JUDGES 15-21 ISRAELS DARK CHAPTERS2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Judges 15-21 Israels Dark Chapters

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012.

We're going to be in Judges chapter 15 through 21, finishing up the book of Judges. And as we do, as we change from book to book, I'd like to just take a moment to encourage you. Tomorrow we start the book of Ruth. And so this is a great opportunity for you.

If you have not started with us in going through the Bible in three years, tomorrow you have a great opportunity to start fresh in the book of Ruth and to continue to join us. It's about a chapter a day and we're working our way through the Bible over the next two and a half years now.

So if you didn't start with us, there's great opportunity for you to join with us. And if you started but kind of fell behind, maybe you gave up, again, tomorrow is a great opportunity for a fresh start. Join with us. The book of Ruth is a beautiful story of redemption as we get to see what God does in her life. And so

I want to encourage you to join with us as we continue to study the scriptures and allow God to work in our hearts. Well, this evening as we finish up the book of Judges, the book of Judges was written by Samuel, it's believed. So it was written a little bit later on, soon after the events took place. It covers, though, a time period of about 300 years, from roughly 1350 to 1075 B.C.,

And the theme of the book is the Lord raises up judges who saved them. And we've seen the repetition of the people of Israel crying out to God and the Lord raising up a deliverer for them to save them out of the bondage and oppression that they have been experiencing.

As far as our timeline is concerned, this evening as we look at chapters 15 through 21, we're covering just that last period of the time of the judges in the book of the judges. We've covered a lot of territory over the past couple of weeks in the first part of the book of judges. And now we're finishing it off with Samson and a couple other events that we'll see there at the end of the chapters.

So here's a list of the judges that we've gone through in the book of Judges. You'll notice Samson is the last one. We'll cover him in the first two chapters. And then the last chapters of Judges cover some historical events that are important and significant because of the history that they contain. So we're finishing up the Judges now, looking at Samson and the Philistine oppression that was going on.

When you consider the geography of Judges, the nation of Israel was not yet united as one kingdom. Joshua had led them into the promised land and had given the land to all the different tribes. And so it was divided up according to the size of their tribe and the number of families and so on and so forth. And so the

the nation looked something like this. All these different divisions and all these different tribes. They didn't have one king, one ruler. It was designed to be that God was their ruler. But as we have seen throughout the book of Judges, the people really rejected God as ruler and were just doing whatever they wanted to do, whatever they felt like doing. And

as a result, it would bring upon them judgment and oppression from some of the surrounding nations. And so we've been talking about the sin cycle.

We see from last week, Samson is this final judge. He's from the tribe of Dan. He was there from the city of Zorah. And it was during the time where the Philistines were oppressing the nation, and they were there on the coast of the Mediterranean. And we've seen this over and over again, this cycle that goes on. In Judges chapter 13, verse 1, it says,

And so what happened was Israel had turned away from God. And as a result, the Lord allowed the Philistines to come in and bring this oppression upon the nation of Israel.

Now when the children of Israel grew tired of their oppression, whatever nation was oppressing them during this time of the judges, they would cry out to God. And God in his great grace and mercy would provide a deliverer, one of these judges, that he would raise up who would set them free from the oppression that this other nation brought.

And so we called it the sin cycle or the spin cycle because it just continued over and over again. Once that judge died, they would turn away again. And that's what happened at the beginning of Samson's life. There in Judges chapter 13, Israel turned away from the Lord. They experienced now the oppression by the Philistines. And so God is bringing a deliverer in the person of Samson who is born there in Zorah.

Now, Samson was interesting, as we saw last week, because he was to be a Nazarite from his birth and for his whole life.

The Nazarite vow you can read about in Numbers chapter 6 was normally a vow of dedication to the Lord for a certain amount of time. The amount of time was up to the person who is making the vow. So you, if you wanted to make the Nazarite vow in those days, you would go and you would say, you know, for the next month I'm going to be dedicated to the Lord.

And there were certain parameters for this vow. You had to make, you know, no haircuts, no razors on your head. You had to leave your hair and let it grow. You could not partake of anything of the vine. And you were to not come in contact with any dead bodies. And the purpose of this vow was, the person was saying, I want to be devoted to the Lord and just focused on the things of God for this season.

Well, Samson was called by the Lord and announced to his parents that he was to be a Nazarite from his birth through his whole life. That he was to live a whole life that was dedicated to the Lord. And so we saw last week that Samson, because of this, had immense potential.

He had great potential because, well, being fully dedicated to the Lord, God could use him to accomplish really anything that God wanted to accomplish. But the problem was that Samson, although he somewhat followed the outside of this vow, he somewhat put on the show that he was, you know, holding fast to this vow, he

In reality, he was only pretending to be dedicated to the Lord. And so we see Samson, a man with great potential, who ends up being really a great tragedy amongst the judges, of one who really failed to be all that God had called him to be.

