Ridiculous

In the book of Judges there is a true story that we are to learn from. Crazy stories are all through the Bible that don’t say a whole lot as to whether it was right or wrong, but at the end of this particular story, there is kind of an exclamation point made, if you will, in this statement in Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Some of the wicked men from the tribe of Benjamin, had taken a Levite’s concubine and gang raped and killed her. The Levite cut her body into pieces and sent a part to the leaders of each tribe. This caused quite a stir, to say the least! The tribes got togather and determined something needed to be done about this evil and they made war with the tribe of Benjamin,  
going into the offenders town and killed all their women and children. They also hastily made a vow to God, not to give their daughters to any Benjamite, nor take wives for their sons. They vowed this before God and then regretted this decision, for this would have completely cut off one of the 12 tribes, which was clearly not Gods plan, but they had vowed! So to find away around the vow, they connived a plan that they thought God would surely honor and keep the line of Benjamin going. They told the Benjamite men looking for wives to lie in wait, hiding in the vineyards and when the women, the virgins, come out to celebrate at the Temple, which was a pagan custom not ordained by God, (and the men had to be told how to get to Shiloh, where the Tabernacle was then located, because they had not been coming there to meet with God and offer sacrifices), they should run out of the vineyard and kidnap a wife! And when their fathers and brothers complained, they were to understand that this was necessary to get around the oath they had made.

The entire book of Judges ended with these words, “every man did what was right in his own eyes.” This is ALL of us as well, unless we stay in the Word, stay in relationship with God through the shed blood of Jesus, and be sensitive and obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we don’t, we will do ridiculous things and foul up our lives, by doing what seems right in our own eyes! Read the story for yourself and think about it today. 

Blessings

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