Judges 17

Study Guide 26: Judges 17-21 THE WAY OF DEATH Overview The last segment of Judges is not in chronological order. It, unlike the first, is a slice of life, summing up in two grim tales the personal impact on the men and women of this dark era of wandering from God. Judges is divided into three distinct segments. The introduction (1:1-3:6) explains the causes for the centuries-long decline of the Hebrew people between about 1390 and 1050 b.c. The body of the book (3:7-16:31) tells stories of the judges whom God periodically sent to deliver His people from enemies and keep them faithful to Him. This final section might be titled portraits of decay (chaps. 17-21), or perhaps the way of death. As the stories here demonstrate, deserting God leads a people and individuals to a living death. LEVITES. This tribe in Israel had been set aside for the service of God. One family of the tribe of Levi, that of Aaron, was to serve as Israel’ s priesthood. The other families were helpers, worship leaders, and teachers of God’ s Law. But only the descendants of Aaron could offer sacrifices to God, and then only at the central place of worship where the tabernacle stood. In this section of Judges we discover that even those who were to lead Israel in obedience to the Law had deserted it, for we meet a Levite who served as a family priest, served an idol forbidden by the Law, and deserted his benefactor when offered a richer position.

Commentary “ It’ s all right for you, if that’ s what you like,” Danny told me. He was lying on his back in a hospital bed, his face pinched, still white from loss of blood. We’ d been talking about my conversion, and how a relationship with Jesus made a difference in my life. The day before our conversation, Danny had tried to commit suicide. He’ d taken a deer rifle and fired at his heart — and missed. Instead, he blew a hole through his side, a sofa, and a roof. Now the influence of the 13 downers he’ d swallowed just before his attempt had worn off. But not the pain. We talked and shared — about his life and mine — for several hours. We talked freely about God’ s desire to bring him the peace and fulfillment that only Christ can provide. It was then that Danny, with honest approval, gave me his blessing. “ It’ s all right for you, if that’ s what you like.” Subjectivism. Danny expressed the conviction of many today. All is relative; reality is subjective. The person who likes a religious lifestyle enjoys something that has meaning, “ for him.” The person with a drug culture life style, like Danny, should be appreciated too. Both ways of life — and the many others open in our culture today — are perfectly fine for the person who chooses them. One is not objectively “ better” than another; to insist that it is would be to intrude on another’ s freedom of choice. To an extent, some court decisions in the United States reflect just this line of thought. Recently state legislatures have been puzzling over the question of whether homosexuals ought to be able to “ marry” one another. The gay liberation movement aggressively demands the right to be different — and to have their particular difference accepted as an alternative, equally valid, morality. Some church bodies have even ordained homosexuals as ministers. In one Western state, the madam of a well-known house of prostitution ran for the legislature — and was almost elected! Students in a Midwest seminary went to the board, to demand the same housing privileges for male and female students who live together as for those who are married! The “ discrimination” outraged the students’ moral sensitivities; an outrage foreshadowed by a young woman who told me some five years earlier that “ immorality” had to do with exploitation of the poor — not with one’ s way of expressing himself or herself sexually. She was a seminarian too. Not long ago a U.S. Congressman confessed to being an alcoholic (a fact long known by Washington politicians and newsmen). But he confessed only after successfully completing his reelection campaign; a campaign during which he lied again and again about the problem he later confessed. But, of course, there is also the Congressman who was reelected after being censured for an affair with an underage congressional page! Danny had responded to my sharing about Jesus with honest appreciation and even with approval. He thought it was great — for me. But he himself was untouched. In his world, distinctions between right and wrong, true and false, illusion and reality, had long been blurred. With the moorings slipped, with each person taking whatever way seems right to him or her, Danny could not see that my testimony had anything at all to do with him.