And so we began looking at Samson's life where he was born. And then last week in chapter 14 of Judges, we saw the scene when he sees a Philistine woman. He wants to get married to her. There's this interaction. There's this conflict. And so that happens at Timnah.

And he poses a riddle for the guys, remember, and they answer it. So he has to pay a debt. So he goes down to Ashkelon. He kills 30 men. He comes back with their clothing to pay the debt of this riddle. That's back from chapter 14 of Judges that we looked at last week. And so we're now picking up in chapter 15 the continuation of Samson's life and the things that he did in his time as a judge in Israel.

So Judges chapter 15, verse 16 is the key verse. It says, Then Samson said, With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey, I have slain a thousand men. What we find in verses 1 through 5 is that Samson burns the grain, the vineyards, and the olive groves there in the region where the Philistines are there around Timnah.

Now, the reason why he did this, we find in verse 2, it says that the father of the woman that he sought to marry, in fact, they went through the wedding ceremony. After that ceremony, Samson took off. So her father then gave her in marriage to the one who is the best man of the ceremony, one of the companions that were there given to him.

And the father said, I thought you hated her. That's why you took off. And so I gave her in marriage to, you know, to someone else. And so Samson is upset. And so he catches 300 foxes and he ties them together and puts torches in their tails and then sets them loose amongst the fields and the vineyards and the groves. You know, it's an interesting story. I'm thinking, man, Samson, that's pretty creative. Creative destruction there amongst the Philistines.

Well, the Philistines aren't happy about that. And so in verse 6, the man and the daughter, the daughter that was given to another man and her father, they are put to death by the Philistines because they were affected by this, you know, attack that Samson brought with the fields and vineyards and olive groves being put to fire.

Well, then in verses 6 through 13, we have Samson being delivered to the Philistines. There's a couple exchanges that go on where Samson fights against the Philistines. And so finally, they come and they lay siege to or they encamp against the tribe of Judah at a city called Lahey.

And Judah says, hey, why are you guys coming out to fight against us? And they said, because of Samson. And turn him over to us. And so Judah turns over and delivers Samson to the Philistines. Well, Samson uses that occasion to attack the Philistines once again. And there at Leahy, he puts to death 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. And that's in verses 14 through 20.

And so he attacks the Philistines there single-handedly. You know, this makes him unique compared to the other judges that we've seen. The other judges would lead the nation into battle. Samson was just like a one-man army. He was a lone ranger and he would just go into battle on his own. And so here he kills 1,000 of the Philistines. Immediately after, he's incredibly thirsty and he cries out to God.

And I thought that Warren Wiersbe had a really great point about that. Wiersbe says, had he prayed as earnestly for character as he did for physical help, he would have been a better man and a more successful judge. He earnestly called out to God to provide him to meet his thirst.

And Wiersbe points out, you know, if he had sought for God to develop character, if he would have sought for God to work in his heart in that same earnestness, in that same passion, then he would have been a changed man. And so it's a lost opportunity as he instead did not cry out to God. He really did not seek for God to change him. Well, this all took place...

I got these out of order. Here we go. This all took place in Lahey, which was pretty near Tinna. And so that's where Samson was. That's where they delivered him to the Philistines. And that's where he attacked them. And he killed the thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. So in case you wanted to know what the jawbone of a donkey looked like, it says Samson saw one there. It was just laying around. And so he grabbed it.

And he used it as a weapon. Now, the jawbone of a donkey can vary in size, of course, depending on the size of the donkey. But they range from about 9 inches to about 16 inches long. And so that is the weapon that he used to attack the Philistines. It was interesting as I was looking for a picture of the donkey.

the jawbone. I also found out that jawbones are used as instruments. So I thought that was an interesting thing. You know like those rattle things where they take the thing and it's all... They use the teeth like that. And then because the teeth get loose, they use it as a rattle and they can shake it, you know, like a little egg, you know, like shaking the rattle. So if you ever need an instrument and there's a jawbone of a donkey, you're all set up.

All right, Judges chapter 16, verse 30 is the key verse. It says, Here in Judges chapter 16, we find the end of Samson's reign as a judge.

It begins in verses 1 through 15 with Delilah, who tries but fails to learn Samson's secret. Now what happens here in Judges chapter 16 verse 5, we find that the lords of the Philistines, there was five lords of the Philistines or rulers of the Philistines, they go to Delilah once they find out about their relationship and they say, Delilah,

We will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver if you will find out his weakness. Find out how to make him vulnerable, how we can bind him and afflict him. 1,100 pieces of silver, these are probably referring to shekels,

And so that would relate to or equate to about 29 pounds of silver from each of the lords of the Philistines. So I did some quick math today, looked up today's value at $27 per ounce of silver, and it comes up to about $48,000 total that she was promised under today's rates for delivering this secret for Samson's weakness. All right.

