Reflections on "There Went the Judges" Judges 21: 1-25

 this is the final sermon of the summer preaching series on Judges.  I actually skipped from Samson to the of Judges, which left out a couple of very difficult texts.  In the sermon, I suggested people go home and read the other stories.  When I laid out the summer series, I'm not sure why I skipped those particular chapters.  We certainly had a week or two open.  Perhaps I wanted to avoid perhaps the most difficult chapters in Judges!

“There Went the Judges” Judges: 21: 1-25; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Denton; August 22, 2021

Judges 21: 13-25  Then the whole congregation sent word to the Benjaminites who were at the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. 14 Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead; but they did not suffice for them.

15 The people had compassion on Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. 16 So the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since there are no women left in Benjamin?” 17 And they said, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, in order that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel. 18 Yet we cannot give any of our daughters to them as wives.” For the Israelites had sworn, “Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin.” 19 So they said, “Look, the yearly festival of the Lord is taking place at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” 20 And they instructed the Benjaminites, saying, “Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, 21 and watch; when the young women of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and each of you carry off a wife for himself from the young women of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 Then if their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Be generous and allow us to have them; because we did not capture in battle a wife for each man. But neither did you incur guilt by giving your daughters to them.’” 23 The Benjaminites did so; they took wives for each of them from the dancers whom they abducted. Then they went and returned to their territory, and rebuilt the towns, and lived in them. 24 So the Israelites departed from there at that time by tribes and families, and they went out from there to their own territories.

25 In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.

Introduction: We arrive at the end of the Judges preaching series.  You even have a pop quiz, maybe we should call it a final exam, on the back page of the bulletin.  Feel free to take it during the sermon (watching you scribble on the bulletin is better than watching you fall asleep!).

this morning, we did skip over a couple of really difficult stories in Chapters 19-20 and read Chapter 21. 

Go back and read Chapters 19 and 20, if you want.  More violence; more challenging stories dealing with sexual conquest and power issues; more trying to figure out what to to do with the stories.

If you read the stories, remember that Saul, who will be the first king of Israel,  is from the town of Gibeah and the tribe of Benjamin.  so when you read bad stuff about Gibeah and Benjamin, you will perhaps recognize that the storytellers are preemptively making the case for Saul’s failure as a king.  when Saul’s flaws are revealed, they can say, "What did we expect?  he was from Gibeah and Benjamin, and you know how bad those people were?”

We might note the irony that even as the stories from Judges are told to make the case for a king, the seeds for how a king will fail are already being planted. 

Move 1: To be clear, the run of judges ends in failure.

a. the judges cannot get out of their own way.

1. their egos undermine them.
   
2. Their unfaithfulness undoes their successes.
   
3. Their sinfulness overwhelms them.

1. As we look back, we may see where individual judges were helpful in the short term, but Israel always falls back into its sinful ways.
   

6. Every story seems to lead to the fateful words: “then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”

b. The last chapter of Judges provides one more example of how the Israelites just do not get it.

1.  It is a kind of complicated story.

2.  Bottom line – the other eleven tribes of Israel get mad at the tribe of Benjamin, so they make a vow (they apparently did not learn from Jephthah's story the dangers of making a vow) that they will not provide any wives for the tribe of Benjamin.

3. It sounds good at the moment, but it has a significant downside - if there are no women, then there will be no children so the end of the line will arrive shortly for the tribe of Benjamin.

4.  how will Benjamin be saved? 

5. Since they cannot break the vow, they come up with a plan. At one of the festivals when the women of Shiloh come down to their area, Benjamin can kidnap women to be their wives.

6. . The tribe of Benjamin can be saved, but to make that happen, other people have to be violated.

7. Kidnapping and forced marriage - what a great solution!

8.  One more example of how salvation coming from the hands of sinful humans does not look much like salvation.

c.  No surprise to us, of course.

1.  Even as we point fingers at the Israelites and their judges, we recognize our shared humanity.

2. We know that cycle – crying out to God for help.

3. Having God rescue us in the moment, or send us in a new direction.

4. A period of getting it right and drawing closer to God.

5. Then we forget, or we begin to think we can handle it on our own, or we get tired of working to be faithful, and we turn away from God.

d. After this story, the book of Judges fittingly concludes: "In those days Israel had no king, everyone did as he saw fit."

1. A picture of chaos – everyone doing whatever they want.

2. And the argument for a king.

e. The futility of the judges leads to the stage being set for Israel to have a king.

1.  Earthly kings arrive, and they do not resolve the problems - yes, there are times of sustained prosperity during the times of King David and Solomon - but there are still wars, and sinfulness, and turning away from God.

2. Much like the judges, some kings are better than others; no king gets it absolutely right.

6.  Earthly judges are not the right answer; earthly kings are not the right answer.

Move 2: Is there any hope?

a.   Perhaps we see a glimpse of hope when we turn the page in the Bible.

1.  Ruth next book in the Protestant Bible.

1. Perhaps strategically inserted there to draw a contrast between what we have just seen in the judges to the love, loyalty, and faithfulness found in Ruth

2.  Ruth, a woman who models covenant much better than judges;  Ruth, who can stands as a woman whose actions open the doors for love, instead of a woman who is abused as a pawn in someone else’s story of power.

3. But, even Ruth cannot save Israel.

 

b.  No one can save Israel, no one can save us, no one, that is, but God.

1.  No one, but God in Christ, the Son of God.

2.  No one but God in Christ, the Son of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

b. Notice the difference between the God who comes in Christ and the judges. 

1. The Israelite judges get in trouble because of their egos; Jesus pours himself out for others.
2. The Israelite judges could get it right for the moment, but would return to their sinful ways; Christ lives a sinless life, rejecting the temptations in the wilderness and then claiming his own death as he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.
   
3. The Israelite judges evoke power and might and conquer the enemy through battle and killing; Christ does not lift the sword as he submits to earthly powers and dies on the cross.

1. The Israelite judges save Israel for the moment, but do not have lasting power; Jesus saves the world for eternity.
2. The Israelites tell the stories of the judges to make the case for a king;

we hear the stories and recognize how desperately we need for God to come in Christ.

And God does.

Move 3: But, for reasons we may not fully fathom, God continues the pattern of calling people to participate in God’s acts of salvation.

a.  We remember that God uses judges in particular places for particular moments in history:

Othniel

Samson

Deborah

Ehud

Jephthah

Gideon

Tola

Jair

Great stories; not so great judges.

b.  But in their example, we find our calling.

1.  Not the calling to be poor judges, but the calling to be open for how God chooses to use us.

2. Instead of being called to lead God’s people into battle, you might be called to speak a word of hope to those whose lives are full of fear in a  time of pandemic.

3.  Instead of being sent to tear down the altars built to Baal, you might be called to model in your own life what it means to choose the life of discipleship instead of all the other tempting offers found in our world.

4. Instead of being sent to kill an enemy king with a knife, you might be called to act in ways of reconciliation.

5.  Instead of taking on the Philistines with riddles and war, you might be called to take on injustice in our world.

Conclusion: The ongoing story of how God delivers hope and salvation to God’s people has run through the flawed judges, and now runs through you.