There Was No King - Judges 17-21

Sermon Series: In Need of a Greater Rescue

Our goal this week is a massive one! We want to work through the five remaining chapters in the OT book of Judges, chapters 17 through 21. In the first 16 chapters the focus of the author and narrator has been primarily the lives and accomplishments of the individual judges that God raised up to deliver Israel out of the hands of their oppressors. We have thoroughly examined the lives of Othniel, Ehud, Barak, Gideon, and Samson because the author and narrator devoted nearly three fourths of the book to record detailed narratives of their specific lives. But Samson was the last of these individual judges, so we see a small shift in focus take place in chapter 17 – the author and narrator shifts from focusing on the lives and accomplishments of individual judges to focusing on the shortcomings of the Israelite people themselves. Additionally, chapters 17 through 21 are enclosed by a set of literary bookends that suggest that the content of chapters 17 through 21 was working towards communicating a specific idea. Both 17:6 and 21:25 say, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Making sense of the content and understanding the idea that the author was trying to establish would be impossible though without first having some familiarity with what transpired in these 5 chapters, so let’s begin by quickly running through what takes place in chapters 17 through 21.

Chapter 17 begins by introducing us to an Israelite man named Micah, who lived in the portion of land which had been designated for the tribe of Ephraim. Micah took a very large amount of money and used it to establish his own little worship center. The first part of chapter 17 tells us that he had a carved image made, a metal image made, a shrine made, an ephod made, and household gods made (see 17:3,5). Then we are told that he even took his own son and ordained him as a priest. Micah was essentially creating for himself, his family, and his neighbors a little, local and personal worship center where they could worship and perform their religious duties in whatever way they chose too. Still, there must have been some things about this little worship center that gave it a “homemade” feel, rather than having the feel that it was a real and legitimate worship center. As chapter 17 continued we are told that a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, who was also a Levite, was sojourning through Ephraim and that he crossed paths with Micah, the one who had invested in and created the little worship center. When Micah discovered that this young man was a Levite he got incredibly excited and asked the young Levite to stay with him so that he might become a priest for him and the rest of his family and community at this little worship center. The young Levite was pleased by the proposal and consented to stay and to serve as the priest, which thrilled Micah, for in his mind having a ‘real’ Levite serving as priest would legitimize his worship center, making it the ‘real’ thing. “Then Micah said, ‘Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest’” (17:13).

The narrative continues in chapter 18, but some new players are introduced into the narrative right from the beginning. The Israelite tribe of Dan is brought into the narrative. The readers are reminded that the tribe of Dan was essentially homeless. In the first chapter of the book of Judges the author and narrator had recounted that Dan was the one Israelite tribe which had been unable to secure the land that they had been given as an inheritance. The readers were told in 1:34, “The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain.” By the time we get to chapter 18 it appears that the tribe of Dan has continued to be unsuccessful in securing any land for themselves. “And in those days the tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them” (18:1). So the tribe of Dan had sent out five men to explore the Promise Land, looking for places that they could potentially settle. As they were exploring they ended up traveling through the hill country of Ephraim and crossed paths with Micah, who invited them to stay the night at his home. While they were staying with Micah they ran into the young Levite and questioned him about what he was doing in Ephraim. The young Levite explained to them that Micah had made him the priest of the little worship center he had established. The five Danites then looked to take advantage of this fortuitous situation and explained to the young Levite the assignment that they had been given and asked him to inquire of God whether or not they would succeed. Immediately the young Levite gave them an affirmative response and the five Danites went on their way. The author and narrator then told the readers that the Danite men came to a Canaanite town called Laish. It was a town that was governed by the Sidonian people who lived in the coastal territory a good distance away. The town of Laish seemed to be a good target to the Danite men. The town possessed great wealth, there were great natural resources around, it was in a secure location, and best of all the people seemed very vulnerable as they seemed to have kept to themselves and their Sidonian governors were too far off to respond in a timely manner to an attack on Laish. The five Danites returned to the rest of their tribe and proposed that they target Laish. The proposal seemed good to the rest of the tribe, so 600 men armed themselves and set out with the five that had gone out to explore the land in order to take possession of the city of Laish. Along the way the five men and 600 Danite soldiers with them had to pass through the hill country of Ephraim. While passing through they remembered the little worship center and the young Levite who was serving there as a priest. Apparently these five men thought it would be good for the tribe of Dan to have a little worship center in the new city that they were going to be possessing, so we are told that they went in and took the carved image, the metal image, the ephod, and the household gods. The young Levite seemed to object to their actions at first, but then the five Danites made him a new offer. They said to him, “Is it better for you to be priest to a house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?” (18:19). That was an offer the young Levite just couldn’t refuse. It was like the pastor of a tiny church in a little town being asked to leave the tiny church to be the pastor of mega-church in a city. The ambitious young Levite couldn't pass on an offer like that, so he consented and went along with the Danite soldiers. Micah and his neighbors quickly discovered that their little worship center had been raided and they set out in pursuit of the Danite soldiers traveling to Laish. But when they caught up to the Danite soldiers they realized that they would not be able to overpower them and were forced to return home empty handed. Chapter 18 then ends with the report that the Danites overtook the city of Laish, re-named it Dan, and then “the people of Dan set up the carved images for themselves” (18:30). 