I saw that and I thought, you know, I bet she could have held out and got some more. It's a lot of money, but not that much. But she thought it was enough. And so she is seeking to get Samson's secret. And so she's asking him and, you know, he's kind of just playing around with her, offering up different ideas and she's trying it. And then the Philistines come and he still beats them. And so he's having fun playing this very dangerous game.

But what I really thought was interesting as I read through this portion again this week is that, you know, the enemy knows our potential oftentimes even better than we do.

That Samson, he had this immense potential as we've seen. And he was to be dedicated to the Lord and he had this incredible strength and he really could have been the greatest of the judges because of the call of God in his life and what God had, you know, set apart for him.

But Samson really didn't hold that in high regard. And so he played around with sin. He was compromising. You know, he's with this woman, then he's with that woman. I mean, he really was ruled and mastered by his flesh. He was not serving the Lord wholeheartedly. He didn't know his own potential. But the Philistines, they very clearly knew his potential.

And so they said, you know, it's worth it to us. We're going to invest $50,000 to take him out to make sure that he doesn't continue to afflict us. And you know, spiritually, that's an important point for you to consider. That you have great potential. You have greater potential than Samson.

Samson's battles, of course, were physical. The battles that we face, as Paul said, are spiritual. That it's not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. And in the spiritual realm, you have incredible potential as a believer in Jesus Christ. You can accomplish great things for God. Every believer has great potential. And you know, the enemy...

is very well aware of your potential. Oftentimes we're clueless. And so we do like Samson. We compromise. We play around with sin. We take our own path and do whatever we want to do. Not realizing how effective we could be in the kingdom of God. How much we could accomplish for God and His glory. But the enemy isn't confused about our potential.

And that's why he follows the example of the Philistine lords. He uses cunning, deceptive, vile methods of seduction to lure us away, to cause us to disqualify ourselves or distract us from the things that God has called us to. And so they tell Delilah, seduce him, figure out his weakness, find out for us.

And we'll give you $50,000. Verse 16, it says, It came to pass when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was vexed to death that he spilled it all. He told her, I've never had a razor on my head. And so she cuts his hair. His strength is gone. And in verses 16 through 22, we find him being bound and imprisoned. This time when the Philistines come, he thinks he's going to fight them off like always. It's what he's always done.

One of the scariest phrases in the Bible is found here in this portion too because it says that Samson didn't know that the Lord had left him. He didn't know that his strength was gone. He'd played around with sin for so long he didn't even recognize it when the presence of God was not with him. But he gets up, he says, I'm going to take these guys out just like I always do. And in verse 21 it says the Philistines took him

and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. It's often been said, this is the result of sin. It blinds you, it binds you, and then it grinds you. This is what sin does. It's the result of sin in our lives. Well, in the end of the chapter, verses 23 through 31, we find Samson at his death.

And he dies by bringing down the temple of the Philistines. And so he brings down the temple. It falls upon all those who are gathered. They bring him out to celebrate how great their God is and how they are able to defeat Samson. But the Lord gives Samson strength one last time to destroy the temple. And as a result, he's killed in the process as well. And as I look at this, I think, you know, his death is really not a victory. He did...

kill some Philistines at his death more than he killed in the rest of his life. But it's not a victory. You know, Samson could have delivered Israel from the Philistines. This wasn't deliverance for Israel. The Philistines were still there. The Philistines still oppressed Israel. And we can see that as we head into 1 Samuel, that the difficulty that the Philistines continue to bring upon the nation. Samson could have delivered them and brought them to a complete victory. But

But he did not. Instead, he took out a few of them. But Israel remained in this oppressed state. And so again, we see the great potential of Samson squandered, wasted. He did not realize, or if he did, he did not care what God had in store for him. Well, all of this took place. The Valley of Sorek is where Delilah was. And that was there near Timnah and all those other places he was always hanging out.

And so that's where he, you know, became weak. And then they brought him down to Gaza there on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. And it was there in Gaza that he destroyed the temple and killed the Philistines that were there. Again, there is this great potential. David Guzik says, Samson wanted to be used by God, but he also yielded to the deceitfulness of sin. He wanted to be used by God, but he was mastered by his flesh.

The Lord wasn't his master. He allowed his own desires and cravings to take a higher priority than the Lord's commands. And even over the vow that God had called him to, the vow of a Nazarite. And it's important to consider, although it's a great tragedy, because there are many believers, many Christians today, who have great potential, as all believers do. But even though we have great potential today,

We destroy our witness and we destroy ourselves by compromise, by sin, by following the example of Samson. Last week I shared that quote. It's often been said, the world has yet to see what God will do with a man wholly devoted to God. And with that quote we often think about, because evangelist D.L. Moody, he heard that, he held to it, he said, I want to be that man.

And he was a great evangelist. He impacted many, many people. And we can think about Billy Graham and those guys who impact nations. They change nations. They're called into that type of ministry. But you know, it's not just that calling that this applies to.

