Introduction – “God’s Word
comes to us in letters and laws and proverbs and prophecies and poetry and
history. Each type of literature must be
interpreted with the form of writing in mind.
History in the Bible is not to be read as simply names, dates, and
places. It is to be read as preached
history, as a sermon. The facts are
true, but the literary structure, the words and phrases used and repeated, that
which is recorded and that which is emphasized, all play into interpreting the
narrative. Jesus instructs us that all
of the scriptures pointed to Him (Luke 24:27, Heb 1:1, 2 Tim
As we end this
story of the rebellion of Benjamin, if we keep these same principles in mind,
we see the grace of God in this final chapter.
The Levites had been faithless to protect the people from idolatry and
immorality (and like a bookend, this is made clear in the final verse). The judgment of the Lord fell hard upon the
house of the Lord in chapter 20.
Benjamin is dead. And God, in His
extraordinary and unpredictable ways, raises him from the dead.
The Death of Benjamin (vv1-3) – There are
600 men of Benjamin left at the rock of Rimmon (20:47f), but they have no
wives.
Sacrifice On
Behalf of Benjamin (v4) –
Another Vow (vv5-9) – The
sacrifices provide a basis for Benjamin’s forgiveness, but they don’t provide
wives for the remnant, and so
Was the vow
appropriate – “He shall surely be put to death”? Another city under Deborah, Meroz, had been
cursed, but not utterly destroyed, men, women, and children (Judges
Utter
Destruction (vv10-14) – Another “Hormah” is carried out, as
we saw earlier in Judges 1:17. 12,000
men are gathered together, in the days of Phineas, and all are killed except
the virgin women. This is a repeat of
the slaughter against the Midianites in Num 31.
Just as Gibeah had become a spiritual
Extending Peace (vv16-24) – A peace
offering had been made (v4), peace had been extended to the remnant of Benjamin
(v13), and they were brought to Shiloh, the place of rest (peace) to receive
the first 400 wives and then to provide them with this third episode of peace
and reconciliation with God and with His people.
Grieving Again
(vv16-18) –
The Daughters
of
Conclusions – On the one hand,
the book of Judges is a history of dark days for the people of
Rock of
Salvation – Here was the only way of escape for the
Benjamites. In the same way, though
Strange
Salvation – The old hymn says it well – “God works in
mysterious ways.” Who would have thought
God would provide wives for Benjamin in such a strange way? Who would have thought that God would provide
His New Covenant grace by crucifying His own Son on our behalf? How could we ever be ‘born again’ – must we
enter back into our mother’s womb? And
for each one of us, there is grace upon grace for each individual trial and
tribulation that comes – and that grace often comes in the strangest ways.
“There Was No
King….” – Finally, if Jesus Christ is not acknowledged
as King of kings and Lord of lords by a people, eventually that society and
culture will experience the effect of such anarchy. In the end, if there is no Lord, then there
is no basis for law – everyone will do what is right in his own eyes. We must pray
for reformation in this land. We must
pray that God would raise up preachers, like judges,
who will call the people back to faithfulness in word and deed. But we can look to the stories of the Judges
of Israel and see God’s immeasurable grace to answer such prayers – and to
provide for His people. Dave
Hatcher – June 1, 2003