying God’s law means destroyed lives and relationships!

After promising the blessing for obedience, and warning of the curse for disobedience, Moses also prophesied that they would in fact disobey (as we see so clearly in Judges) and come under the curse, including loss of the promised land. And then he makes this one last, and greatest promise: restoration for repentance.

Deuteronomy 30:1–6 (CSB)
1 “When all these things happen to you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and all your soul by doing everything I am commanding you today, 3 then he will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 Even if your exiles are at the farthest horizon, he will gather you and bring you back from there. 5 The Lord your God will bring you into the land your ancestors possessed, and you will take possession of it. He will cause you to prosper and multiply you more than he did your ancestors. 6 The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love him with all your heart and all your soul so that you will live.

God promises His people that no matter how far they’ve gone away from Him, when they turn back with all their heart and soul, He will restore them. In fact in verse six it sets up this bit of a mysterious idea: that God will “circumcise your heart” so that you will love him with all your heart and soul. So which is it, turn back to God and love Him with all your heart and soul and He will restore you? Or God will circumcise your heart so that you will love Him with all your heart and soul? Which comes first? The answer is yes. :)

Circumcision was the sign of the Old Covenant. When you were a member of God’s people (and you were male) you were to be circumcised as a sign that you were a member. That sign was what theologians call a “type” - sort of a “foreshadowing” or a symbol, or an analogy that would later be explained in more full meaning in the New Covenant. Types are all over the Old Covenant. All the things like the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, the priests' garments, even some of the key Old Testament people were types that set us up for something that is still to come: namely, Jesus. Jesus is the “antetype” or fulfillment, or full meaning of all the Old Covenant types.

Circumcision of the heart, referenced by Moses, is later explained by Jesus and the apostles. The reason Israel continually fell into sin and disobedience to God’s law was because of their problem of the heart. It wasn’t just circumcision of their flesh that needed to happen, not just an outward symbol that they were part of God’s people; they needed something more. They needed not just their skin, their body, to be changed, they needed, we need, changed hearts.

God’s provision of the Savior King

Circumcision of the heart is one of several metaphors the Old Testament uses to describe something that God now accomplishes for His people through Jesus Christ.

In Deuteronomy, it says that He will “circumcise our hearts so that we will love him with all our heart and soul so that we will live.” The prophet Ezekiel says that God will “Give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you and cause you to walk in his ways and obey his commands.” This all came true through Jesus. Jesus is the king that Judges was ultimately referring to. Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promise through Moses.

Two thousand years ago, our Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the one triune God, took on human flesh and lived among us. For 30 years, he lived a humble and quiet life in the household of a handyman, perfectly obeying the law of Moses, unlike anyone has ever done before.

For three years, he had an itinerant preaching ministry where he taught God’s ways most clearly, performed miracles to validate his claims to be God, and modeled for us the way of life of a true worshipper of the Most High God. He was accused of crimes he did not commit and was brutally tortured by the Romans and hanged to die on a Roman cross.

He was punished in our place, the punishment we deserved for our disobedience. He died the death we deserved to die. But he did not stay dead. On the third day, he rose from the dead, destroying the ultimate power of death over his people, making it possible to follow him in resurrection for eternal life. He traveled around for 40 days, proving his resurrection, and continued to teach and clarify the way of God.

He rose to heaven, and is currently there, on the throne with God the Father, reigning with power and control over all creation, and empowering His people through His spirit to carry out His work and His message to the entire world! He’s coming again soon to right every wrong, carry out perfect justice, and we will live with him in a sin-free heaven and earth for all eternity.

When we trust Jesus, believe Him, and have faith in Him, we find that our hearts have been circumcised, that is, the old fleshly heart has been cut off, and a new heart has been given to us, and the Holy Spirit lives in it! We still have hold-out sin remaining, that takes a lifetime to get rid of, but in the meantime, we have new power through the Holy Spirit to walk in God’s way and love Him with everything we have, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, as Jesus loves them.

In the book of Judges, we’ve seen the downward spiral of the nation of Israel, and the destruction that comes to their life when they neglect the worship of God.

Let Judges be a reminder or a warning of the life that results when we neglect Christ. Turn to Him for help. Give yourself fully to His Kingdom and His people. And watch the promised blessing happen in your life.