1/7/13. Judges 20:1-16. PURGE THE EVIL FROM THE LAND – my devotional

Key Verse: 20:13                                                                                       Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

“’Now turn those wicked men of Gibeah over to us so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.’ But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites.”

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank you for opening a door for me to enter through, to be an off site coordinator for sending missionaries to NW Ontario.  Lord, help me to embrace this opportunity and serve it well. Lord, I also pray that you may guide this UBF staff meeting today. Help us all to grow through staff education. Inspire Dr John Armstrong to teach about spiritual leadership. Help us to be spiritual leaders who can reach out and influence this generation of young people in America. Lord, I come to you with expectation in my heart, that your word will teach me something very important. I am excited to do daily bread. Thank you Jesus.

Part 1: Surrender Those Wicked Men (1-13a).

Verses 1-13a, “Then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came together as one and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah.² The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, four hundred thousand men armed with swords. ³ (The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, “Tell us how this awful thing happened.”⁴ So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. ⁵ During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. ⁶ I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel’s inheritance, because they committed this lewd and outrageous act in Israel. ⁷ Now, all you Israelites, speak up and tell me what you have decided to do.”⁸ All the men rose up together as one, saying, “None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house. ⁹ But now this is what we’ll do to Gibeah: We’ll go up against it in the order decided by casting lots. ¹⁰ We’ll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Gibeahin Benjamin, it can give them what they deserve for this outrageous act done in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the Israelites got together and united as one against the city.¹² The tribes of Israel sent messengers throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What about this awful crime that was committed among you? ¹³ Now turn those wicked men of Gibeah over to us so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.”

All Israel was disgusted with what happened. They wanted to do something about it. That is good. They were not just desensitized due to all the violence around them. Sometimes it is easy for us to be desensitized in our conscience because we are being saturated with wickedness and violence. We need God to re-sensitize our hearts so that our humanity can be restored. We need to have empathy and compassion and care and be ready to act. We must never say, “Oh that is interesting and horrible. I am glad it didn’t happen to me.” And then just walk away. We need to respond and act and change things.

The leaders of Israel assembled at Mizpah, but the rulers did not pray or seek out wise counsel. They listened to the testimony of the Levite, without a corroborating witness. His story was missing some facts, such as how he permitted them to abuse his concubine. His desire for vengeance saturated the whole nation. I can learn here that I need to have wisdom when assessing a situation. People will not always tell the truth. They will omit some facts. They will try to introduce their own agenda. We need to pray and ask God’s wisdom in all matters. We cannot just be swayed and led by one witness. God knows all and sees all. He is truly the one whom we must go to for advice. The best thing to do is get the testimony of many witnesses. Then we need to pray. We should take some time to make reference to the word of God and also take sometime to bounce things off of each other. Then, after some time has passed, God will make things clear. God will tell us the way that we should go. But the elders of Israel did not do this. They became lost.

The Levites was not truthful either. He left out some important facts. I remember telling my kids, that when they don’t tell the whole truth and miss some facts, then that is the same as lying. We need to be very upfront and we need to tell the whole truth, not hiding anything. (use wisdom in  this matter.)

They decided that the Gibeonites must be punished and they asked the Benjamites to surrender the guilty men for execution. It is true evil must be dealt with, but within the reins of justice and the law. God’s law gave clear direction and wisdom, but they had no spiritual leader to help them find out what to do according to the word of God. We must not give into irrational desires for revenge. We live in a country where people are innocent until proven guilty. We need to let the courts deal with crimes. That is one reason why I like this country. We don’t have “jungle justice”. Although many people are falsely accused, the rule of law still stands.
Part 2: The Benjamites Mobilized For War (13b-16).

Verses 13b-16, “…But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites. ¹⁴ From their towns they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites. ¹⁵ At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred able young men from those living in Gibeah. ¹⁶ Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

The Benjamites refused to listen to the rest of the tribes of Israel. Their tribal pride was offended. People’s loyalty to their network corrupted their view of justice. So instead of investigating what had happened and pursuing due process of the law, they assembled for war, mobilizing their best warriors.  They needed to submit. They needed to gather up all the criminals and have them be made subject to the law. Now was not the time to go to war against the party that had been wronged. We need to be people and a nation that is held accountable to God and to the law.

A civil war could have been averted if they had a shepherd, or if they had sought God’s wisdom and solution. May God raise up spiritual leaders among us who can counsel the people at critical moments.

Prayer: Lord, when tensions fly and injustice has occurred, give us wise judges who can offer godly direction and solutions. Help us humbly seek your counsel to work toward justice and reconciliation.

One Word: Do not ignore evil, but seek justice God’s way.