Let’s briefly pause here to make a few important comments about the text of chapters 17 and 18. From the author and narrator’s perspective the Israelite people as a whole were doing whatever seemed right in their own eyes in regard to their faith. We are first introduced to a man named Micah who did what seemed right in his own eyes by having a carved image made, a metal image made, an ephod made, and household gods made and established for his family and his neighbors their own little worship center. Next a young Levite did what was right in his own eyes by forsaking his calling as a Levite to serve Yahweh so that he could serve Micah and his neighbors as a priest. The Danites showed up later thinking it would be good for them to have a worship center in the new city which they were going to take possession of, so they robbed Micah of his idols in order that they might set them up in their new city. And when asked to be the priest of the tribe of Dan as opposed to the priest of a small community, there is no evidence that the young Levite ever consulted God about the decision – instead he did what many other ambitious pastors of our time have done, he did what was right in his own eyes and took the bigger, more prestigious job.

When the author and narrator began chapter 17 declaring that “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” he seemed to be suggesting that this was a problem. What’s implied is that there is a right pursuit and a right way of living, but that we don’t naturally take up that pursuit and that way of living by following and chasing after our own desires. When we as individuals do what is right in our own eyes it results in us sinning against God. Think about this! It’s an incredibly self-centered way of living. It means that we are choosing to rule and reign over our own lives. And if we are choosing to rule and reign over our own lives it means that we haven’t made room for God and Jesus to rule and reign in our lives. There aren’t multiple thrones in our hearts from which multiple individuals can reign together. There is only one throne and believe me, it doesn’t sit empty! Someone is sitting there – it’s either Jesus or it’s yourself. It’s rather fascinating that just before the statement the author and narrator makes about everyone doing what was right in his own eyes that he says, “In those days there was no king in Israel.” There was no physical king in the sense of an Israelite man holding the political position of king. But perhaps even more telling, there was no divine King either. God was not permitted to rule and reign over the peoples’ lives – they reserved that right for themselves. As a result each individual chose what was right according to their own eyes and their own hearts. This is an awful accusation in terms of one individual living this way, but what magnified the situation even more was that the author and narrator said that “everyone” was living this way.

In regards to the faith of the Israelites, chapters 17 and 18 paint a tragic picture of a people not pursuing, worshipping, or following after Yahweh. In chapters 17 and 18 we see that Israelites from multiple tribes had removed God from his rightful position of ruling and reigning in their lives and had replaced Him with themselves – they were doing what was right in their own eyes. As a result they were worshipping and pursuing other gods, they were making decisions based on their own personal ambitions, and Yahweh was nowhere to be found.

The author and narrator began a new narrative in chapter 19. It began in a similar fashion to the narrative at the beginning of chapter 17, because we are introduced at the beginning to another Levite sojourning through the hill country of Ephraim. This particular Levite had a concubine who left him and returned to her father’s home in Bethlehem for a period of four months. The Levite went to Bethlehem in pursuit of her and after spending a few days with her and her father they finally departed together from her father’s home. As they were traveling the author and narrator revealed that the day was coming to a close and that it was starting to get dark. The Levite’s servant said to him, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it” (19:11). But the Levite refused to turn to a Canaanite city for lodging. “And his master said to him, ‘We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will pass on to Gibeah’” (19:12). The Levite believed that as Israelites they would receive better treatment from their fellow countrymen. So while it was getting ready to turn dark they proceeded to the city of Gibeah which belonged to the Israelite tribe of Benjamin. When they arrived as visitors in the town they made their way to the open square of the city where they anticipated receiving an invitation from one of their countrymen to stay the night with them. But surprisingly, none of their fellow Israelites extended an invitation to them. The author and narrator then revealed that an old man came into town from his work in the fields. He wasn’t from the tribe of Benjamin, he was from the tribe of Ephraim, but he had been sojourning and living in Gibeah. The old man asked them what they were doing sitting in the open square and when he discovered that they were passing through, he invited them to stay the night with him and cautioned them, “Only, do not spend the night in the square” (19:20). The old man’s warning was incredibly ominous – suggesting that perhaps this place that was supposed to be friendly and favorable to other Israelites might not actually be so.