It's not a reference to full-time ministry or the pastorate or, you know, a full-time missionary in Africa or some type of national evangelist. I think we need to consider, again, your potential. As you devote yourself wholly to the Lord, you have unlimited potential to accomplish God's work, to fulfill God's plan. And your family has yet to see what God will do with a person who is wholly devoted to the Lord.

I want to encourage you this evening as you consider the account of Samson to devote yourself to the Lord. Let your family see what that looks like. Let your family experience the impact, the benefits, the blessings, the great work of God that takes place when someone devotes themselves to the Lord. Your workplace has yet to see what God will do with a person who is wholly devoted to Him. Let them see it. Devote yourself to God.

Consecrate yourself to God. Be fully dedicated. Don't just kind of go through the motions and put on the show like Samson did. Remember he took the honey out of the carcass of the lion? He wasn't supposed to be in contact with dead bodies. That's part of the vow. But he took the honey out of the carcass of the lion. But it says he didn't tell his parents where he got the honey from. Because he knew he wasn't supposed to do that. But he's putting on the show. As far as his parents know, he's keeping the vow.

Good job, Samson. Good Christian. Very religious. And we have that tendency to put on the show so that, well, at least other people think I'm a good Christian. At the same time, it's why we're weak and powerless. It's why we give in to all of these deceptions, the cunning traps of the enemy. Listen, don't just put on a show. Really give your heart to the Lord. Turn it over completely. Consume everything.

yourself with the things of God. You have great potential. Don't let it go to waste. Well, as we go on now in Judges chapter 17, the final chapters of the book of Judges are what I call dark chapters. You know, we have those dark eras of history. I think of church history and I think of the dark ages. Man, what a dark era, dark chapter of history. This is...

A dark chapter of Israel's history here in 17 through 21. These things are recorded here not because this is what God wanted or the way that God wanted things to happen. These things are recorded because it's the history of the nation. It's the condition of the nation. And the sum of it is found in verse 6 here in Judges 17. It says, "...in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

And that sums up the issue with the nation of Israel at this time. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Now that's not just talking about there was no king as in there was no national monarch. But this is also making the point that the nation of Israel was not following the Lord. God had designed Israel to be governed by him. But they weren't governed by him.

They were just doing whatever they wanted to do, whatever they felt like doing, whatever felt good to them, whatever they thought was right. And so as a result, Judges 17 through 21, as I said, are dark chapters. Some of my least favorite chapters in the Bible. It rivals the counsel of Job's friends that we'll get to in the book of Job. I mean, it's just some horrendous things that happen. So why study them? Why are they in the Bible? Well,

First of all, it's history. But second of all, we need to remember this is what happens when we do what's right in our own eyes. This is why it's so important to wholly devote ourselves to God. Because if we do not, well, we can have our own dark chapters as we begin to do what's right in our own eyes. So chapter 17 verse 5 is the key verse. It says, the man Micah had a shrine.

and made an ephod and household idols. And he consecrated one of his sons who became his priest. In verses 1 through 5, we are introduced to a man named Micah. No relation to Pastor Sisko's wife and no relation to the prophet later on the book of Micah. This is just a man who's named Micah. So no connection to anybody else that we know. He sets up a shrine and idols in his home.

Now, idolatry was going on in Israel, but here he's establishing his home as a center for idolatry. He's setting up a shrine. He's really inviting others around him in the community to come and worship these false gods in his home. And so he establishes a priesthood. He gets his son. He says, all right, son, you're going to be the priest.

He wasn't a priest. He wasn't of the tribe of Levi and called to be a priest. He wasn't a descendant of Aaron. He was just, you know, Micah's son. And so he says, I hereby anoint you as priest. You know, it was just made up. He's just making up his own religion here. And then in verses 6 through 13, we have a Levite who comes on the scene. And now he becomes Micah's priest. So,

He sets up this shrine. He sets up his own priesthood. But then a Levite's coming through. Now the tribe of Levi, remember, they were to be dedicated to the things of God at the tabernacle. And so the Levites were dispersed around the nation and they would have their rotation. They would go serve at the tabernacle according to their time. We don't know exactly the circumstances of why this Levite's passing through, but he's passing through. And Micah thinks, hey, this guy's a Levite.

Well, it would be much better to have him as my priest. Son, you're fired. Levi, come here. Why don't you be my priest? Because you're even of the priestly tribe. You're of the tribe of Levi. And oh man, this is going to be wonderful if you could serve as my priest. You see, we're beginning to see and understand the sad condition of Israel here. That they really have turned away from the Lord. And this is an example of it.

And even though he's turned away from the Lord, he's severely deceived about it. Verse 13 says, So his thinking is, man, now God's really going to bless me because I have a Levite as my priest.

