Judges 19-21 The last three chapters  of the book of Judges tell a tragic story of the people of Israel.  It begins and ends with this reminder.. "Now it came about in those days, when there was no king in Israel.. (19:1) and "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (21:25)

The story begins with a "certain Levite".  This man lived in Ephraim and his concubine/wife was from Bethlehem.  The wife committed adultery and left to return to her father's house in Judah. After 4 months the man went to speak with her and take her home.  Her father kept delaying their departure until after 5 days they took off towards Jerusalem .  Not wanting to stop overnight in a non-Jewish town the couple and their servant and donkeys went into the territory of Benjamin to the town of Gibeah. They sat in the town square until an old man came from his fields and invited them to stay with him. 

Everything was great until some "worthless fellows" came, pounding on the door and demanding that the man give them the Levite so they could abuse him. Instead, the man offered his daughter and the wife of the Levite.  Sounds just like what happened to Lot in the town of Sodom... 

The story gets worse.. as the Levite took his wife/ concubine and gave her to the men.. who raped and abused her all night long.  At the dawn of the next day she came back to the house and laid down on the doorstep and died. The man loaded her body on his donkey and traveled back to his home where he proceeded to cut up her body into 12 pieces and" sent her throughout the territory of Israel."

It took this horrible tragedy to finally bring the people of Israel together...all the tribes, except Benjamin.. for they defended the wickedness done in Gibeah. A war was waged against the tribe of Benjamin and at first they stood pretty strong. The army of Benjamin stood 26,000 strong plus 700 "choice men".  The army of the rest of Israel numbered 400,000. 

Israel went to Bethel "and inquired of God".  Judah's army was sent in first and 22,000 of their men were slaughtered. They again went to inquire of the Lord. They wept before the Lord and were again told to go up and fight against Benjamin. This time 16,000 men were killed.  For the third time "all the sons of Israel and all the people went up and came to Bethel and wept; thus they remained there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening. And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord." The Lord again told them to go up against Benjamin and this time they were victorious.  They planned an ambush, drew out the army, and defeated them.  25,100 Benjamite soldiers were killed.  The city of Gibeah was destroyed. The remaining men of Benjamin ran and many more were defeated along the way. Only 600 men remained of the whole tribe of Benjamin. 

After a little while the rest of Israel began to mourn the loss of the tribe of Benjamin.. "And the sons of Israel were sorry for their brother Benjamin and said, 'One tribe is cut off from Israel today.' " They swore that they would not give any of their daughters to marry with those remaining men from Benjamin, but they saw a need for the tribe to continue so they made a plan.  The first thing they did was find a tribe that did not send anyone to fight against Benjamin.  The inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead had not participated, so Israel sent soldiers to kill and destroy all of that city.. except for the virgin women. 400 young maidens were abducted and given to the sons of Benjamin.   This was not enough.. so then the elders came up with another plan.  They wouldn't give their daughters to the men of Benjamin.. but they would allow them to hide in the vineyards until the festival that was held in Shiloh. Then when the women came to dance they could come out of the vineyards and catch a wife from the daughters of Shiloh.  And so they did. 

Father in heaven,  what sadness is found in the stories of the judges of Israel. Sin was everywhere.  They were so far from the nation that You made them to be.  In fact, they still are in so many ways.  One day.. there will be a King in Israel and He will rule with all authority and righteousness.  The world awaits such a day, for we are weary and burdened by the constant war and destruction. Even as it was in those days, women suffer so much Lord.. have mercy and show kindness please Lord.. to the lost, to the abused, to the enslaved, to the suffering. Let the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ fill this world as Your Kingdom expands to every land we pray.. in the Name of Jesus Christ the King. Amen