{"id":27834,"date":"2023-09-04T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/judges-20_33-48-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-08-22T15:04:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T22:04:17","slug":"judges-21_1-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/judges-21_1-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Just Weep and Cry. Repent."},"content":{"rendered":"

Judges 21:1-25\u00a0 <\/strong>Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Judges 21:1-25.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Judges 21:1-4 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“O\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?”
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0 The Israelites weep bitterly before God when they realize that one tribe of Israel, the Benjamites, is nearly extinct.\u00a0 In verse 3 they ask, “O\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel, why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?” \u00a0According to scholars like Daniel Block from the New American Commentary, the tone of the Israelites\u2019 questioning of God is one of accusation.\u00a0 In other words, rather than seeing how their actions resulted in this heart-breaking result, they blame God.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that so like us humans to do?\u00a0 We make a mess of our own situation and then we blame God for the mess.<\/p>\n

Notice that the Israelites took time to weep and cry before God about their problems, but they didn\u2019t take time to repent or inquire of God as to what they should do from here.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s one thing to weep and cry before God, but if you don\u2019t change and do what God wants, your weeping and crying won\u2019t make much difference in the long run.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Let\u2019s not only bring our tears to God; even more, let\u2019s repent, that is, turn from those ways which led us to tears in the first place.<\/p>\n

Judges 21:5-14 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the Israelites asked, “Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the\u00a0LORD?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0at Mizpah should certainly be put to death.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites. “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel,” they said.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the\u00a0LORD\u00a0not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0at Mizpah?” They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“This is what you are to do,” they said. “Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.”
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-14:\u00a0 The Israelites\u2019 unrepentant attitude is evidenced in these verses.\u00a0 Instead of seeking the LORD on what they should do about the remaining Benjamites, the Israelites resort once again to killing and violence, this time wiping out the city of Jabesh Gilead as a means of getting wives for the Benjamites.\u00a0 But the Israelites couldn\u2019t get enough.\u00a0 Managing to get enough wives for 400 Benjamites, they need 200 more.<\/p>\n

Judges 21:15-25 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The people grieved for Benjamin, because the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And the elders of the assembly said, “With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left?
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,” they said, “so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.’
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But look, there is the annual festival of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0in Shiloh, to the north of Bethel, and east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and to the south of Lebonah.”
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.'”
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 15-25:\u00a0 Since the Israelites had taken an oath not to give their daughters away in marriage to a Benjamite (v1), so as not to go back on their vow they rely on a technicality. \u00a0\u201cWe vowed not to give our daughters away, but that doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t take other people\u2019s daughters away!\u201d And that is what the Israelites do.\u00a0 They kidnap 200 more women from Shiloh to provide wives for the remaining 200 Benjamites.<\/p>\n

How can we explain this pattern of injustice after injustice?\u00a0 The last verse of Judges gives us the answer: \u201cIn those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.\u201d (v25)\u00a0 This phrase, which comes up repeatedly in Judges, sums up the entire book of Judges: people doing much evil all because they have chosen not to live for God but to live for themselves.\u00a0 In this way the book of Judges is one of the saddest books in the Bible.\u00a0 There are some bright lights dispersed throughout the book, people like Deborah, Gideon, and even Samson\u2019s parents.\u00a0 But the book of Judges clearly shows a people whose biggest problem was not external but internal, hopelessly bent on rebelling against God and doing their own thing.\u00a0 Every deliverer that God would sendto the Israelites would bring help and hope, but only for a time.\u00a0 All of this is setting the stage for one day when God would send a perfect king and deliverer unlike any other to rescue the people from their biggest bondage: their bondage to living for themselves.\u00a0 This brings our look at the book of Judges to a close.<\/p>\n

Thank You Father that the night is darkest just before the break of dawn.\u00a0 Through the book of Judges You show us how dark our human hearts can get, but You also indirectly point us to our need, and Your promise, of a Saviour-King and Deliverer who will the light the way. Thank You Jesus for being our light in the darkness always, the only One who can deliver us from our biggest bondage.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Judges 21:1-25.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Judges 21:1-4 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”
\n2\u00a0\u00a0The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0“O\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?”
\n4\u00a0\u00a0Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0 The Israelites weep bitterly before God when they realize that one tribe of Israel, the Benjamites, is nearly extinct.\u00a0 In verse 3 they ask, “O\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel, why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?” \u00a0According to scholars like Daniel Block from the New American Commentary, the tone of the Israelites\u2019 questioning of God is one of accusation.\u00a0 In other words, rather than seeing how their actions resulted in this heart-breaking result, they blame God.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that so like us humans to do?\u00a0 We make a mess of our own situation and then we blame God for the mess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27834"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27836,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27834\/revisions\/27836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}