Today we finish Judges. It is a rough book. The last few stories get increasingly messed up. It is always important to remember that, while the cultures were indeed quite different from us today, we are no better than they were. Human nature is the same across time and space. We are born in sin and inclined towards evil. The bible is clear about these things. Were it not for the supernatural interference of Jesus, we would be lost.
Humans are not naturally noble creatures. While we have remnants of God’s goodness in us, we are wrong to think that those parts dominate, or that they can win out against our worst selves. Rather, supernatural interference is required if we are to know any measure of holiness in this life, much less the next life.
Read these stories and be warned: This is what awaits any society that insists on doing things their own way. “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” This is a portrait of hell on earth. Any man or woman with a shred of wisdom flees from a society ungoverned by the King of Heaven.
Judges 16
One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her.
When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.”
But Samson lay there only until midnight, when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and both gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. Then he put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.
Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”
So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.”
So the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them.
While the men were hidden in her room, she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”
But he snapped the bowstrings like a strand of yarn seared by a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown.
Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me! Now please tell me how you can be tied up.”
He replied, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become as weak as any other man.”
So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”
But while the men were hidden in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like they were threads.
Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me all along! Tell me how you can be tied up.”
He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man. ”
So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. Then she tightened it with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”
But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin with the loom and the web.
“How can you say, ‘I love you,’ ” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”
Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death,
Samson told her all that was in his heart: “My hair has never been cut, because I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man.”
When Delilah realized that he had revealed to her all that was in his heart, she sent this message to the lords of the Philistines: “Come up once more, for he has revealed to me all that is in his heart.”
Then the lords of the Philistines came to her, bringing the money in their hands.
And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him.
Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”
When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.
However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved.
Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.”
And when the people saw him, they praised their god, saying:
“Our god has delivered into our hands
our enemy who destroyed our land
and multiplied our dead.”
And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.”
Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them.
Then Samson called out to the LORD: “O Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”
And Samson reached out for the two central pillars supporting the temple. Bracing himself against them with his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other,
Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.”
Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.
Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.
Judges 17
Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have the silver here with me; I took it.”
Then his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD!”
And when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I wholly dedicate the silver to the LORD for my son’s benefit, to make a graven image and a molten idol. Therefore I will now return it to you.”
So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah.
Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest.
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah.
This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.
“Where are you from?” Micah asked him.
“I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he replied, “and I am on my way to settle wherever I can find a place.”
“Stay with me,” Micah said to him, “and be my father and priest, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your provisions.”
So the Levite went in and agreed to stay with him, and the young man became like a son to Micah.
Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house.
Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”
Judges 18
In those days there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of the Danites was looking for territory to occupy. For up to that time they had not come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.
So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them.
The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night.
And while they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they went over and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?”
“Micah has done this and that for me,” he replied, “and he has hired me to be his priest.”
Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to determine whether we will have a successful journey.”
And the priest told them, “Go in peace. The LORD is watching over your journey.”
So the five men departed and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living securely, like the Sidonians, tranquil and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking in the land and no oppressive ruler. And they were far away from the Sidonians and had no alliance with anyone.
When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?”
They answered, “Come on, let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Why would you fail to act? Do not hesitate to go there and take possession of the land!
When you enter, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, for God has delivered it into your hand. It is a place where nothing on earth is lacking.”
So six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war.
They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. That is why the place west of Kiriath-jearim is called Mahaneh-dan to this day.
And from there they traveled to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.
Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.”
So they turned aside there and went to the home of the young Levite, the house of Micah, and greeted him.
The six hundred Danites stood at the entrance of the gate, armed with their weapons of war.
And the five men who had gone to spy out the land went inside and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, while the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred armed men.
When they entered Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
“Be quiet,” they told him. “Put your hand over your mouth and come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?”
So the priest was glad and took the ephod, the household idols, and the graven image, and went with the people.
Putting their small children, their livestock, and their possessions in front of them, they turned and departed.
After they were some distance from Micah’s house, the men in the houses near Micah’s house mobilized and overtook the Danites.
When they called out after them, the Danites turned to face them and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you that you have called out such a company?”
