As a second illustration of the consequences of living by the moral code of doing what is right in one’s own eyes (Judges 17:6, 21:25), Judges 19-21 tells a second story from the period of the Judges, likely very early in that period.
We’ll discover that one of the tribes of Israel has lost all sense of what is right and wrong. As a result, they not only refuse to deal with egregious sin in their midst, they defend that behavior even at the risk of their own lives.
Thankfully all of Israel has not lost its sense of what is right and wrong, and they address the problem. However, it costs them dearly to bring about justice and punish the wrong doers.
This is an ugly story and much of it not meant to be read publicly, but it is a story we need to hear because it is a warning to us today about tolerating sin and defending those who choose to live by the code of “doing what is right in their own eyes.”
When we come to chapter 17 of the Book of Judges we encounter the first of two undated incidents that occurred during the period of the Judges. Each serves as an example of the spiritual and moral decline of Israel that occurred during this period.
The first, our passage for this week, is in Judges 17 and 18. It relates the story of a man in Ephraim, a Levite from Bethlehem, and the tribe of Dan. We’ll find that each of these is rocking to the beat of a song whose theme is “Every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). This was the moral code of many during the period of the judges, and these two chapters illustrate the spiritual and moral results of embracing that code of conduct.
In this message we’ll reveal the lyrics to the song they were rocking to, and the results that letting that song play continuously in their heads led to. The song is strangly familiar, so worth discovering for our own instruction.
The book of Judges focuses most of it attention on six men and one woman who acted as delivers for Israel. There are, however, six other men who served in this role who didn’t get as much coverage. They are easy to overlook or ignore.
But God does not have majors and minors, even though that’s sometimes how these two sets of judges are categorized. Anyone who serves God is on God’s team, period. All count. These six men who got less ‘ink’ remind us that God knows everyone who serves him, regardless of how spectacular or ordinary their contributions are. Let’s take a look at the six men God didn’t overlook and learn from them how God may look at some of us.
You have probably know someone who had great potential but never lived up to it. Such was Samson. Supernaturally caused conception, a mission from God before his birth, great powers, but tragically compromised by his own weaknesses.
We’d hope that as he matured, Samson might turn into the person God intended him to be. But that did not happen. His weaknesses only led to his own tragic end, as we’ll see in this message,
We can be gifted, talented, and be give many advantages, but unless God helps us overcome our own weaknesses, we could end up a tragedy like Samson.
Have you ever made a mistake, then turned around and done it again? Samson repeated many mistakes, but his enemies, the Philistines, matched him at least one-for-one. Unfortunately for them, they totally misunderstood who they were dealing with. The result was that every mistake they made cost them more and more.
What the Philistines failed to recognize was that they were not just dealing with a strong man named Samson. They were dealing with Samson’s God. It was God who was empowering Samson. No effort on the Philistine’s part was going to stop him. They didn’t figure that out even in the face of superhuman feats, so it cost them dearly,
This message warns us about not learning from our own mistakes. We don’t want to be modern day Philistines.
Hidden weaknesses can bring down huge structures. Hidden character defects can bring down otherwise strong people.
In Judges 14 we encounter the strongest man who ever lived, but before his physical strength is revealed, his inner weaknesses are. By the time the chapter is over, we will see his inner weaknesses getting him into the trouble that will eventually be his downfall.
Samson wasn’t the last strong person with hidden problems. None of us want to fail like he did. That makes his story relevant to us.
Most of us like to know what’s going on. We grow tense when we don’t see how things are working out. Many of us do this with God. When we don’t see him at work or answering our prayers we grow frustrated, confused, and perhaps disillusioned. But as we’ll see today, God may be at work for years before people see what he’s been up to. Sometimes he is working, but his work is hidden from sight.
Suffering an invasion from the east, the leaders of Gilead searched for someone to lead them in battle. Eventually they recruited a man called Jephthah for the job. He was a man who suffered from a difficult past, but the opportunity to lead Israel must have seemed to him to be a golden opportunity to overcome all that and become a person of respect. As we’ll see he was highly successful, except in one area of his life. That area did him in, personally. We’ll learn what he did, what the outcome was, and the danger we face in that same area of life in this message.
There is a sadly recurring account in the book of Judges, one we’ve encountered five times already. We’re about to encounter it for the sixth time. It’s the account of Israel turning away from God, then God sending a nation to oppress them, then their crying out to God in their suffering, and then God raising up a deliverer, a judge.
This time what the Israelites have done is worse than before. They cry out for help and this time God directly responds, but what he says is deeply unsettling. Israel has failed to learn the lesson He has been trying to teach them and the consequences are severe.
Many of us have trouble with repeated sin. Perhaps we make little of it, excusing ourselves or justifying our behavior. We’ll learn that is a dangerous thing to do, and we’ll learn the help born-again Christians have in dealing with sin that the Israelites did not have. Sin deludes then sin destroys. It isn’t something to play around with.
We all have met someone who fits to description: he/she is too big for his/her britches. Folks with oversized egos and too much self-confidence can be tough to work for or live with. They can cause trouble for organizations, businesses, communities, and even nations.
Today we get to meet King Bramble, better known as Abimelech, a man who was clearly too big for his own britches. The damage he did in Israel, but especially for his supporters, was significant. However, the lessons of his brief attempt at satisfying his ego are relevant to all of us today. We’ll get a chance to learn them in this message.