It's Not Pretty

Now in those days Israel had no king. [Judges 19.1a]

In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. [Judges 21.25]

Today's OYCB reading begins and ends with the verses above.

Here again today we find that the fact that Israel had no king had significance. It meant that Israel was without leadership to define specific moral code. Thus the story followed Judges 19.1a.

The story of today's OYCB reading is not a pleasant one to read. It seems that, left to themselves (without leadership), the tribe of Benjamin in particular had a tendency toward homosexual behavior (for what its worth, in Lot's day, I believe it is correct that the areas of Sodom and Gomorrah were settlements of Benjamin).

As the story goes, the sexual perversion of Benjamin had progressed to the point of uncontrolled and flagrant homosexual behavior.. This behavior is directly attributed to the lack of Godly leadership.

Oh, I am certain the homosexuals of Gibeah would all have said God made them that way. I am certain they would defend their deviation from normal sexual relations. So convinced were they in their justification of their behavior that they claimed "rights" over the lives of others. They demanded the old man who had taken the Levite and his concubine in for the night to release the Levite (the man) specifically so they could have sex with him. It lead to what appears to be a retaliatory all-night gang rape of the travelling Levite's concubine that killed her.

Granted, there is also something terribly wrong with the fact that the Levite pushed his concubine out the door to these sex-crazed deviants. What did he think that would accomplish?

So, back to my point. The story told here today is one of man left to his own devices.

It's not pretty.

Father, I can see that without You, mankind is twisted and sick - depraved in every possible way. We need You. Forgive us - forgive me - for ever thinking we could determine or own course and morality.