Judges 19-21  Things go from bad to worse in Israel. There is a sad series of events recorded here that  make you see the depth of depravity that occurs when people do not have the Lord.  It begins with a Levite.

This man lived in Ephraim and had a concubine from Bethlehem. She had left him and gone home to her father's house and the Levite went to bring her back.  The father-in-law detained them a couple of days until they finally left, unfortunately leaving when it was too late to get the whole way home.  They stopped the night in Gibeah.  An old man finally takes them  in for the night, but a group of "worthless men" from the tribe of Benjamin surrounded the house and wanted the Levite to be given to them for sex.   The old man begs them not to do this and instead offers his daughter and the man's wife.  ( Ok, I don't get that at all.. but it is similar to what happened to Lot).  The Levite seizes his concubine and brings her out to the men!  They rape her, abuse her, and leave her for dead.  The man takes her body home, cuts it into twelve pieces and sends a piece to each of the tribes of Israel.

Well, this stirs Israel out of their stupor! They finally meet together and seek the Lord.  They go to war against the men of Benjamin,  thousands are killed and the tribe of Benjamin is almost wiped out.
Then they feel sorry that the tribe is decimated and they want to preserve it, but they have vowed not to give them any of their daughters as wives,  so they advise them to steal woman from Jabesh-gilead and Shiloh.   It reminds me of what ISIS has done... taking young girls and forcing them to be their wives.   Terrorism was alive and well in Israel, long before Islam existed.

This ends the book of Judges. It is a sad and discouraging passage of the failures of Israel.  The writer reminds us again and again that there was no king in Israel. Yet, that was not the real problem.  The problem was that they had forsaken the True King of Israel.  Here is a society of ruthless and idolatrous people, who should have been the light of the world.  They had fallen so far... all because they did not honor the Lord their God, nor obey His Word.

This example is given to us, Paul writes, as all the Word was given,  for teaching, for exhortation, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness. ( II Tim. 3:16)   Our nation, our world, needs to take heed of the Word of Truth.  We are heading down a dangerous path, where all men do what is right in their own eyes.. where they no longer heed the King of Glory, where they have no fear of the Holy One .  We must pray as never before for a great revival!

Jesus, You are our only Hope.  We exalt You as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  We seek Your Truth and Mercy.  Father in Heaven, we bow before You and You alone.  Holy One of Israel, turn the hearts of men and women back to Yourself.  Flood this nation with Your Light by Your Spirit. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.