In this final chapter, we read about the full effects of civil war. The Israelites realised that they had gone too far in their judgment of their brother, Benjamin.
Except for 600 men, the Israelites have almost destroyed the tribe of Benjamin, and the Israelites vow to put to death anyone that refused to go to war against Benjamin.
As they’re tracking down those who refused to fight, their tempers cool down and Israel starts to feel bad about their anti-Benjamite campaign. But they do more than just feel bad about it, they decide they simply don’t want to wipe an entire tribe off the face of the earth.
Unfortunately, because of what they said, where they all swore an unbreakable oath to never allow any Benjamites to marry their daughters, which in effect meant that the tribe of Benjamin would eventually die out.
And so whilst they’re trying to figure out the mess they’ve got themselves into, they discover that the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead didn’t send any soldiers to the war, they sent 12,000 soldiers to kill every male and every non-virgin woman.
The army then brings back 400 virgin captives from Jabesh-Gilead. They found 400 virgins who were brought to be wives for the remaining Benjamites so that no tribe of Israel be lost from the lineage of Abraham.
In all of this, someone must have asked, ‘hey, these virgins, they’re not our daughters, are they? And someone would have replied, ‘no’. And ‘great’ would have been the response, ‘then they can marry the Benjamites and keep their tribe alive’.
Israel sends an ambassador to the rock of Rimmon, where the last surviving Benjamite men live, and before you can say ‘you may kiss the bride’, 400 of them get married.
Unfortunately, that still leaves a lot of guys without a wife, so what can Israel do for them? The elders of Israel have an idea and so they tell the Benjamites to go to Shiloh.
And what’s in Shiloh? Women, lots of beautiful women. But what else is on Shiloh? Shiloh is the centre of worship, the home of the tabernacle.
But when we read the text, we discover that no one prays, no one considers God’s Word, or consults a priest. They simply do what they think should work, figuring the ends would justify the means.
And so, as they do every year at Shiloh, the people of Shiloh have a feast unto the Lord. And it’s during the feast, that the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance.
Notice Israel’s plan, it’s a very male chauvinistic plan, but it works. When the girl’s dads come to the elders to complain about their kidnapped daughters, the elders more or less say, ‘can’t you just let it slide? These guys need wives, and you weren’t about to give them any anyway right, please’.
And so the dad’s consent and they all lived wickedly ever after, not! The Benjamites act like cavemen, clubbing women over the head and dragging them away.
What a mess this is isn’t it? The rape and murder of one woman was resolved in Israel’s eyes, with the forced marriage and rape of hundreds of other women.
And why did Israel become an immoral mess? ‘In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.’
It does appear that every aspect of Jewish life was affected by Israel’s turning from God. The Land of Promise could have been a kind of paradise restored, but it devolved into sheer anarchy.
And we’re reminded that when there are no standards, all we’re left with is depravity and lawlessness, which are the natural outcomes and consequences of rejecting God’s absolutes.
I don’t want to end the Book of Judges on a depressing note. All the way through the Book of Judges we saw how God raised up judges to deliver his people from oppression.
We saw the involvement of the angel of the Lord, He appeared to Gideon, Judges 6:11-24 and Manoah’s wife, Judges 13:2-25. In everyone one of those texts, we find the angel of the Lord speaking in the first person as God and speaking with authority.
So who is this angel of the Lord? He is none other than God Himself. The ‘angel of the Lord’ is what we call a Christophany, that is, an appearance of the Christ.
The point I’m making is that even though this was Israel’s darkest time in history, God was still very much involved with His people. And even though the world we’re living in today is still as evil and sinful, God is still very much at work among His people.
Let me encourage you to be like Othniel, whom God gave victory in his life because he gave himself to the Lord, first.
Let me encourage you to be like Ehud who was disabled and Shamgar the farmer, both of them allowed themselves to be used for God’s glory.
Let me encourage you to be like Deborah who stepped up to the mark to face the enemy when no other man would and lead your household in joyful song to the Lord.
Let me encourage you to be like Gideon who after struggling to surrender and trust God fully, went on to become a great warrior of God.
Let me encourage you to be like Jephthah who left his past in God’s hands and totally relied on God for the future.
Let me encourage you to be like Samson, who finally came to repentance and totally relied on the Lord’s mighty strength and power.
God chose some of the most unlikely people to do great things for Him during a very dark time. The question is, will we allow God to use us today to do great things for Him?