Repent of Wickedness

This morning we are wrapping up the book of Judges. And as we conclude here, it's amazing the view that Judges gives us in terms of how sinful we are. The continual return to idols, the continual rejection of God over and over again. Judges just pours on us and helps us to see, Lord willing, how we act before God. And then there's an amazing view of how great and mighty God is to show grace. How powerful He is to overcome our own sin. One of the main themes, arguably the main goal of Judges is to show how Israel becomes more and more like Canaan. They become more and more like the nations around them instead of more and more like the God who has called them to be holy as He is holy. The end is hard and disturbing. This is probably the most disturbing story in all of scripture. We need to realize that the main sin that this story focuses upon is that they've rejected their king. And the outworking of rejecting their king is how they treat one another, specifically this woman and this man. If you were here last week, we saw how Micah was committed to his little household idolatry, and that then led to Dan taking those idols and becoming an idolatrous tribe. Here, this Levite's lack of love for his concubine leads to a whole tribe being wiped out, almost. Benjamin, there's no king. Now, there's no earthly king. One of the goals of Judges is that there's no earthly king. We can see this story is even bookended with that declaration. Chapter 19, verse one, in those days when there was no king in Israel, and then look at the very last line of Judges, how it concludes. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. There was no human king, not yet. But God had established them as their king himself. He was supposed to be leading them, ruling them, giving them direction, giving them correction. And they've refused him. We're looking at quite a bit of text this morning. If you're looking for the one sentence summary for these three chapters, rejoice. that we have a good king who conquers our sins so that it will not conquer us. That's what I hope we conclude with, rather. Rejoice that we have a good king who conquers our sins so that it will not conquer us. That is what I hope we walk away with this morning. Let's look at chapter 19. We're gonna spend quite a bit of time here because this is really what sets up the following action. And the heading, God's people pursue evil. And that's supposed to show how twisted this is. God's people are pursuing evil. One of the things that connects this entire chapter is hospitality. You see the Levite, he's a wandering Levite. And he goes to get his concubine who's left him, and the father welcomes him, and he's there for many days. There's extravagant hospitality. I want to put it, this is something that seems to be lost with us in America. We prefer fences to front porches. Robert Frost sarcastically declares, good fences make good neighbors. A key characteristic of a Christian is someone who's welcoming. Someone who does not see somebody as an other, but to welcome. If you actually walk through the book of Romans, that rich, thick book of doctrine, the glory of God and His grace, what are the key commands in the application? Welcome. Welcome. Christians are to be welcoming. And I commend you, church, that as a church, I regularly hear how welcoming we are. I challenge us to be more welcoming in our own homes and lives. Hospitality is a way of life for some. Hospitality is a way of life for the father of the concubine. Our story opens with a sojourning Levite. There's always something weird with a story. A Levite's primary job is to be keeping and protecting the holy things of God. To keep and protect means you have to kind of be in the same place. You have to be able to stand firm to keep and protect. He has a concubine, she's ran away from him, and then he goes to pursue her, verse two. He has this back and forth with the father, and the father keeps trying to make him stay, there's a three-day agreement, and then finally, late in the day on the fifth day, he gets up and he leaves. If you look at verses 10 to 15, as Patty read them earlier, They desire a safer place. And there's meant to be a strong bit of warning here and irony. As they're traveling through the city that will be eventually Jerusalem, it is not yet inhabited by the people of God. It is not yet Israel's. And so whenever the concubine says, let's stay here, the Levite says, no, we're not gonna stay in a foreigner's place. Let us go on, let us move ahead to Gibeah. where our own people live, where God's people live. So verses 16 to 30. They desire a safer place. Verses 10 to 15, now they fall into great danger. We look at verse 16 to 30. And the man, an old man, was coming from his work in the field. The Levite is in the open square of the city, the town center, and the man from Ephraim, he greets them. Where are you going, and where do you come from? That seems to be a common greeting in Scripture. The Levite answers, verse 18, we are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I'm going to the house of the Lord, but no one has taken me into his house. The old man says, verse 20, peace be to you. Again, a normal greeting. Peace, I will care for you. Only do not spend the night in the square. You see here this old man showing hospitality. Peace to you, your burdens are my burdens. I'm going to take care of all your needs, even though he said he wanted to take care of his own needs. You see a great promise, and then you see a great warning. Don't stay in the square tonight. Something's wrong with this city. Do not stay in the middle of the city tonight. Verse 22. As they were making their hearts merry, they're eating and they're drinking and the night's going into the late parts and