I'm practicing idolatry. I'm encouraging others to engage in idolatry. But God's going to bless me because I have a Levite to help these people practice idolatry. You know, that's the equivalent of us today thinking God's going to bless my idol because I have a Bible verse on it or a Harvest Crusade bumper sticker. God's going to bless my self-centered day because I read my Bible this morning. That's the mentality that we have that

Micah has as well. Hey, I'm going to do what I want to do, but God's going to bless it because I went to church this week. It just doesn't work that way. And we deceive ourselves just like Micah does, thinking that, well, it's kind of just superstitious. You know, hey, if we pray this prayer, if we perform this religious ritual, then God's going to bless us even though we're doing whatever we want to do and not paying attention to Him.

But as the Lord will remind His people later on, specifically King Saul, God says obedience is better than sacrifice. I don't want your religious rituals. I want you, again, to wholly devote yourself to Me and to be obedient.

Well, these things take place there in the region of Ephraim, in the mountains of Ephraim. That's where Micah is from. The Levite is from Bethlehem there in the tribe of Judah. And so he makes his way up a little bit north to where Micah is. And now he makes that his home. He becomes the full-time priest there of the family and serving those household gods. Well, this story continues here in chapter 18. Verse 1 is the key verse.

It says, in those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for itself to dwell in. For until that day their inheritance among the tribes of Israel had not fallen to them. In verses 1 through 12 we have spies from the tribe of Dan that are sent out to find land for their tribe. Now if you remember, Samson was of the tribe of Dan.

He was raised up by the Lord to deal with the Philistines, but he really didn't do it. He killed some of them, but he did not deliver them. Well, the Philistines had overtaken the tribe of Dan. And so they're squished. They have not much room to go. And so they send out now these spies, go find for us some other land that we can go and live in because the Philistines have overtaken our territory.

And so these guys are from Samson's neighborhood. They're sent out from his hometown to go find a place for the tribe. And they make a stop in Ephraim. And they encounter this priest who is the Levite there from chapter 17. And he says, hey, God's with you. Go on your way and God's going to bless you.

And so they go to the northern end of Israel to a city called Laish. And they find there a good opportunity. And so they come back and encourage the tribe. That's the place that we want to go. And so verses 13 through 26, we have the spies convincing Micah's priest to be their tribe's priest. So the army of soldiers from Dan are sent out. Once again, they go through Ephraim. They encounter this priest and they say, hey, why don't you come be our priest?

You can be a priest for one man and his family here, but if you go with us, you can be a priest for the whole tribe of Dan. For a whole tribe of Israel. And the priest says, hey, that's a good idea. That's a way better gig than I got here. And so he goes with them and becomes the priest for the tribe of Dan. Again, you get to see the picture of how far away from God the people of Israel have become.

Now, Micah disputed that. He tried to follow after them. And I love verse 24. It's just such a classic, you know, ironic saying. It says, you have taken away my gods. How many of you want a God that can be stolen? He says, what am I going to do now? You've taken all my gods. This is the futility of worshiping anything other than the true and living God. This is the futility of giving anything, the passion and devotion of our lives to

Besides the King of kings and Lord of lords. He can't be stolen. He's the creator. But everything else we worship can be taken from us. You've stolen my gods, he says.

Well, Dan continues on now with this priest in verses 27 through 31. They conquer and settle in Laish, the city in the northern part of Israel. And there they take the priest with them. They set up idolatry there. It becomes a center for idolatry really for the rest of Israel's history until Assyria comes and conquers them later on. We'll see that as we go further into the history of the nation of Israel in the coming weeks and months.

So they go up to Laish. Now here's what this looks like. So Micah was there in the mountains of Ephraim. Zorah was where these spies were sent out from. They encounter the priest there by Micah. They go up. They scout out Laish. They say, hey, this looks nice. And so they come back. They get the rest of the army and they say, let's go guys. And so they go. They go. They pick up the priest. They go up there. And so you see Dan up there has a little section of land and then also a section of land there south. Those are the land that was

well the southern part was the land that was allotted to them and given to them by Joshua. The northern part is the part that they took here in Judges chapter 18. Well now as we move on to Judges 19, we're moving on to a different...

account, a different story of something that happened. And we'll finish up the book of Judges with this account. Chapter 19, verse 13 is the key verse. It says, So he said to his servant, Come, let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or in Ramah. In verses 1 through 9, we find a Levite who seeks to bring back his concubine.

Now, this is a different Levite than we've been talking about in 17 and 18. So this is, again, a separate story, a separate account, not related to the one we just looked at. But here's another Levite, and he has a concubine, and she plays the harlot, and then she runs off, and she goes back to her hometown. And so in verses 1 through 9, we have the Levite now going after her,

to talk nicely to her, to try to heal the relationship and bring her back home. And so he goes to get her back. In verses 10 through 21, we have the Levite staying in Gibeah. And so he goes, he spends some time with her and her father. She agrees, they go back, and so they're making their way back to his home.

