In
the final two chapters of the book of Judges, Israel was divided into 2 warring
factions. There was an eleven tribe
super-majority of “Israel” against the one-tribe minority of Benjamin. In chapter 20, “Israel” went to war against
the Israelites in the tribe of Benjamin.
The
majority party represented the country and used its power to attack the
minority party as though they weren’t citizens of the same country. But, to be clear, the grounds for the attack
were absolutely correct.
(The reason was a
horrific crime and a miscarriage of criminal justice. I wrote about it in a
post called “
The
Ugliest Chapters.”)
Before
God let Israel win on the 3rd day, He sent them into two days of battle where
Israel was slaughtered by the Benjamite minority. Losses were heavy on both sides, kinda like
the Lord was punishing both parties.
Israel
ultimately won and in Judges 20:36-39, the national government punished the
criminals who had escaped local justice.
But they didn’t stop there.
The men of Israel turned
back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them down with the edge of
the sword—from every city, men
and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came
to. (Judges
20: 48)
Israel
also swore an oath (signed a pledge) that “None
of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” ( Judges 21: 1)
With
only about 600 Benjamite men surviving the incursion, this pledge amounted to
genocide.
See? The ruling faction didn’t just deal with the
issue; they set about to destroy everything and everybody associated with their
opponents in the minority.
Sometimes
the Republicans are the majority and the Democrats are Benjamin. Sometimes, it’s the other way around. Sometimes the old heads outnumber young
adults 11-1. Sometimes the younger
perspective has a super-majority of support.
But
when any human coalition comes into power in anger, Scripture and history teach
us that no matter who the humans are, they tend to take their “mandate” too,
too far.
You can
win the war and lose your souls.
Here’s how you know that
your group has crossed the line. 4
points.
#1) You regret your own policies--- in secret.
God’s
Law was careful, explicit, and emphatic about preserving both the national and
tribal integrity of Israel. There was a
whole system of redemption and return to insure that no tribe would ever be without
land.
They [Israel] lifted up their voices and wept bitterly, and
said, “O Lord God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that today
there should be one tribe missing
in Israel?” (Judges 21: 2-3)
#2) You have defeated the enemy but become the bad guys when you turn on your own people when their morality contrasts
your mistakes.
Israel
made
a great oath concerning anyone who had not come up to the Lord at Mizpah [against
Benjamin], saying, “He shall surely be
put to death.” (Judges 21: 5)
One
clan had not participated in the slaughter of their countrymen, and for that
offense, Israel attacked Jabesh Gilead. (Judges 21: 8-11)
#3) Your side has gone from
victors to villains when you break your own rules trying to secretly
sabotage a platform you publicly support.
Having
signed a pledge committing themselves to never intermarry with the Benjamites,
Israel arranged for the Benjamites to kidnap young women from the majority
tribes while they looked the other way (Judges 21: 12-24).
#4) Your victorious faction that
has lost its corporate soul when you start blaming God for the consequences
of you disobeying God.
And the people grieved for
Benjamin, because the Lord had made a void in the tribes of Israel. (Judges 21: 15)
Wait. Who voided one of the tribes?
Killing
off ALL of Benjamin and preventing the survivors from reproducing was not God’s
idea.
The
Word of God commands us to hold criminals and corrupt officials accountable.
But God does not give us license to target an entire community or an entire
class of officials.
You
don’t get to kill Black people just because they’re Black or police officers
just because they’re police officers and then blame the ensuing chaos on God.
You
don’t get to murder homosexuals just for being gay or discredit pastors just
for believing what the Bible says about homosexuality and say that it’s what
Jesus wants.
Well
you can, because like the Jews in the time of Judges, we live in a culture
where there is no king and everyone
does what was right in his own
eyes. (Judges 21: 25)
But
if we let our power overrun God’s commands, we clear a path for everyone’s
destruction.
As
I said in an earlier blog, the book of Judges is written out of chronological
order. The final chapters actually
happened first. In the rest of the book of Judges, the Jewish nation,
Benjamin and all, spend the next few centuries in serial subjugation.
Their
Promised Land became an oppressed land because they did what we are doing.
1) We come to power in anger
and make rules that we regret.
2) We attack our own people when
they refuse to follow us into sin.
3) We make unethical backroom
deals with our opponents while we publicly pretend to support the official
platform.
4) And we blame God for all the
chaos we create.
This
is how a victorious nation becomes a culture of losers.
Consider
it, take counsel, and speak. (Judges 19: 30)
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield,
Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking
Organization (SAYNO); and director of
rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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P O
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