A Biblical Absolute Against subjectivism and relativism, the Bible presents a bold absolute. It affirms that there are universal moral principles on which the behavior of individuals and societies must be based. If this moral base is abandoned, the individual or the society will be destroyed. Scripture’ s unyielding absolute is rooted in the presupposition that ours is a moral universe. God, who shaped and planned it all, is a moral Being. Creation’ s design expresses His moral character. This is true especially of the nature of man, which the Bible insists bears the stamp of the Eternal: the “ image” of God planted in us at Creation. As a train is designed to run on tracks, the human personality is designed to function healthily only when stabilized by a steadfast morality. Individuals and societies which jump their moral tracks become increasingly bogged down — and ultimately are unable to function. It would be wrong to think that morality is a stabilizing factor only for the believer. Righteousness is something that “ works” for the believer and unbeliever alike. The Book of Proverbs puts it this way: “ Righteousness exalts a nation; but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). There are many such observations in Proverbs. “ The unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity” (Proverbs 11:3). “ The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness” (Proverbs 11:5, KJV). “ The violence of the wicked will drag them away, for they refuse to do what is right” (Proverbs 21:7). In a moral universe, there are certain fixed moral laws which when violated bring destruction as a natural consequence. History is full of illustrations of this fact. It is not that God intervenes to punish. It is simply that, given the nature of our universe, the abandonment of righteousness inevitably leads to dissolution of the personality or the society. This, of course, is part of the tragedy of Danny. He had chosen a way that seemed right to him. Even his suicide attempt couldn’ t convince him that his way leads to death. Danny denied the Bible’ s revelation of reality and treated God’ s way as only one of many alternative and equally acceptable ways. This too is the tragedy of society after society and culture after culture. When a people choose a way that seems right to them, but a way which ignores the divine revelation of righteousness, that society is moving toward its downfall. The Bible is not just for believers. The Bible reveals a reality with which every man must live. He can choose to accept reality and live in harmony with it. Or he can choose to reject reality and experience its crushing weight. In either case, each demonstrates that God’ s Word is true. And each society will bear witness. The men of Joshua’ s day demonstrated the faithfulness of God’ s promise; their obedience brought victory and rest. In the days of the Judges, men turned away from righteousness to choose their own way. The fate of these men and the society which they developed now bear witness to the fact that rejection of the divinely ordained lifestyle brings despair, dissolution, and defeat.

