Tuesday March 1, 2011

In Judges 17-18, I see the pervasive, sad actions of the Levites. The Levites are to be God's representatives much as our modern day pastors. Yet we see a Levite that can be bought and will serve for an individual rather than for the Lord Jehovah and to a nation. We even see that he tolerates graven images made that people worshipped which goes directly against the 10 commandments that was passed to the nation of Israel from Mt. Sinai. When he is brought out of the home of the Ephraimite and starts serving in the tribe of Dan we see that because of his example they continue to set up the graven image and worship it.

In Judges 19-21, I wish that Ed was the blogger. I know for sure in this very difficult story that we see an ugly, evil depravity that has come across the nation of Israel. We see a Levite that is in Gibeah, in the tribe of Benjamin, with his virgin daughter and concubine. We see that the men in Gibeah want to have sexual relations with him and ultimately the host gave them his concubine and they raped her. She is sent back in twelve pieces. I do not know why - except that it would not be forgotten what they did to her. The rest of the nation of Israel took vengeance against Gibeah. The battle against Gibeah and the tribe of Benjamin was costly to everyone. It cost the loss of many lives on both sides. We can never underestimate the cost of sin as it is ugly all the way around. The one thing that I will say in closing about this passage is that because this story is included in the scriptures is partially proof to me of the validity of scriptures. This is not a story that we as humans would naturally have told, but it is included within the canon of scriptures revealing the depravity of man and the pervasiveness of sin.