He replied, “You took the gods I had made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’ ”
The Danites said to him, “Do not raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.”
So the Danites went on their way, and Micah turned to go back home, because he saw that they were too strong for him.
After they had taken Micah’s idols and his priest, they went to Laish, to a tranquil and unsuspecting people, and they struck them with their swords and burned down the city.
There was no one to deliver them, because the city was far from Sidon and had no alliance with anyone; it was in a valley near Beth-rehob.
And the Danites rebuilt the city and lived there. They named it Dan, after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel—though the city was formerly named Laish.
The Danites set up idols for themselves, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.
So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image, and it was there the whole time the house of God was in Shiloh.
Judges 19
Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
But she was unfaithful to him and left him to return to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah.
After she had been there four months, her husband got up and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back, taking his servant and a pair of donkeys. So the girl brought him into her father’s house, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.
His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay, so he remained with him three days, eating, drinking, and lodging there.
On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning and prepared to depart, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh your heart with a morsel of bread, and then you can go.”
So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and let your heart be merry.”
The man got up to depart, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night.
On the fifth day, he got up early in the morning to depart, but the girl’s father said, “Please refresh your heart.” So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate.
When the man got up to depart with his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is drawing to a close. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, that your heart may be merry. Then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey home.”
But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up and departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.
When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Please, let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here.”
But his master replied, “We will not turn aside to the city of foreigners, where there are no Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.”
He continued, “Come, let us try to reach one of these towns to spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”
So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin.
They stopped to go in and lodge in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one would take them into his home for the night.
That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was residing in Gibeah (the men of that place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the field.
When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where have you come from?”
The Levite replied, “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I am going to the house of the LORD; but no one has taken me into his home, even though there is both straw and feed for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me and the maidservant and young man with me. There is nothing that we, your servants, lack.”
“Peace to you,” said the old man. “Let me supply everything you need. Only do not spend the night in the square.”
So he brought him to his house and fed his donkeys. And they washed their feet and ate and drank.
While they were enjoying themselves, suddenly the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they said to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house, so we can have relations with him!”
The owner of the house went out and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Do not commit this outrage.
Look, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine, and you can use them and do with them as you wish. But do not do such a vile thing to this man.”
But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.
Early that morning, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, collapsed at the doorway, and lay there until it was light.
In the morning, when her master got up and opened the doors of the house to go out on his journey, there was his concubine, collapsed in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold.
“Get up,” he told her. “Let us go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.
When he reached his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.
And everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has been seen or done from the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until this day. Think it over, take counsel, and speak up!”
Judges 20
Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.
The leaders of all the people and all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 men on foot, armed with swords.
(Meanwhile the Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) And the Israelites asked, “Tell us, how did this wicked thing happen?”
So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered: “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night.
And during the night, the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house. They intended to kill me, but they abused my concubine, and she died.
Then I took my concubine, cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance, because they had committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.
Behold, all you Israelites, give your advice and verdict here and now.”
Then all the people stood as one man and said, “Not one of us will return to his tent or to his house. Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: We will go against it as the lot dictates.
We will take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to supply provisions for the army when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for the atrocity they have committed in Israel.”
So all the men of Israel gathered as one man, united against the city.
And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has occurred among you?
Hand over the wicked men of Gibeah so we can put them to death and purge Israel of this evil.”
But the Benjamites refused to heed the voice of their fellow Israelites. And from their cities they came together at Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites.
On that day the Benjamites mobilized 26,000 swordsmen from their cities, in addition to the 700 select men of Gibeah.
Among all these soldiers there were 700 select left-handers, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair without missing.
The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mobilized 400,000 swordsmen, each one an experienced warrior.
The Israelites set out, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God, “Who of us shall go up first to fight against the Benjamites?”
“Judah will be first,” the LORD replied.
The next morning the Israelites set out and camped near Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took up their battle positions at Gibeah.
And the Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down 22,000 Israelites on the battlefield that day.
But the Israelite army took courage and again took their battle positions in the same place where they had arrayed themselves on the first day.
