Judges 19-21: No Happy Endings

“History is who we are and why we are the way we are.” - John McCullough

On a basic human level, the book of Judges gives us a pretty clear picture of who we are apart from God: sinners. We see the pattern of sin and destruction in Israel’s history that continues to this day. While we have the records of sin and consequence, we also have the records of hope and healing. The Bible not only describes the problems, it offers a solution. The consistent remedy throughout Scripture is repentance and faith. We see glimpses of those in Judges, but the power of sin is overwhelming and devastating. The book of Judges is not prescriptive on how life should look, but is an accurate description of what happens when people turn from God. When people reject Him as their king and do whatever is right in their own sight, catastrophic evil runs rampant, and the consequences may be eternal.

One of the most profound, and widely-referenced moments in human history is the rise of Nazi Germany. Hitler rose to power, gained a massive following, and began systematically conquering the world through force. In the process, he left millions dead, and the consequences of his leadership are still felt today. The movie, The Zone of Interest, it follows the life of a concentration camp commander, Rudolph Hoss, and the seemingly peaceful life that him and his family live. What’s disturbing about the story is how complacent and ignorant the family is to the objective evil happening so close, and even within, their home. The interpretation of the message from a Christian perspective is clear: sin runs so deep that you can think you’re doing the right thing, even when you’re blatantly not. No matter how well we think we are living, we are not great judges of ourselves. We must be aware of this deceptive power of sin if we are to live holy lives for our Lord.

We are no better than those before us.

Judges 19:1-4

1 In those days Israel had no king. Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. 2 But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, 3 her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her parents’ home, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. 4 His father-in-law, the woman’s father, prevailed on him to stay; so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping there.

Sin is a problem, and makes big mess

Just like in all of our lives, it is not just one sin that gets us into a predicament. It is the continual indulgence, the domino effect of sin that gets us in trouble. One sin always leads to another if there is not repentance. In this scenario, very quickly we see a list of problems that compound on one another.

Having a concubine is a problem.

God never approves of extra-marital, sexual servants (concubines) in Scripture. This was a man-made solution to a man-made problem. And this simple sin is about to get complicated, and disturbing..

Levite and a concubine is a problem.

Levites were set apart as the clan that would be the priests for Israel. They were called to live holy lives and be the spiritual leaders for God’s people. The fact that a Levite is doing this is even worse.

Concubine having an affair is a problem.

Even though the concubine is in an unfortunate position, there was still a somewhat-formal agreement of sexual loyalty between the man (he is actually called “husband” in verse 3, which maybe shows some lost-in-translation effect here from the original Hebrew, and give us insight to her breaking the vow of loyalty). Either way, multiple ‘wrongs’ are not making anything ‘right’ at this moment.

They stop on their journey back home, and a kind man from Ephraim let the Levite and his concubine stay the night. Then all hell breaks loose, literally. “Sons of Belial” (v22) is a figure of speech for ‘sons of Satan'.

Judges 19:22-30

22 While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.” 23 The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.” 25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. 26 At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight. 27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home. 29 When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!”

Parallel of Sodom and Gomorrah.

-The Benjamite men are the ones that commit these evil deeds. Fellow countrymen of Israel are acting just like the Gentiles of Sodom and Gomorrah.

-Adding to the snowball and justification of sins, the master cuts up his concubine to prove a point - making the whole thing more dramatic and disturbing. When you take justice into your own hands, you might be causing greater evil.

-Nothing this bad had been seen before (v30) up until this point. Perhaps this would be a wake up call?

Civil war in God’s nation.

-The actions of one person, or small group, can change the course of history. Whether it is an assassination, a coup-d'état, or simply one act of injustice: the trajectory of history can change in an instant. That is how devastating sin can be.

-This shows how fragile our world truly is when God is not given his place of authority. If we want order and peace in our world, God needs to be placed as the authority in the lives of the people.

-We must be aware of the sins that we pile on ourselves, our families, our communities, and our nation. There will be judgment, God will not let the wicked go unpunished. 

So the nation of Israel gets the message on what happened, and they all assemble together, 400,000 of them. They question the Levite and get clarification on the story and form a plan.

Judges 20:8-15

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 Gibeah[a] in 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.” 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.

There is a common bright spot that happens when tragedy strikes a nation, people can be unified. The entire nation was united in their disgust for this sinful act, and they collectively had a desire for holy justice. (v8) Tragedy can be a wake up call, and perhaps this was a time of spiritual awakening for Israel.

Benjamin pushes back.

They decide to execute these men that raped the woman, but the tribe of Benjamin pushes back.

-For some reason, whether pride or political posturing, the tribe of Benjamin didn’t like the pressure that was put on them by all the other tribes of Israel. This doesn’t mean that all the Benjamites loved what happened, but by their leadership, which harbored the evil men, they were complicit, thereby, deserving judgment. But now at this point in the story, the lines have been crossed, and the war is on.

God is with them in the midst of sin

God answers their prayer on who should go first (v18), and whether they should keep attacking them (v23, 28) so God is behind the judgment of Benjamin. Verse 35 says so directly.

-Judah is the tribe to go first, just as they were at the very beginning of the book of Judges. This is the tribe of leaders through which the King, Jesus, would be born. Jesus will go first at the end of times to administer justice and finish the advancement of the Enemy forever.

Judges 20:46-48

46 On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters. 47 But six hundred of them turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months. 48 The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire.

Israel ambushed the Benjamites, and only 600 of them escaped. The Lord is ultimately the one who purged this evil from Israel. There were consequences for being complicit with evil, and justice had been served.

Too many oaths and tainted justice.

Judges 21:1-5

1 The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.” 2 The people went to Bethel,[a] where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. 3 “Lord, God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?” 4 Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. 5 Then the Israelites asked, “Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the Lord?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah was to be put to death.

The war adrenaline is still flowing, and they quickly judge that the town of Jabesh-Gilead was complicit with the tribe of Benjamin. This may or may not have been true. Now in their zeal for justice, they may be causing unnecessary damage to their own people.

There was a bright spot however, when they decided to show mercy for the remaining 600 Benjamites so that their tribe did not go extinct. After this, they grieved for their countrymen (v15), and realized how deep the division has gone into their nation. The wounds of sin would continue into future generations for Israel, and not be remedied for over a thousand years. Imagine the agony of living in a sin-filled world with no Messiah. That is what this nation was stuck in, and would continue to be stuck in for years to come. And so, the story of Judges ends with a familiar, and bleak assessment of their spiritual reality.

Judges 21:25

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

And with that sad, disturbing, and unhopeful note, the book of Judges ends. This sudden end also reminds us that sin will never lead to a happy ending. There is a time to come to reality, acknowledge the gravity of our sins, and turn back to God through faith.  Let’s let the severity of Judges bringing us to repentance, and to come to Jesus so that he can deliver us from the oppression of our sins. He is our Judge, and is willing to rescue us from the weight of sin when we cry out to him, so let’s do it.

• Have you been honest about the severe weight of your own personal sin?

• Is there unconfessed sin in your life that needs to be brought up and delt with?