OCT 10 READ JUDGES 15-21

On By nrfaught

Cheating a little bit here. We finished the story of Samson in the Oct 9 blog and Judges 13-16, so we won’t go over chapter 15 and 16 again. Chapter 17-21 is usually called the “Apendix” to Judges so instead of stopping at chapter 20 and leaving 21 for the next blog, let’s go ahead and cover all of chapters 17-21. There’s a lot so here is a good AI summary:

The final chapters of the Book of Judges (Judges 17-21) serve as a dark epilogue that illustrates Israel’s spiritual, moral, and social rock-bottom. (Cornerstone Chapel; Bible Project)

The core theme of these chapters is summarized by the repeating verse: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 17:6, 21:25). Rather than following God’s laws, society completely unraveled. (2BeLikeChrist; Cornerstone Chapel)

Key Events in Judges 17–21

  • Micah’s Idolatry (Chapters 17–18):
    • A man named Micah (from Ephraim) steals silver from his mother, then confesses out of fear of her curse.
    • His mother dedicates the silver to God, but uses a portion of it to fashion a carved idol.
    • Micah sets up a private shrine and hires a traveling Levite from Bethlehem to act as his personal priest.
    • The tribe of Dan, looking for more territory, raids Micah’s house, steals his idols, and convinces the Levite priest to join them as they violently conquer the peaceful city of Laish. (Escalate Church; Cornerstone Chapel; Lifespring Media; Steve Webb; GraceBiblemy.org)
  • The Levite and His Concubine (Chapter 19):
    • A Levite’s concubine is brutally abused and gang-raped to death by wicked men in Gibeah, a town belonging to the tribe of Benjamin.
    • In deep horror and outrage, the Levite cuts her dead body into twelve pieces and sends a piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel as a call to action. (Theology of Work; Twenty Eight Eighteen; GraceBiblemy.org; Growing Godly Generations)
  • Civil War Against Benjamin (Chapters 20–21):
    • The rest of the tribes of Israel unite at Mizpah and demand that Benjamin hand over the guilty men of Gibeah.
    • Benjamin refuses, leading to a brutal civil war. Israel nearly annihilates the entire tribe of Benjamin, leaving only 600 surviving men.
    • Overcome with grief that an entire tribe of Israel might disappear, the other tribes scramble to find wives for the remaining Benjaminites. They do this by slaughtering the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead (who didn’t join the war) to spare virgin women, and later orchestrating the kidnapping of dancing maidens during a festival in Shiloh. (Twenty Eight Eighteen; GraceBiblemy.org; Growing Godly Generations)

Main Takeaway

These chapters demonstrate how quickly a society degrades when it abandons God as the moral compass. Religious rituals, selfish motives, and personal justifications replace absolute truth, turning God’s chosen people into a mirror image of the lawless culture around them. (Cornerstone Chapel; Theology of Work; 2BeLikeChrist)

My comments on Judges 17-21.

  1. Breakdown of the home. A man stealing from his mother and then the mother uses the returned money to make an idol. Sounds like a total breakdown of morals in the home. Have we had a similar breakdown in our homes?
  2. Breakdown of religion. Priests for hire: Micah first hired the Levite as priest and then the Danites made him a better offer and they hired that priest. Has the once reliable located preacher and priest profession become paying men and women who no longer teach the basic truths of the word of God?
  3. Breakdown of society. The entire nation basically ends up in civil war punishing the Benjamites who wouldn’t turn over the men of Gibeah who killed the Levites concubine. Has our country become very polarized, liberal vs conservative, Republican vs Democrat that we are fighing among ourselves, even leading to attempted murders?

I hope that our country can have another grassroots revival. AI: “Grassroots spiritual revivals in United States history have repeatedly reshaped the nation’s cultural, social, and religious landscape from the ground up. These movements typically emerged during periods of perceived moral or spiritual decline, driven by ordinary believers rather than institutional hierarchy. (Vladimir Slavcuk Ministries). 1) The First Great Awakening (1734–1743) led by Jonathon Edwards and George Whitefield. Emphasized personal conviction, emotional connection with God, and spiritual egalitarianism over rigid church membership. 2) The Second Great Awakening (1800–1840) led by Barton W. Stone, James McGready, and Charles Finney. Massive outdoor camp meetings (such as the 1801 gathering at Cane Ridge, Kentucky) that drew tens of thousands of people in shared, emotional worship. Resulted in hundreds of thousands of converts. 3) The Businessmen’s Revival (1857–1858) led by Jeremiah Lanphier. Started as a simple noon-hour prayer meeting for businessmen in downtown New York City. Spread rapidly via word-of-mouth and telegraph across urban centers, adding an estimated 1 million members to churches nationwide without centralized crusades. 4) The Azusa Street Revival (1906) led by William J. Seymour. Daily, multiracial prayer meetings in Los Angeles characterized by expressive worship and supernatural experiences and tongue speaking. 5) College Students and The Jesus Movement (Late 1960s–1970s). Led by Billy Graham, youth leaders and counterculture converts connected through groups like Young Life and Campus Crusade. Reached the 1960s hippie and counterculture youth demographic by merging informal folk-rock music and casual attire with evangelical faith. Led to hundreds of thousands of student conversions, created contemporary Christian music, and permanently altered the aesthetic of American evangelicalism.

Pray with me for our nation. Notice that the 5 revivals above occurred about 50 years aprt. So we were due a national revival around 2, 000 AD and I thought 9/11 might be the catalyst for that. There was a brief revival, but it didn’t last long and it didn’t change some of the sins of our culture. Greed, sexual immorality, promotion of LGBTQ, churches leaving the basic truth of God’s word, divorce, adultery, fornication, drunkenness, and violence dominated our culture and country. Pray for a real revival. It begins with belief that the Bible is the Word of God and is the authority for us today. It begins with accepting what God calls sin.

I close with Solomon’s comment in 1 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Pray that our country will do that before it’s too late.

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