Hi First Presbyterian Church,
It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! It’s Day 129 of our one-year Bible-reading plan, and we just finished two Sundays of trying to answer some of your questions about our Old Testament readings, namely: Why does God seem so violent in the Old Testament, and why do women appear so devalued in the Old Testament? I hope that you found something in worship these past two Sundays to address some of your concerns.
I promised in my sermon this past Sunday that I would find some time to address the troubling story we encounter in Judges 19-20. In those chapters, we encounter a grotesque story about a Levite and his concubine. I won’t rehash the details of that story here, but I want to respond to it.
Understanding this story actually hinges a lot on what we read in its very first sentence: “In those days, there was no king in Israel…” (19:1). Why is that sentence so important? On first glance, it seems to have nothing to do with the events that follow. But, in fact, it does. We actually encounter the declaration, “There was no king in Israel,” a few times throughout the book of Judges. That phrase is often paired with another phrase, as we see in Judges 17:6 and 21:25: “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” In other words, the story of the Levite and his concubine begins with these opening words in order to tell us: “The following story is an example of a deplorable situation where people follow the inclinations of their own hearts, not the will of God.” The story of the Levite and his concubine is one of the most upsetting stories we read in the whole Bible, because it is a demonstration of what humans are capable of doing when they reject the ways of God.
This story wraps up the book of Judges, which is then followed by the book of Ruth and the books of 1-2 Samuel. Think about what the stories of Ruth and 1-2 Samuel tell us. Ruth is about how the loyalty of one woman eventually leads to the birth of King David, and 1-2 Samuel is about the events that eventually lead to the ascension of David to being King over all Israel. If Judges ends with the cautionary tale that having no king would mean “all the people did was what right in their own eyes,” then it naturally sets up the story to lead to Israel having its first kings. The king had the job of rallying people around the wisdom and justice of God so that they would do what was right in God’s eyes.
However, what we eventually learn is that even kings are fallible and corruptible people and can lead us away from God. What are we to do? If kings were meant to lead the people to the wisdom and righteousness of God, but even they are sinful people, what hope is there for anyone? This is precisely why God came to us in Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 9:6-7 - “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
Jesus is our king, and we are so blessed by this fact! Jesus, the perfect human who reflects to us God’s intentions for true humanity, has come to us to save us from the deplorable sinfulness of our own hearts. By trusting in him, we are not abandoned to only do what is right in our own eyes, but we are shown very clearly what God intends for us and are given the power, through the Holy Spirit, to follow these ways.
Thanks be to God!
Peace,
Pastor Aaron