Demonstration of the Theme: Judges 17-21 The middle chapters of the Book of Judges report external disasters that came on Israel. Physical enemies, outside peoples, were sent by God to judge His people and bring them to repentance. These judgments were “ extraordinary.” That is, they were not direct natural consequences of Israel’ s sin but divine interventions. It does not always follow, when you or I sin, or when a nation abandons righteousness, that outside forces will overpower us. What does always follow is inner deterioration. There is a loss of direction. There is growing conflict. These last chapters of Judges are added to show us what happened within Israel as a result of abandoning God’ s ways. It is, in fact, the inner deterioration that is the surest evidence. Abandoning God’ s standards sears the conscience and confuses the ability of the individual to distinguish between good and evil. No wonder Proverbs puts it the way it does. “ There is a way that seems right to a man” (Proverbs 14:12). But that “ way” is one of illusion. Yet there is a hard reality; the end toward which man’ s “ right way” leads is the reality of death! Lost legacy (Judges 17-18). The first of three stories steps outside of the earlier chronological sequence and into the intimate context of an Israelite family. Using the cameo, or slice-of-life approach, the author now moves on to demonstrate the impact of Israel’ s national apostasy on the lifestyle of individuals. The first few verses of Judges 17:1-13 are enough to jolt us. If we’ re familiar with the lifestyle God defines for His people in the Mosaic Law, we’ re hardly prepared for what we see in this typical Ephraimite family. Judges 17:2 and Judges 17:3 introduce Micah, a man who stole 1,100 pieces of silver from his mother and, moved by fear after overhearing his mother’ s curse on the thief, confessed. The curse was canceled by the mother’ s utterance of a blessing. Micah restored the silver, which was then dedicated to God to make idols for the household shrine! Theft within the family? Superstition and fear? Worship of idols? Shrines in the house, and abandonment of the central sanctuary? Every one of these stands in stark contrast to the righteous way ordained by God for Israel. Every one of these is characteristic of the pagan culture Israel was to drive out and to supplant. As we read on in the story, we see additional evidence that Israel had lost its moral bearings. Initial disobedience had led to an increasing loss of moral judgment. The ways of God were increasingly confused with and supplanted by the customs of the nearby pagans. The story of Micah continues. Micah ordained one of his own sons to be a priest — again contrary to the Law. But when a wandering Levite (not one of Aaron’ s priestly line) passed by, Micah hired him to “ be my father and priest” (Judges 17:10). Though Micah again violated instructions given in the Law, he was thrilled at the turn of events. “ Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest” (Judges 17:13). Some time later a group of Danites (1 of the 12 tribes) was exploring for more land to occupy. They recognized the young Levite, asked his blessing, and shortly afterward located a city in a hidden valley that was occupied by a colony of Sidonians (inhabitants of the pagan city of Sidon, near Tyre). Reporting on the successful reconnaissance, the Danites recommended the young Levite to their tribe. Some 600 men stopped by on the way to the Sidonian colony and offered the young Levite a “ promotion.” The Bible tells us that “ the priest was glad” (Judges 18:20) at this invitation. He stole the idol and other objects in Micah’ s shrine, and gladly left his employer behind. Micah pursued, complaining bitterly about the theft of his gods and his priest. The Danites threatened him; the betrayed man slunk sadly back home. As for the Danites, they went on to the colony town, Laish, killed all the Sidonians, and the Levite’ s descendants served as their priests, ministering at a worship center featuring Micah’ s idol! This story is told without comment or evaluation. None is required. Over and over again the pattern of life described stands in stark contrast to the pattern prescribed in the divine revelation. Godly ways were a legacy Israel seemed to have lost. Moral decay (Judges 19:1-30). The second story in this section of Judges does what no commentary could. We are shown vividly the moral and interpersonal implications of the loss of the divine legacy. In this story another Levite is featured. We are told of the marriage of this other Levite to a secondary wife (a concubine), who angrily returned to her father’ s home after a spat. After four months, the Levite went to be reconciled to her — something welcomed by the father, as such a separation was both a reflection on his house and a threat to any bride price he may have received. After typical Eastern hospitality — a party of some five days — the Levite and his party left to return home. As it was probably about three in the afternoon, they were unable to travel far. The Levite was unwilling to stop at Jebus (Jerusalem), for it was still occupied by pagans. Instead he went on to Gibeah, which was inhabited by Benjamites (1 of the 12 tribes). But the man was offered no hospitality, except by a temporary resident from Ephraim. (This lack of hospitality violated basic Eastern custom.) That night the inhabitants of the city pounded on the door, announcing their intention to make the Levite a victim of homosexual assault! The Benjamites seemed on the verge of breaking in, so the Levite grabbed his concubine and thrust her outside to the men. The Scripture reports, “ And they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door, and lay there until daylight” (Judges 19:25-26). In the morning when the Levite opened the door, he found the girl crumpled outside, her hands stretched out to grip the threshold — dead. The ways that had seemed “ right” to Israel led to the depths of depravity, to unbelievable moral decay, and to death. For far more than physical death is pictured in this dark incident. *There is the death of love. The Old Testament Law taught a person to love God and to love others as himself. Here was a Levite, who represented instruction in God’ s Law — selfishly thrusting his concubine out to a group of depraved perverts. The capacity to care for others dies when one deserts God’ s ways. *There is the death of identity. The Levite and the old man with whom he stayed both showed that they viewed women as something less than human. In the Creation, woman was taken from man’ s ribs as a vivid affirmation of her identity with man. Woman was created second, but is not secondary. She is of the same stuff as man; with man she bears the image of God and bears the privilege of dominion (Genesis 12:1-20). With the loss of the divine viewpoint, which came with abandonment of Israel’ s legacy of Law, there came the loss of woman’ s identity. Distortion of the divine plan brought a measure of death to men and women alike, for in denying woman full humanity, man denies himself. *There is a death of image. Man was made in the image of God, with a personality to reflect the personality of the Creator. Even today, men choose to seek their identity in a supposed descent from the beasts — and choose to be ruled by their passions. Thus, the psalmists compare such men to brutes. Jude too sees them doing “ by instinct, like unreasoning animals” the very things which destroy them (Jude 1:10). The depravity exhibited by the Benjamites clearly shows the degradation which comes when men lose sight of their divine image and deny their origins in Him. The story of Micah and the Danites sets the stage for this tale of the Levite and his concubine. When men lose righteousness’ way, depravity follows as night follows the waning of the day. Conflict within (Judges 20-21). These two chapters continue the story of the Levite and his concubine. Taking the body home, the Levite cut it into pieces and set the pieces throughout Israel. Shocked, the people gathered to hear the Levite’ s report (which carefully avoided mentioning his own cowardly part). Shocked as much by the way in which the Levite had dramatized the event as by the act, the tribes angrily agreed to punish Gibeah. When the men of Benjamin would not surrender their relatives in Gibeah, a civil war resulted. Many thousands were killed, and the tribe of Benjamin was all but wiped out. How different from the incident reported in Joshua 22:1-34, where all Israel was ready to war to keep some from beginning to sin! Here no discipline had been exercised to restrain sin from developing (the Law commands homosexuals be put to death). The war came when part of Israel proved unwilling to surrender murderers to justice. Morality is never just an individual or personal thing. The strands which hold society together, which provide security for its members, are rooted in morality. When righteousness is abandoned and ways that “ seem right” to men are allowed to substitute for the divine standards, the society itself has begun to rush down the road to ward its own death.