And, you know, you can't make the journey all in one day. And so he has to stop somewhere. And he says, I want to stop somewhere, you know, that's safe. And so let's stop here in Gibeah. But there in Gibeah, which was in the tribe of Benjamin, no one opens their home to them. It wasn't like today where you just go find a hotel somewhere. When you traveled, you would rely upon the hospitality of the people of the region.

But nobody was being hospitable. No one was opening up their home until finally there was an old man who was also from Ephraim, the same place this Levite was from, and he said, hey, what are you guys doing? I'll open my home to you and you guys can stay with me. Well, then in verses 22 through 28, we have this concubine that is killed by the men of Gibeah. Verse 22.

22 kind of sums it up for us or tells us what happened. It says, as they were enjoying themselves, that's this Levite and this man who invited him in, he said, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man saying, bring out the man who came to your house that we may know him carnally. And so what's happening here is now he's gone into the home of this older man

And people of the city come and demand that this traveling Levite be sent out to them so that they can violate him sexually. Now, this is pretty grotesque. This kind of, you know, mob that comes to say, hey, we want to engage in this activity with this man. Again, these are dark chapters. Why have them? Well, this is history. This is what happened to the nation in

When everyone did what was right in their own eyes. There was great perversion. And as a result of that, this great atrocity is about to be committed. As the people gather, they say, hey, bring out this man. Of course, the guy refuses. The old man refuses. And so instead, he sends out his concubine. Take her instead. And so they violate her. They abuse her all night long.

And in the morning, she just barely makes it back to the door of the house. And you can see the coldness here of the Levite. As he goes outside, he says, okay, get up, let's go. We got to continue on our journey. It's really sickening as you get to see how far they'd gone in their perversion. Not just the people there at the door, but even this Levite shows that his heart is far from God. I like what David Guzik points out about this. He says, though the perverted men of Gibeah are clearly guilty...

so are the Levites and the host of the home. They clearly should have been willing to sacrifice themselves before their daughters and companions. But they were not willing. Their hearts were far from the Lord. Again, everyone, including this Levite, is just doing what is right in his own eyes. And so she's killed by the men of Gibeah as a result of this.

In verses 29 through 30 now, we have the Levite sending her body to all of Israel. It gets just more and more grotesque. You think, man, it can't get any worse than this. And then it gets worse. He divides up her body into 12 pieces and sends all the pieces throughout the nation of Israel. Saying, look, this great atrocity has been committed. There's great perversity here. We need to deal with this. It was sent out for the shock factor.

And it did the trick. It got Israel's attention. And we'll see that in chapter 20. Here's again the geography though. The Levite is from the mountains of Ephraim. He goes down to Bethlehem to retrieve his concubine. He's bringing her back. They stop in at Gibeah. They're in the tribe of Benjamin. This takes place. And so now we head into chapter 20 and see the result as the nation is gathered together.

Chapter 20, verse 48 is the key verse and it says, And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin and struck them down with the edge of the sword. From every city, men and beasts, all who were found, they also set fire to all the cities they came to. Here in verses 1 through 17, the whole nation, all of Israel, gathers to battle against Benjamin.

They gathered together to deal with and address this situation that happened. Now they don't intend to go to war from the beginning. Verse 13 says, Now therefore deliver up the men, the perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel.

So the first thing that they do is they talk to Benjamin. They say, Benjamin, you've got some serious perversity going on within your tribe. You need to deliver up those wicked men so that we can put them to death and put away the evil from Israel. Now in this part, for this little moment, Israel is doing the right thing.

This is the right thing. These perverse men are to be put to death as Israel seeks to follow the instructions that God gave them in the book of Deuteronomy. You can check out later on Deuteronomy chapter 13 verses 12 through 15 where God says, look, if there's a city that's turned away from the Lord and follows wicked practices, then that city is to be put to death in the same way that a man who rebels against God is to be put to death.

And so they're doing the right thing. They go to Benjamin. They say, hey, deliver up the men of this city, these perverse men, because we need to put away the evil out of Israel. And this phrase, this idea of putting away evil is found nine times throughout the book of Deuteronomy. It's something God had instructed them to do. Saying, don't put up with sin. Don't just allow it to continue on. Don't just pretend like it's not there. You need to deal with sin and put it out of your midst.

And that's hard and it's difficult. It's dark, but it's the right thing to do. It's the result of sin. It's the mess that it brings. And so for a moment here, they're doing the right thing. They're gathering together. They're saying, look, we need to deal with this situation. But what happens now is Benjamin says, hey, we're not delivering them to you. And guess what? Better put your armor on because we're coming to get you.

And so now Benjamin says, we're going to fight you guys. We're going to go into battle. And so there's this battle that takes place. In verses 18 through 21, we find the first encounter and Benjamin wins that battle, that first encounter. They put to death 22,000 of the rest of Israel's army. It was a pretty big loss. Benjamin was not a big tribe. They didn't have a lot of soldiers.

