"Pretty incredible week in Judges, huh? Isn't it something how growing up we heard all about Ruth, Naomi, Hannah and Eli, but for some reason our Sunday School teachers didn't mention the concubine who was raped, abused, then cut into pieces by her master and sent to the twelve tribes of Israel? It's horrific! Then that episode leads to a battle between relatives where, by my count, over 65,000 people are killed! Then the Israelites take a vow to not give a wife to a Benjamite, but they feel bad that the Benjamites won't have heirs so they say, "Wait! I know! There's a festival to the Lord going on in Shiloh. Why don't you hide in the vineyards until the girls come out to dance, then rush out and kidnap one and take her back with you to be your wife!? That ought to work!"
And to our continued horror as dads of little girls, it DOES work!!
Passages like these are remarkable stories, and it's tempting to just say "Whoa" and move on, but when I pause and really think about what that must have been like, and when I consider the agony I would be going through if I were a parent, or child, or soldier or whatever back then, it is difficult to comprehend why God allowed it to unfold in that way."
Joel replied,
"My, my, my…you said it!
This Book doesn’t always provide simple answers for sure. It’s a lot of digging into meaning, leaving confused, and coming back again to find out “why?!!” It’s a great reminder to me that in Children’s Ministry, there is a fine line between simplifying, and over-simplifying. Sometimes we just make it TOO easy.
One guiding principle in Judges that is helpful for me is “there was no king. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” The writer keeps saying that. As an English teacher back in high school taught me, “Repetition is the key to understanding.” So, whenever I read stories like this in Judges, I have to think that is what the writer of Judges wants me to think. The writer WANTS us to be disgusted – basically it builds up to the need for a king. The obvious point being is that until you fix the PROBLEM, you will never really fix the problems.
But, honestly, another confusing part for me is the fact that it was a weakness to desire a king. Even Samuel said that Israel’s desire to have a king was a rejection of God as king.
Yeah, honestly, I just don’t get that. There’s something there…I just have to seek an answer!"
