Rev. Don Campbell
Judges 19-20
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, April 6, 2019
“THOSE WHO DO NOT LEARN FROM HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT”
Regardless of whom we credit with the words of our title, in the Book of Judges, Israel demonstrated its truth: Israel sins, God allows another nation to plunder them, they cry out to God, God sends a judge to deliver them (Judges 2:16-23), and the beat goes on. The era ended with Samson. The nation had sunk so deeply into a cesspool of sin that they no longer cried out for deliverance but turned to other gods. From chapter 17 through chapter 21, the state of the nation is bracketed with these words: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (17:6; 21:25).
We read about a hireling priest who sold out to the highest bidder, the people of Dan destroying a quiet and unsuspecting people because they wanted their land, men from Gibeah surrounding a house, in which a Levite was visiting along with his concubine, and making the same demands as the Sodomites had: “Bring out the man that we may have sex with him.” The Levite forced his concubine to go out to them and be gang-raped all night, ending in her death.
We see a civil war being fought with the tribe of Benjamin who refused to turn the rapists over to the other tribes for punishment, followed by the killing of all the people of Jabesh-gilead, with the exception of 400 virgins who were given to the tribe of Benjamin as wives because the other tribes had sworn not to give their daughters in marriage to any of the survivors of the war.
David asked, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3). The foundations ordained by God for the preservation of civilization are the home, civil government, and the church. One hundred years ago, W. B. Yeats wrote a poem called “The Second Coming.” The first stanza is:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre [spiral]
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Anarchy, bloodshed, the loss of innocence, a lack of conviction in the better part of society, and the worst part being full of passion for their cause. Sound familiar?
CONNECTIONS
1. Some doubters might point out that Yeats was predicting the second coming a century ago and it has not happened yet. Remember, the period of the judges lasted 400 years. What does Peter say about “timetables”? (2 Peter 3:8-13)
2. If we are prepared for the second coming every day, we will be ready any day. What does Jesus say about being ready? (Luke 12:35-40)
