What's The Point: A Must Ask Question

Day 43:  Genesis/Psalm 43, Judges 19

Let me admit right off the bat that the subject matter and the situation in today's reading in Judges 19 is very difficult to deal with.  It is one of those stories in the Bible that I just really wish would have been left out.  The social, sexual, gender and physical injustices are almost too much to bear.

As I read today's chapter I found myself upset with the father-in-law for not allowing his son-in-law to leave when he planned.  Then I was frustrated with the son-in-law for not being more direct and leaving when he intended.  Because, I assumed the whole ugly mess from this chapter would have simply been avoided.

I was angry that the events of this chapter were perpetrated by people who were supposed to be God's people and should have all been caring for the travelers as the man who invited them into his home.  I was disgusted by the fact that no one invited them in because they either knew what going to happen or they were planning it.

It makes us angry to think that the host would offer his very own daughter and the concubine up as offerings to the mob.  I have a daughter and can't imagine doing that.  I would fight to my last breath to protect her.  I'm irritated that the men of the city, Israelite men, wanted to have sexual relations with the men, an act clearly forbidden by Jewish law (which was God's law).

We are outraged that the man would 1) be able to sleep all night peacefully while his concubine was outside having all kinds of unspeakable things done to her, and 2) that the man simple says, "get up" when he finds her dead on the doorstep.

But after all those feelings I had to ask God, "What's the point?"  I think it's important to ask this question because honestly, it's easy to get sidetracked with the evidence and not zero-in on the crime.

I think the point is that once again Israel has fallen completely away from God.  There is no judge at this time it appears and no king and everybody seems to be doing whatever they want.  They have disregarded the law of God and so quickly after God had given them the land He promised.  We see in this chapter the sin of not showing hospitality to guests (at least by the city at large).  The sin of homosexuality and how distasteful it was to the host that he was willing to sacrifice his daughter to the crowd to keep them from committing this sexually immoral act.  There is the sin of rape and murder - which the mob doesn't seem to care about at all.

It is so easy to focus on all of these details that we forget the point.  The point is that sin had run rampant.  There was no moral compass.  There was no restraint.  The mob in the city is simply living off their basest instincts.  They are driven by desire and lust and this is what happens when those feelings are left unchecked.

This chapter is not about the details but about the hight from which this tribe from Israel had fallen.  This chapter is in the Bible to show us what happens when we live for ourselves only and only to fulfill our sexual or physical desires.  It stands as a warning to everyone who says, "it's okay."  "I'm not hurting anyone else."  "If it feels good..."  This is what you get when you do whatever you want.  Wrong becomes right.  Day becomes night.  We become a people not just ruled by our lusts but driven by them to a place where our sin is not just tolerated but celebrated.

I'm thankful that I know what happens in chapter 20.  But I'm also thankful that, while I don't always succeed as I would like, I try to live my life not based solely off my own desires, feelings or passions but by the commands and precepts of my God who said, "love God and love others."  If either of these two commands would have been followed that night in Gibeah this chapter would not have been written.

This chapter is an example of the place that unbridled sin leads us to and chapter 20 will be the conclusion.  So when you come across a difficult chapter or text in the Bible ask yourself, "what's the point?"  And see if it doesn't give you a fresh perspective.

NOTE:  While this chapter references some behaviors that we simply can not understand - namely the way the men treated the women they were supposed to love - remember that this is an entirely different culture.  And before you get so upset that you just close your bible and quit reading I want you to realize that this sort of thing happens today, yes today, in other countries around the world.  Women were in that culture seen as they are in many Middle Eastern cultures today, as property.  A man could do what he wanted with his wife/daughter.   Make sure that you focus on the point and not the periphery.