But they were able to put to death 22,000 of the army of Israel. Then in verses 22 through 25, the second encounter happens. And Benjamin wins again. This time 18,000 are killed. So a total of 40,000 so far have been put to death by Benjamin. These are pretty significant losses. But then they come to battle again in verses 26 through 48. And this time Israel defeats Benjamin again.

And so Benjamin is defeated. In verse 35, I think it's important to note, it says, the Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel. And so God is the one who gave them victory against the tribe of Benjamin. And so although you see the incredible darkness here, you see that also God's still at work. And he's allowing this, he's using the army of Israel to deal with this great perversity and evil

That has taken place. And that the tribe of Benjamin has become. The victory is so great. That verse 47 tells us. There's only 600 survivors. So the tribe is reduced significantly. So there's only 600 who remain.

So this happens all in Gibeah. We've seen that before. And then there's another interesting phrase that's introduced here in Judges chapter 20 verse 1. And the phrase is from Dan to Beersheba. And you'll see this throughout the Old Testament. These are the northernmost and southernmost points of Israel's territory. And so it became a saying to refer to all of Israel.

Again, they weren't, you know, one combined nation. They were all these separate tribes. And so they would use this phrase from Dan de Beersheba to describe all of Israel from the far north to the far south. You know, it was a way to reference that the whole nation was involved. And we see that introduced here in verse 1.

Well, we find the conclusion of this account in the book of Judges in chapter 21. The key verse is verse 23. It says, In verses 1 through 7, we have Israel now seeking to provide wives for Benjamin.

They got through with this battle. They had this great victory. There's only 600 people from Benjamin left, 600 men from Benjamin left. And then they realize, oh no, what have we done? It says in verse 6 that they grieved for Benjamin and they said, one tribe is cut off from Israel today. They realized the result of this is going to be that Benjamin will cease to exist. Part of the problem was that when Israel had gathered together, they made a vow.

They said, none of us are going to give our daughters to the Benjamites. They won't marry any of our daughters. And so now they're thinking, wait a minute, there's only 600 men left. They don't have ladies to get married to because we all made a vow. We took an oath and said, we're not going to allow our daughters to marry them. So these 600 men are going to die and then that's it. The tribe is going to be gone. There will no longer be a tribe of Benjamins.

It's amazing how many times we see vows, oaths that are taken in the scriptures and how many times they're foolish, they're rash. It's not that we can never take an oath or make a vow. God says, hey, you're to make vows in my name. He said that to the nation. But we need to be very careful about the vows that we make, the promises that we make. Well, they make this foolish promise and so now they figure, well, we're in a dilemma. Now we need to figure out

How we're going to resolve this. Now, as you look at chapter 21, you don't find anywhere where God instructs them to do the things that they're about to do. You did see them seeking the Lord in chapter 20. God, should we go out into battle? And God says, yes, go. But here it doesn't,

point out at all if they sought the Lord or not, and I would suggest to you they did not. God did not instruct them to do these things. This is, again, Israel doing what's right in their own eyes, saying, well, we've got a problem. I think we can figure it out. Here's what we're going to do. And so verses 8 through 15, Israel strikes Jabesh Gilead, which was another city there in Israel, and gives their 400 virgins to Benjamin.

Now, the people of Jabesh Gilead didn't join them in this battle against Benjamin. And so they decide, well, you didn't join us, so we're going to take you out. So they kill everybody. They conquer the city. There's 400 virgins that live in that city. And so they give those 400 women to the men of Benjamin to become their wives. They think, all right, it's a pretty good plan. We got 400. Now, there's only 200 more guys who need wives. So what are we going to do?

All right, here's what we'll do, they decide. Verses 16 through 25. Israel allows Benjamin to take wives from Shiloh. Hey, there's this, you know, celebration that's about to happen. And there's going to be, you know, young maidens dancing as part of the celebration. And we'll just let Benjamin come and take whichever girls they want. And they'll be their wives. And then when the people of Shiloh protest, then we'll say, hey, be quiet. Don't worry about it.

So this way, they're not giving their daughters, but Benjamin is taking their daughters as their wives. So they're trying to, you know, hold fast to their oath. Probably it was a foolish thing to do. This is not what God would have instructed them to do. The better thing would have probably been to repent and say, God, we made a foolish oath. Forgive us.

there's a penalty for that found in the law. God says, here, pay this, you know, if you make a, if you make an oath and you don't fulfill it, then here's the, the, the sacrifice to make. Here's the sin offering to provide, you know. There was provision that God made, but instead of seeking the Lord and doing what God wanted to do, they just decided, let's just do it our own way. We've got to figure it out. We can do this. Now, this all happened as a result of this perversity that came from Benjamin.

But the tribe of Benjamin later on produces the Apostle Paul. So even though there's this great perversity, even though there's this great dark chapter, I think it's important to remember. You know, God is able to use these things and bring forth from these dark chapters great light because the Apostle Paul, of course, accomplished great things for the kingdom of God. Well, here's what this looked like. They were there...