most of them are going to bed soon, hoping to be safe. Behold, the men of the city worthless fellows, that is, men who have no honor, they began beating on the door. So you have here the old man and whoever is part of his household, you have the Levite and his concubine, and they're just sitting around, and then all of a sudden, there's a beating at the door. It's interrupted. And the people of the city declare, bring out the man who came into your house. They may know him. Now here's worthless fellows asking for a man who's under his care to be brought out so they may know him. That means to have sex with him. Listen to how the master of the house speaks. No. No, no, no. My brothers, my kinfolks, do not act so wickedly Let not this evil be named among you. No. Since this man has come into my house, do not do this foul thing. He is under my protection. Verse 24, another behold. Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out to you. One of the primary job descriptions of a man is to provide and protect. that this man is doing neither of these things right here. Yes, the wickedness of the city is that they want to have this man come out so they may know him, but here this old man, he just throws out his own daughter and the other man's concubine? Let me bring them out now? Violate them and do with them what seems good to you? You can hear there that do what's right in your own eyes? No, this is not what it's supposed to be. But again, this man did not know this outrageous thing, but the man would not listen to them. And so the man, I believe here it's the Levite, he grabbed this concubine and he throws her out to the worthless men. Now as we think about this sin, Let's first make it very clear. Sex is a wonderful gift given to human beings by God. It is meant for procreation. It is meant to bring one man and one woman into a wonderful, intimate union that is unique and sweet. But these fellows, first, they're seeking sex out of God's will in every way. This is not procreative. They're denying the natural function of men and women. Second, they're not looking for intimacy. They're looking for their own lustful delight. Third, they're seeking to impose by force. This is sick and twisted. And then it just gets even worse because the old man throws out the other man's concubine and says, do to her what you would. Exercise and practice your evil upon her. This is not the way it's supposed to be. The men would not listen, so the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them, and they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go, and as the morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was until it was light. This woman was abused physically, emotionally, in every way, until she finally gets to the morning where they let her go. She finds her way somehow back to the door, and then she lies there on the threshold, and notice it says her hands were up towards the threshold. She came to find safety in the only place she knew to find it, and she found none. She's been abused all night to death. And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, you already see something's wrong here, right? He's just gonna leave. Behold, there his concubine was laying at the door, her hands up on the threshold, hoping for some kind of relief, some kind of safety, but no, she dies there. And listen to this jerk. Get up and let us be going? What kind of man is this? But there was no answer. Get up. After he threw her out, he declares, get up, and then he puts her on her donkey. They rise up and they're going their way. Now you heard David earlier read Jeremiah 23 where God says you're all like Sodom, you've all gone in your way like Gomorrah. If you go back to Genesis 19, this story parallels the actual story of Sodom and Gomorrah in such a clear, distinct way. The author is trying to show you Israel is not just becoming more and more like the Canaanites, they've actually become like Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah, the final act that they tried to portray was taking a person under hospitality, the angels of the Lord, to know them. Now the Benjaminites, they are acting just like Sodom and Gomorrah. They deserve the wrath of God because they've rejected him as their king. These aren't Canaanites acting like Sodom and Gomorrah. These are the very people of God who've been redeemed by God, saved by God, given the commands of God, and yet refused Him in every way. Before we move on, I wanna make a few things clear from this story. First, God does not condone all the activity recorded in the Bible. God does not condone this activity. The Bible records our own sinful actions so that we would be able to look and see this is how we live against God. The Bible does, He condemns this. You'll see in a moment, He's going to bring judgment upon them. And so as we read Scripture, we need to make sure of what we're judging God for. He is not culpable for the actions of His people. He is actually the wonderful God of justice who's going to bring swift, clear judgment against sin. Secondly, I want to remind us As we look down and we can easily see how sinful the worthless men are, we can see how sinful the old man who's showing hospitality is, we can see how sinful the Levite is who gives away his concubine and then says, get up. You're reminded we are all vile, sick sinners. We need to be very careful not to pray as the hypocrite or as the Pharisee, as he looks at the tax collector, God, thank you for not making me like that man. No, no, the prayer is, God, thank you for the grace that I'm not as wicked as that man. God, thank you for leading me out of temptation. Lord, give me, lead me out of temptation and deliver me from evil. Forgive me for my sin. What we're also gonna see here is a complete