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Judges 21:24-25
So what do we actually learn from the book of Judges. You know, growing up I thought of Gideon and of Samson, and all the other judges in the book of Judges, as heroes. But after looking at them now, they did some heroic things, but they sure wouldn’t cut it in my book as heroes.
Let’s be real for a moment. Truly out of all of the Judges it seems like Deborah is a heroine, if you will, but some of the ones that we skipped – good grief – They are really terrible people.
Abimelech – son of Gideon kills 70 of his brothers to become king. What’s worse is that the people of Israel give him the financial backing to hire thugs to finish the job. However, Jotham his youngest brother escapes. Eventually the people want him as king. He tells them a parable about trees, which basically pronounces a curse on all of the tribes for their terrible behavior, and then he runs away. I think except for Deborah, Jotham might have the smart one out of the entire book of Judges.
Other things happened too. If you look at Jephthah in chapters 10-11, he was the son of a prostitute and an outlaw. In other words he should have never been considered for leadership. He had no rightful standing in his tribe. But you know, God often does that. God often chooses those who are the least of these to be leaders. However, while he is away from home and preparing for battle he makes this crazy oath. Before he goes to battle, he vows if God wins the war for him, whatever comes out of his house first, he would sacrifice – UGH!!!
Guess what, the first person to him was his daughter. And that’s what he did, he sacrificed his own child. You know, when they first went into the Promised Land, child sacrifice was one of the things God didn’t want. He didn’t want that from His chosen people. Jephthah’s sacrifice was an abomination to God.
The closing chapters of this book show not only a lack of national leadership, but a lack of unity among the tribes. It’s like Israel no longer exists. Each tribe claims their inheritance, and they forget why they inherited and who gave them the Promised Land in the first place. The identity of Israel was not lost because they were conquered by a foreign nation. They were lost because they forgot who they were – The Children of God.
So here is where they leave it. After the Benjaminites steal maidens from another town so that the tribe would have wives to populate the tribe, this is what happens.
Judges 21:24-25 (NIV) At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance. In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
As I have read through this book again, I have noticed how often the Israelites forget. They forget who they are and so they forget Who God is. It reminds me of the scene in the Disney movie the Lion King. The part where Simba has ran off, met his two new friends and he’s settled down to eating the grubs – the crème filled kind that are slimy but satisfying. And then the crazy baboon – Rafiki – comes and the clouds roll in. Through the clouds Mufasa speaks to Simba, and this is what he says.
“You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself Simba. You are more than what you have become.” — Mufasa, The Lion King
If the Israelites had simply remembered who they were, and why they had inherited the land – Who they had inherited it from, I can’t help but believe that they indeed would have remembered God and all He had done for them. Now I say that and yet you know, there are times that I need to remind myself of who I am in Christ Jesus. I would think that you might as well.