In Gibeah, that's where the battle took place. They conquered Benjamin. They went to Jabesh Gilead, took the 400 virgins from there. And then they allowed the people of Benjamin or the 200 soldiers of Benjamin to take wives from Shiloh during the celebration that went on. Well, tomorrow we start the book of Ruth.

And Ruth also is written by Samuel, probably. It's understood by tradition that he wrote the book. The theme really is redemption. And so it takes place during the time period of the Judges. So somewhere in the midst of the time of the Judges, the account of Ruth takes place. And it's a great, beautiful story of redemption in the midst of this time of darkness that's found in the book of Judges.

And then also this week, we're going to begin the book of 1 Samuel. We'll finish up Ruth this week and head into 1 Samuel. It's not exactly known who the author of 1 Samuel is, but really what we see happening in 1 Samuel is the establishing of the monarchy. As Saul becomes king and then on into David and Solomon, we're heading into some exciting times in our reading together as we look at the prophet Samuel.

and the King Saul and the things that are going on. And so we'll be advancing in our timeline, heading into, you know, the time of the kings for the nation of Israel. Well, as we finish up our time together this evening, I want to just wrap up by reviewing verse 25 of Judges chapter 21. It says, This is repeated throughout the book of Judges.

And it's really the key why there was problems. Why Israel was in the condition that it was in. Why it was in this sin cycle. Where they would turn away from God. Doing what's right in their own eyes. They would only return to God. They'd cry out to God only because of the oppression that that brought. But as soon as that judge died, they would go back to doing what was right in their own eyes. Like Samson, it wasn't a real commitment to the Lord. It wasn't a whole devotion to the Lord.

It was just for convenience, for comfort, to get them out of the mess that they got themselves into. And that's what we see in judges. We see the mess that we get ourselves into when we do what is right in our own eyes. Because they refused to follow God. Not just was there no king to lead them nationally or politically, but they refused to let God rule in their hearts.

They followed their own ways. You know, Proverbs chapter 14 verse 12 says that there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Here's the problem with doing what's right in our own eyes. We can be fully convinced that, hey, seems right to me, sounds good to me, I think I've got it figured out, but the end result is death and destruction. And we see that clearly pictured for us in the book of Judges.

specifically in tonight's chapters. This needs to be a warning for every one of us. Don't follow your own heart. Don't follow your own ways. It will lead you to death. That's a promise. That's a guarantee. It will lead you to death. Warren Wiersbe says, when we operate on the basis of human wisdom, we create one problem after another. But when we pause to pray and seek the mind of the Lord, He shows us what to do.

When we're operating on our mindset, what we do is we make one problem after another. We just make things worse and worse. That's what we see in the book of Judges. But if we will stop and turn to the Lord, well, He can do an incredible work. We have that famous portion of Scripture in Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5 says, Why do you think it says that? Lean not on your own understanding.

Well, it's not just because, you know, if you lean on your own understanding, you know, there might be a little bit of difficulty for you. You won't have the optimal experience. No. The problem is when you and I, we lean on our own understanding, we make a mess. We take ourselves into dark chapters. We bring oppression, bondage, perversity.

Because we're leaning on our own understanding. Instead, verse 6 goes on to say, in all of your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. That is, wholly devote yourself to Him. Follow Him. Put Him first and He will direct you.

Going on in Proverbs 3, it says, do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. You see, when we continue on in evil, doing what's right in our own eyes, we're wise in our own eyes. We're saying, God, I know better than you and I can do this and this is going to satisfy me. It is what I want. But Proverbs says, don't do that. Don't be so foolish. Fear the Lord and depart from evil.

Follow His ways. Turn away from sin. He concludes by saying, it will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. Listen, you really want to experience the full abundant life that God has for you? Devote yourself wholly to Him. The world has yet to see what God can do with a person who is wholly devoted to Him. Your family, your workplace, your neighborhood, this church has yet to see. Let's be those people.

Who lean not on our understanding. But put him first. And follow him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father I pray that you would challenge our hearts. Lord that you would expose those hidden things of the heart. Lord where we have begun to do what's right in our own eyes. And Lord I pray that you would expose them. Not because you want to beat us down. But because you want to deliver us.

From the great trouble and difficulty and pain and anguish that comes from turning away from you. I pray God that you would draw us near to you. Help us to be wholly devoted. To acknowledge you in all of our ways. Help us God to turn away from sin. Help us Lord to see the potential. The great promises that you've provided for those who will follow you. Lord the enemy knows our potential and so he tries to rob us, to rip us off, to seduce us.

Open our eyes, God. Show us those traps. Help us to be wise so that we protect ourselves and that we keep ourselves in a right relationship with you. Thank you, God, that we can do so by your grace and mercy, by faith. Help us to turn to you and trust you with all of our heart. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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