On the Rock Scripture does not argue or explain the universal truths which are God’ s firm expression of reality. Rather, the Bible tends to affirm — and to demonstrate. God’ s Word is true, not only because God is a trustworthy Person and it is He who has spoken, but also because the word which God speaks is in complete harmony with reality. That human experience conforms to the principles expressed in Scripture does not “ prove” the Bible, but rather human experience serves to demonstrate Scripture’ s reliability and its relevance. This is the function of this section of Judges as well, and the function of many Old Testament stories. They demonstrate and illustrate the reliability of the affirmations of God’ s Word. Through Moses and through Joshua, God had told Israel plainly that commitment to Him and to His ways would bring them blessing. “ Righteousness exalts a nation” was true then, and it is true now. But the same Word of God through Moses and Joshua had warned that disobedience carries within it the seeds of its own destruction. The time of the Judges graphically demonstrates this truth. The process of deterioration may take a longer or shorter time. The bitter and deadly fruit may require several generations to mature. But the Word of God is reliable. The death it foretells will come. Unshakable, and unbreakable, the Word expresses the realities by which human beings must live, whether they choose to live for God or not!

Teaching Guide Prepare Read through Judges 17-21, and underline anything you see that is out of harmony with the life that God’ s Law prescribes.

Explore As your group members arrive, have them read Psalms 12:1-8. Then discuss: “ What kind of situation might have led the psalmist to ex press such feelings and views?”

Expand Draw a continuum line on the chalkboard. Label the continuum line “ righteous” at one end, “ corrupt” at the other. Divide into teams to read the events reported in Judges 17-21, breaking the chapters into sections (chaps. 17-18; Judges 19:1-30; 20-21). When you come back together, decide where along this line your group members would place Israel during the time of the Judges. Have each group justify its placement by references to the record in their portion of the Judges text.

Apply

1. One phrase which reappears in these chapters of Judges is, “ In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit” (Judges 21:25) Today the courts in our country tend to define obscenity by what is known as the “ standards of the community.” In other words, what people in a community think is obscene is, what they think is not obscene, is not obscene. What do you think of this rule? Is there a relationship between this phrase from Judges and the modern judicial principle? How can moral concepts rather than criminal acts be defined by law in a secular society like our own, where members of that society differ on what is right and wrong?
2. Or tell the story of Danny. How does the rejection of objective moral and religious standards affect individuals in our society?