The author and narrator then went on to reveal that during the night worthless men from the city showed up at the old man’s door. They demanded that the old man hand over the Levite so that they could have sexual relations with him. The old man refused to send him out and pleaded with the men not to perform such a wicked and vile act. But the men of the town wouldn’t take 'no' for an answer. So in an effort to appease the men of the city (and perhaps out of fear for his own life) the Levite forced his concubine to go out to the men. The author and narrator then revealed that the men of the city violently raped and abused the Levite’s concubine all night long. In the morning the men of the city departed and after they had departed the Levite decided it was time to get out of town. When he opened the door his concubine was lying on the ground right outside of the door. The Levite instructed her to get up and to come with him, but the concubine did not move because she had died. So the Levite picked his concubine up, put her on his donkey, and then returned the rest of the way to his home. When he arrive at his home the author and narrator said that he cut his dead concubine up into twelve pieces and that he sent the twelve pieces of her body throughout all of the Promise Land to the different tribes of Israel. And when the different tribes received the different parts of the concubine’s body they were shocked, having never seen or heard about anything like that since the time they had come up out of the land of Egypt.

In chapter 20 we are told that the Israelites were so disturbed by the pieces of the body that they had received that they all assembled together to discover what had provoked such an action and how they should respond. In fact, the author and narrator said that 400,000 Israelite soldiers showed up armed and ready to bring justice upon whoever was responsible for such an act. The people of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this happen?” and the Levite answered them, recounting all that had transpired that particular night that they had stayed in Gibeah. When the Israelites heard what the men of this city of Benjamin had done they resolved not to return to home or tent until they had paid for the injustice that they had done. They sent messengers to Gibeah and demanded that they turn over the men of the city who had performed these acts and killed the Levite’s concubine. But the Benjaminites refused to turn these men over and instead called the soldiers of their tribe together to go to battle against the rest of their Israelite countrymen. The Israelite army fell to the army of Benjamin for the first two days, but on the third day God gave the tribe of Benjamin into the hands of the Israelites. The Benjaminites were drawn away from Gibeah by the larger Israelite army and while they were out of the city a smaller contingent of Israelite soldiers ambushed and burned the city of Gibeah. On that third day of battle all of the Benjaminite soldiers died except for a small group of 600 which were able to escape.

At the conclusion of chapter 20 Israel had nearly wiped out the entire tribe of Benjamin. Then in chapter 21 it seemed that the Israelites started to second guess the extent to which they had carried out retribution. All that was left of the tribe of Benjamin was 600 men and they had earlier vowed that they would no longer give their daughters to any of the sons of Benjamin as wives. In the mind of the Israelites they had essentially brought an entire tribe to extinction – only 600 men remained and there was no way in which they were going to be able to have children and continue to as a tribe if they could not obtain wives from the other tribes of Israel. It seemed that Israel became more concerned with their identity as a nation than they were with carrying out justice and they started looking for ways in which they could provide these remaining 600 men with wives. To begin the Israelites decided to go to battle with a small clan of Israelites that had not joined them in their efforts against Benjamin. They punished that small clan by killing all of the men, women, and children, except for the young women who were still virgins. They then took these 400 innocent virgins and gave them as wives to the remaining men of Benjamin (men who themselves had sought to protect the wicked men of Gibeah). The Israelites realized that they were still 200 wives short, so then they permitted the remaining men of Benjamin to lie in ambush and to abduct and take for themselves 200 more wives from the people of Shiloh.

