“The Lure of Lawlessness”
Judges chapters 18-21
Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts
The days of the Judges were Israel’s “Dark Ages”, a time of lawlessness, confusion, and idolatry—in other words, it was a moral mess. The Judges were barely able to maintain a semblance of order, partly due to their own flawed character. It was a troubling time of near anarchy. When societies reject absolute law, they develop their own, arbitrary rules (a major theme of Francis Schaeffer). The big question is> who’s authority are we under? Our own, or do we answer to God? There are only three options: We either do whatever we like, whatever works, or we obey God. If we create our own rules, then we can easily justify any kind of behavior. Philosophers have reluctantly admitted that if there is no God, then anything is permissible, because without God, there is no “right” or “wrong”. Without God and His word, all we’re left with are societal attempts to maintain some kind of relative order, but without any real weight.
I taught ethics at the Air Defense Artillery School, Ft Bliss, and I know some soldiers don’t like military rules & regulations. They only comply due to the threat of punishment. But sometimes their response is to reject Army values, and say, “To heck with your standards.” In a world with twisted values, where people celebrate doing whatever they like, we shouldn’t be surprised when we hear of atrocities. The Life Application Study Bible warns, “When you leave God out of your life, you may be shocked at what you are capable of doing.” Some people obey the law because they want to live for God; others obey simply because they don’t want to suffer the consequences. At the time of the Judges, Israel was out of control and accountable to no one.
These final five chapters show us exactly what can happen when we become our own authority; it’s embarrassing to even have these chapters in the Bible. It’s rare to hear anyone preach on these passages…yet we’re told “all Scripture is profitable” (2 Tim 3:16). We see that Israel’s enemy is no longer external but internal. “We’ve met the enemy and he is us!” When we allow our culture to shape us, we are letting a cancer into our value system. This is disappointingly true in the sordid, closing chapters of Judges, where we witness idolatry, theft, murder, sodomy, rape, kidnapping, and civil war.
Israel at this point has a semblance of formal religion, but without a foundation in God’s word. When the Danites capture Micah’s idols and priest, he whines in protest, “I have nothing left!” (18:24). He has no idea that his priest has betrayed him, has left for a “better offer”. What Micah had was a perversion of religion—a fusion of pagan idolatry and Judaism. Had he lived today, Micah would have likely consulted his horoscope or called a psychic. Long before Micah’s assets were stolen, he had next to nothing; he just didn’t realize it. The irony in all this is that Micah’s name means “Who is like God?”, yet God is absent from his life. Micah had long lost God before he lost his idols. Why is he even surprised at the theft when he’s living in an age of lawlessness?
Even today it’s possible to have a form of religion without much substance. This pretence, which I call “churchianity”, is empty, devoid of genuine faith. When churches reject the word of God, they become mere social clubs, lacking spiritual power. Churches die when they cease to proclaim God’s truth. God expects us to live out our beliefs; He expects us to seek and follow His will. He will say to those with inauthentic faith on the Day of Judgment, “I never knew you” (Mt 18:24).
We read in chapter 19 of a group of hell-raisers who seek to molest a Levite, and to appease them, the Levite offers them his concubine, a second-class wife, lacking the full legal privileges of a genuine wife. She is brutally abused and murdered by the gang (note the similarity to Lot in Gen 19). In response, the Levite gets the country’s attention in a revolting way, as body parts of the murdered woman are sent to each of the Twelve Tribes—is this some kind of “wake-up call”? It’s been suggested that this grisly act was a symbolic warning that the nation was becoming divided into 12 independent tribes (Campbell). The Levite acts as a self-appointed, self-righteous Judge. He sends the grisly packages but conveniently fails to mention that he set this poor woman up for rape and murder in order to save himself. On one hand, women appear devalued in Hebrew society during the time of the judges (with the notable exception of Deborah). They’re treated as property; yet at the same time the tribal leaders express moral outrage over the incident, which seems in my mind pretty inconsistent.
The tribe of Dan had the least success in conquering their allotted territory, so they seek out other lands. They’re planning to attack a defenseless region, but first they ask Micah’s priest to perform some divination to determine if their mission will be successful—even though God already told them where to live. The priest only tells them what they want to hear. They should have destroyed Micah’s idols; instead, they take them, for good luck…and Micah is surprised that his false gods aren’t able to protect him and themselves! When we reject God, we manifest our own idols, we devise substitutes.
In the case of acquiring wives for the tribe of Benjamin, ch 21, the people take matters into their own hands. First, during a period of civil war, the other tribes swear a rash oath not to provide wives for the tribe of Benjamin, and nearly annihilate the tribe…then they complain to God that the tribe will therefore become extinct—as if this were somehow God’s fault. They devise a scheme to kidnap women attending a religious festival in Shiloh, the center of worship, where the Tabernacle was located. No one prays, considers Scripture, or consults a priest—they simply do what they think should work, figuring the ends would justify the means. In so doing, they trample on the notion of human rights. Their forcible abduction of hundreds of young women is indistinguishable from rape, yet there is no cry of outrage over this atrocity. Women again are devalued and treated as objects, mere property, without a care for their personal needs or feelings. The Benjamites act like cavemen, like Neanderthals clubbing women over the head and dragging them away.
It appears 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. When there are no standards, all we’re left with is depravity and lawlessness, the natural outcome and consequence of rejecting God’s absolutes. We see this today in the evil acts of terrorism. Terrorists have a god who tells them it is permissible to murder innocent people, then publicly rejoice and celebrate over their deaths.
Moral relativism is becoming the norm. A group of college students were asked their opinions on the media, specifically the R-rated kinds of situations being shown on TV and the movies. When asked why sex and violence were so prevalent, one student answered, “Because it’s no big deal.” That may be exactly how moral issues were regarded in the days of the Judges.
The book of Judges chronicles the “Canaanization” of Israel. God’s people were coexisting with the enemy and imitating their lifestyle. Throughout these final chapters the key verse of this distressing book is repeated four times (17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25): “In those days there was no king…everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” They did not submit to God as their King nor seek to know His will. When we’re tempted to sin and do our own thing, our character determines what it takes to stop us. We all know people who have no hesitation to do wrong, no moral qualms, people who’ll do anything so long as they’re reasonably sure they can “get away with it.” They live however they choose, and proudly declare, “I did it my way.” When God’s revelation is rejected, when we try to live independent of God, things that were once regarded as abominable and appalling are accepted as commonplace.
A man went to church, and afterwards was asked by a friend what the minister spoke on. “He preached on sin.” The friend asked what the preacher had to say about sin, and was told, “He’s against it.” I’ve been condemning lawlessness, moral relativism, but I want to make clear that the way to God is not by keeping a list of rules, but by accepting pardon and forgiveness through the sacrifice of Christ in our behalf. Once Jesus comes into our lives we are transformed, and are motivated to seek holiness because of His great love.
It’s unfortunate to have to end on such a depressing note, but there is a ray of hope. As we progress to the books of Ruth, and I Samuel, and ultimately to Christ our Messiah, we see that there is Light at the end of a dark tunnel.