abuse of women, and that's gonna be one of the key connectors of this entire passage. One of the ways that their rejection of the God as king is demonstrated is how they treat women. There is a long, horrible history of man abusing women. Women are to be celebrated. If you go to Genesis 2, woman was celebrated in creation before the fall. The first words of Adam, at last God! The first recorded words of man are, at last God, woman! It is not good until a woman is created. She is formed and brought to man by God. She is created in his image with the same dignity, honor, and worth. If a believer, she's a co-heir of Jesus Christ. These things be put before us and reminded. Fourth, the main problem is they do not see the king as worthy of worship. The biggest problem in this text is that they do not recognize the king as worthy of worship. Let us continue as we look at our story. The next section is God punishes the evil. We praise God, he punishes the evil. It gets worse, though. Verse 29, and the priest, when he entered the house after he's taken his concubine, He puts him on his donkey, carries her back home, and then, verse 29, he took a knife, and taking hold of her, he divided her limb by limb into 12 pieces and sent her throughout all the territory. All the people who saw it, they responded. Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that we've been people of Israel come out of the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, take counsel and speak. Israel gathers into one council. It's actually pretty amazing. These tribes have been divided who have not been faithful to do what God has called them to do. They now unite as one man. That's repeated in verse one, verse eight, and verse 11. Israel's response to this evil is to unite as one man. They've taken up and they've assembled before the Lord, verse two, verse one. 400,000 men have assembled to respond and what concerns me about this is they're not asking the Levite the right questions. He seems to be presenting himself as a victim here only. It seems odd in the way this is playing out, but what's clear is that God is going to bring judgment on Benjamin and Gibeah for the crime committed against the woman. They're now ready to go to war. They have 400,000 men and they approach Gibeah. Verse 12, and the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin saying, what evil is this that have taken place among you? Now forgive up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah that we may put them to death and purge evil from Israel. So that one gathering of one man, that seems to be the 11 tribes. Benjamin wasn't there. Those 11 are now speaking to Benjamin. You give up this evil. Do not protect that sin. They are to be punished. Notice the response of Benjamin. The end of verse 13. They would not listen. just like the worthless men in Gibeah, do not do this evil thing to my, the man staying in my house, they would not listen. So now Benjamin is like them, they would not listen. And they came together. Now we need to look at these statistics. 26,000 men are fighting for Benjamin. plus 700 chosen men, who are left-handed men, who are very accurate with the sling. Benjamin's the son of the right hand. That's literally what his name means. These are left-handed slingshots, chosen men. That is who's going to go up against 400,000 men of all of Israel. The odds seem like they're definitely for Israel. Now, we also need to see there's three battle cycles. verses 18 to 22, Israel appears to actually be wanting to do what Israel's supposed to do. They go to God, they inquire, God says go to battle, send Judah out first, but then Benjamin with his 26,000 versus 4,000 beats Israel. God said go and fight, but he lets him get beaten and 22,000 men die. Then Israel comes back, they weep, and they inquire again. God says, go. Benjamin beats them again. 18,000 men die. What is going on here? Why is God not giving victory to those who seem to be wanting to do the justice God would want them to do? Verses 26 to 28, they weep, they fast, They give offerings, and they inquire a third time. God said, go. Look at verse 28. Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand. This time God is going to go and be the warrior with them. He is going to be the champion. He is going to empower them so that they are not again defeated. And the battle plays out as you look at 29 to 40. Israel, they're in an ambush. They start getting beat again. 30 Israelites fall. They pull back their troops. The Benjamites get arrogant. They think, let's go take the field again. So the men come out of the city. Well, that leaves the ambush to go and plunder the city, to completely destroy it. And as the Benjamites look back, their hearts are distressed and distraught, and they lose the battle. But it's important to see here, God is the champion. He's the one who gives them victory. Now, it really leads us to ask the question, why three times? Why did Israel come and ask three times? Why were they defeated twice? Some people answer the question, well, it's a technicality that they didn't actually fast and give an offering until the third time. I'm not sure that's actually what's going on here. It's possible God is letting them get defeated the first two years, first two times, to be punished for their own sin. It also, I believe, is even more obvious what God is doing at this moment is teaching Israel the very hard lesson, you need me for the victory. Without me, you will be beaten no matter what your competency or strength is. God is letting them fall so that he can show them the very real lesson. I will pick you back up and I am your victory, I alone. It's actually kind of encouraging to look at. God's not afraid of us failing because God knows he can pick us back up. God is not afraid of us failing because God knows he can heal, restore. He is one who fights for us and with us. We're never fully defeated because Jesus Christ is risen. We always have hope. What can we do? I believe Israel's now doing what they're supposed to do. Pray, weep, fast, seek God. This is a rare moment in Judges where it looks like Israel's actually being the people of God in the way they're supposed to be. And God gives them the victory. And then as soon as they get the victory, it appears that they're going to return right back to evil. Chapter 21. They return to evil. Verse one of chapter 21. Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, No one of us shall give his daughters in marriage to Benjamin. Judges is full of just rash vows that really complicate everything. Here they've made a vow again, and they're looking at Benjamin, who God appears to have wanted to destroy, like Sodom and Gomorrah, because of their wickedness. But Israel, they look at them and they say, there's only 600 men left. and they have no wives because we destroyed everything, and we promised not to give our daughters to them, so what do we do? It is very interesting that, above all else, they know to keep their word. And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and went bitterly, and they said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel? And the next day the people rose early and built their altar, built an altar and offered burnt offering and peace offerings. And the people of Israel said, which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up and assemble by the Lord? For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the Lord, to Mithba, saying, he shall surely put to death. And the people of Israel had compassion for Benjamin, their brother, and said, one tribe is cut off from Israel this day. What shall we do for wives for those who are left since we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them any of our own daughters? And they said, what one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to the Lord at Mizpah? And behold, no one had come from the camp of Jabesh-Gilead to the assembly. When the people were mustered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead was there. So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead with the edge of the sword, also the women and the little ones. This is what you shall do, every male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction. And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him. And they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. Now you see here there's two rash vows that they're having to work under. Neither one of which actually seems to be commanded by God in any way. And the ultimate outcome of this is a whole people is destroyed, minus 400 young ladies who were taken out of their families and handed over to somebody else, like property. Israel has not inquired of the Lord, what shall we do? They've actually decided we're gonna put complete destruction upon these people, like God commanded us at Jericho. For Israel to decide when they're going to assign complete destruction, it seems off. To think we're going to just take these four young ladies and take them from where they were and give them over to the other tribe, seems off. Verse 13, when the whole congregation sent word to the people of Benjamin who were at the Rock of Ramon and proclaimed peace to them. And Benjamin returned to that time. And they gave them the women whom they had saved, alive, of the women of Jabesh-Gilead, but there were not enough for them. And the people had compassion on Benjamin, because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. And verse 15 is very interesting. The people have been compassionate on Benjamin, because the Lord had made this division. The Lord had brought this about. Verse 16. And the elders of the congregation said, what shall we do for wives for those who are left? Since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin. And they said, there must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin. Would a tribe not blotted out from Israel? That a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel. Yet we cannot give them wives from our own daughters for the people had sworn, cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin. So they said, behold, There is the yearly feast of the Lord at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, of the East Highway, which goes up from Bethel to Shechem and south of Lebanon. And they commanded the people of Benjamin saying, go and lie in ambush in the vineyards and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance and the dances, then come out of the vineyard and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. Consequence of the actions of Benjamin is that they're to be destroyed. It appears that what now Israel is doing is trying to preserve them, so they wipe out an entire city to give them 400 women out of that city. Now they're saying, go and have an organized kidnapping of young women who are praising the Lord and dance to help the Benjaminites. This isn't getting any better. And then, verse 22, when the fathers of their brothers come out to complain to us, as they ought, we will say to them, grant them graciously to us, because we do not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you take them to them, else you would not be guilty. And the people of Benjamin did so, and they took their wives, according to the number, from the numbers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and lived in them. And the people of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance. As I consider this text, I wrestle as if Israel's actually working against God here in 21. It seems as if because Benjamin has acted like Sodom and Gomorrah, they're to be treated like Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed, wiped out. And you might ask, why would God allow one of his tribes to be wiped out? Well, God did not preserve all of his tribes. It's not being in the bloodline of Abraham that actually makes you Israel, it's having faith in the promises of God. And here it seems as if Israel is doing more sin, committing more sin against more women to try to preserve Benjamin over against God's own will. And again, we see the book ends with a primary problem. The real summary statement that makes it very clear, this is not the way it's supposed to be. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Chapter 20 has this little glimpse, okay, God is going to fight with them because they're actually doing what they're supposed to do. They're gathering to bring justice, but it appears that they quickly abandoned that way. Reminded, Israel needs to be ruled. God is to be their king and he has been rejected and we see this chaos and the systematized abuse of others, the weak, women who had no rights in this culture because they are not following the king. There's a couple ways we can actually look at this story and see some scarlet threads in that it should be obvious that David is from Bethlehem. There's a slight moment there where you see David is from Bethlehem, and we know Saul is from Gibeah. We see here the setting up of the two first kings, but we don't really see the fullness of that scarlet thread yet. All we see is that these people are wicked and sinful and committed in their own way and to destruction that sin brings because they are rejecting God. I wanna give us a few Meditations as we conclude. First, this should lead us all the more to praise Jesus, our King. Something you'll see about Jesus, if you read the Gospels, is that he welcomes all. He insists that the children come to him. He is constantly surrounded by women. They're a necessary part of his ministry as it plays out. Jesus came to seek and to save sinners. He came to help the weak. He sought out the outcast and the despised. Rejoice that Jesus is the king that we need that overcomes our sin before it overcomes us. We rejoice that he has come to crush sin, to take upon our guilt, to give us freedom from the kind of sin that can so easily enslave us to make us think like these. Amen. He gave his life for us to remove our guilt. He rose again to give us new life. We need to rejoice that he's our king, that he's come to give a right rule that we now get to follow a righteous king who has done everything for our good that we can completely trust. So first, praise God, we have a king who sits on the throne of the Father's right hand who is for us. Secondly, we have to submit to that king. We first praise God for that king, for Jesus our king, and secondly, we have to submit to that king. We have to first recognize, I'm not the king. Boy, do I really want to be the king sometimes. But I'm not the king. I realize that when I try to come up with my own rules and my own ways, my own little qualifications, it always lends in frustration. It's amazing that when I insist on my own way, how disappointing it is. Sin promises to satisfy, but yet it is never satisfying. It's destructive. That's why God's designed. We're not meant to rule over ourselves. God designed us to be ruled by Him. were meant to be ruled. But the good rule of the good God who gives us everything we could ever imagine. If we look to Him and actually see what's good. He's not only designed us to be ruled, He's bought us with the precious blood of Christ. Believer, rejoice that we have a righteous King. who's come to die for our sin, to free us from our own self-rule that destroys us and gives us good instruction, but we have to actively submit to Him. If you're not a Christian this morning, trust the King. Trust the King Jesus. He is one who's come to die for your sins so that you will not have to face God and give an answer for what you've done, which there is no answer. He will come and He will say, Father, I have died for this one. If you believe in Him, if you call out, I'm a sinner who needs a Savior, Jesus is the only one who can save you. He is risen to give you new life. He is good. Trust Him. Do not leave here today without talking to someone about what that means. As we conclude, judges, this is a true account of how good God is, how God answers prayer when the people cry out, how God punishes their sin when they continue in it, and it's a history of how sinful we can be. But I want you to see something. While we're doing Ruth next week, we don't have to live in judges. We can actually live in Ruth. We don't have to stay here in Judges where things are described as there is no king. No, we can go to Ruth and we can see if you just turn the page. In the time of the Judges, the same thing's happening in Judges, but Ruth is a different kind of story. It's a story of love. It's a story of redemption. It's a story of how God is pursuing his people, and he's going to put the right king on the throne for his people's sake. Notice how it ends. These are the generations of Perez. Perez fathered Hezron. Hezron fathered Ram. Ram fathered Amadab. And Amadab fathered Nashon. And Nashon fathered Salmon. And Salmon fathered Boaz. Boaz fathered Obed. Obed fathered Jesse. And Jesse fathered David. In the midst of the judges, God is bringing about a miraculous story of redemption so that his king will eventually be put on the throne, and that king will have a son who will rule forever, according to 2 Samuel 7, and we know who that king is. It's the true king, the final king, the victorious king, Jesus Christ. Let us rejoice in him. Let us submit to his glorious good rule.