When we do what is right in our own eyes, not only do we begin to move away from God in terms of our faith (by chasing after and worshipping other things), we also move away from the design for living that God established and called us to. The Israelite men of Gibeah were considered worthless and wicked men because as they were pursuing and doing what was right in their own eyes we saw them stop at nearly nothing to fulfill their homosexual desires and to take possession of the Levite man so that they could spend the night raping him and performing sexual acts with him. The Levite man, doing what was right in his own eyes, sought to assure his own safety by compromising his concubine’s safety, shoving her out of the security of the house and into the midst of the wicked Israelite men. The Israelite men, dissatisfied with the situation, did the next best thing in their own eyes - they spent the entire night raping and sexually abusing the concubine. The degree of their sexual and physical abuse was so great that it eventually led to the woman’s murder. Then later in the narrative the nation of Israel, doing what was right in their own eyes, committed murder and permitted kidnapping in order to obtain wives for the remaining men of Benjamin.

The behavior of the Israelites in chapters 19 through 21 communicated that there was no divine king ruling and reigning in their hearts. Each individual seemed to be making choices and living their lives as if their personal preferences were all that mattered. Moral law wasn’t determined by God or any king – it was contingent upon what they wanted and what was right in their own eyes. Even when the Israelites tried to hold the men of Gibeah accountable for their actions, the tribe of Benjamin refused to concede that they had acted sinfully and sought to defend those men and their choices. Israel was a nation that was experiencing a great and rapid spiritual and moral decline because they were all making life’s choices based on what seemed right in their own eyes.

The sad news for us today is that this is exactly where American culture and even much of the American church is today. We are a people who make almost all of the choices in our lives based on what seems right in our own eyes. As a result we’ve started openly chasing after and pursuing other things, whether it’s sex, money, power, sports, or television and entertainment. We spend countless amounts of time and money investing in these things and devoting ourselves to them. Morally we’re seeing an ever increasing acceptance of homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle. We’re seeing continued growth in the pornography industry which is resulting in the continued growth of practices like human trafficking. Murder and violent crime are all over the place. Divorce is not only acceptable, but common. Men are abdicating their role as leaders in their families and reverting to adolescent behavior, rather than selflessly leading their wives and children. Leading businessmen are taking government money and using it for huge raises and lavish vacations. Listen to the news tonight or read some of the articles on news web-sites; or just stop for a moment and look around you. The choices we make and the choices those around us make are far too often made based on our own personal preferences alone. So much of what was taking place in Judges 19-21 is taking place in our lives and in our own communities today because moment-by-moment we are choosing to do what is right in our own eyes.

Our choices have left us in an incredibly dangerous position; each one of us stands in need of a great rescue. Our choices have left us running from God and separated from Him. But here’s the good news – God sent His Son, Jesus, to rescue us! There are some today who have never by faith trusted in Jesus as their Savior and surrendered to Him as Lord. Listen, Jesus isn’t waiting on us to fix our lives and then come to Him. Jesus knows we are in a hopeless situation and He came to do what we could not so that He might rescue and save us. For some, this is where you have to begin. Others of us have at some point in our lives understood our need for a rescuer and have already received Jesus’ free gift of salvation from sin. Our struggle is with the surrender part. We came to Jesus for forgiveness and cleansing, but have wrestled at times with allowing Him to rule and reign over our lives instead of ourselves. If that describes you, Jesus is calling you to repentance and surrender. He wants us to recognize that the choices we often make don’t exalt and glorify Him as King, and that in always choosing to live according to our own personal preferences we have assumed the position of ruling and reigning over our lives. God is calling us to repent of that sin, to daily put our ‘self’ to death, and to daily surrender to His rule and reign over our lives.

Connection Point Questions for Discussion

1. Give some examples of times we see individuals in our communities choosing to do what is right in their own eyes - what are some of the things they do and why do you think they make those particular choices?

2. Give some examples of times when followers of Christ or churches choose to do what is right in their own eyes - what are some of the things they do and why do you think they make those particular choices?  

3. What do you think the response of most people would be if they were lovingly confronted about sinful choices they were making because those choices seemed right in their own eyes?  Do you think they would be open to loving correction or rebuke?  What about you?  If someone were to lovingly confront you about a sinful choice you were making because that choice seemed right in your own eyes, how would you respond?  Do you think you would be open to loving correction or rebuke?  If not, what does this say about who is really ruling and reigning over your life?

4. Right now, could you be included in the phrase, "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes?"  What percentage of the choices you make daily are made by first putting them through the filter of "is it right in my own eyes?"  What's an acceptable percentage?  How do we need to respond?  What (if anything) is God impressing upon your heart?