They went up and wept before the LORD until evening, inquiring of Him, “Should we again draw near for battle against our brothers the Benjamites?”
And the LORD answered, “Go up against them.”
On the second day the Israelites advanced against the Benjamites.
That same day the Benjamites came out against them from Gibeah and cut down another 18,000 Israelites, all of them armed with swords.
Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, where they sat weeping before the LORD. That day they fasted until evening and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD.
And the Israelites inquired of the LORD. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, and Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, served before it.) The Israelites asked, “Should we again go out to battle against our brothers the Benjamites, or should we stop?”
The LORD answered, “Fight, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”
So Israel set up an ambush around Gibeah. On the third day the Israelites went up against the Benjamites and arrayed themselves against Gibeah as they had done before.
The Benjamites came out against them and were drawn away from the city. They began to attack the people as before, killing about thirty men of Israel in the fields and on the roads, one of which led up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah.
“We are defeating them as before,” said the Benjamites.
But the Israelites said, “Let us retreat and draw them away from the city onto the roads.”
So all the men of Israel got up from their places and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar, and the Israelites in ambush charged from their positions west of Gibeah.
Then 10,000 select men from all Israel made a frontal assault against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjamites did not realize that disaster was upon them.
The LORD defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords.
Then the Benjamites realized they had been defeated.
Now the men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin because they were relying on the ambush they had set against Gibeah.
The men in ambush rushed suddenly against Gibeah; they advanced and put the whole city to the sword.
The men of Israel had arranged a signal with the men in ambush: When they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city, the men of Israel would turn in the battle.
When the Benjamites had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They are defeated before us as in the first battle.”
But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, the Benjamites looked behind them and saw the whole city going up in smoke.
Then the men of Israel turned back on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had come upon them.
So they fled before the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and the men coming out of the cities struck them down there.
They surrounded the Benjamites, pursued them, and easily overtook them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east. And 18,000 Benjamites fell, all men of valor.
Then the Benjamites turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel cut down 5,000 men on the roads. And they overtook them at Gidom and struck down 2,000 more.
That day 25,000 Benjamite swordsmen fell, all men of valor. But 600 men turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months.
And the men of Israel turned back against the other Benjamites and put to the sword all the cities, including the animals and everything else they found. And they burned down all the cities in their path.
Judges 21
Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”
So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, lifting up their voices and weeping bitterly.
“Why, O LORD God of Israel,” they cried out, “has this happened in Israel? Today in Israel one tribe is missing!”
The next day the people got up early, built an altar there, and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings.
The Israelites asked, “Who among all the tribes of Israel did not come to the assembly before the LORD?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah would surely be put to death.
And the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites, and said, “Today a tribe is cut off from Israel.
What should we do about wives for the survivors, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them our daughters in marriage?”
So they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah?” And, in fact, no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.
For when the people were counted, none of the residents of Jabesh-gilead were there.
So the congregation sent 12,000 of their most valiant men and commanded them: “Go and put to the sword those living in Jabesh-gilead, including women and children.
This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.”
So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young women who had not had relations with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
Then the whole congregation sent a message of peace to the Benjamites who were at the rock of Rimmon.
And at that time the Benjamites returned and were given the women who were spared from Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough women for all of them.
The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel.
Then the elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?”
They added, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. But we cannot give them our daughters as wives.”
For the Israelites had sworn, “Cursed is he who gives a wife to a Benjamite.”
“But look,” they said, “there is a yearly feast to the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel east of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”
So they commanded the Benjamites: “Go, hide in the vineyards and watch. When you see the daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their dances, each of you is to come out of the vineyards, catch for himself a wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we will tell them, ‘Do us a favor by helping them, since we did not get wives for each of them in the war. Since you did not actually give them your daughters, you have no guilt.’ ”
The Benjamites did as instructed and carried away the number of women they needed from the dancers they caught. They went back to their own inheritance, rebuilt their cities, and settled in them.
And at that time, each of the Israelites returned from there to his own tribe and clan, each to his own inheritance.
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
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