Judges – Chapter 21

Judges 21 Daily DEVO And they commanded the people of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.” Judges 21:20-21 – I must have written on this passage before because the irony is too much for me not to have. The whole reason why the tribe of Benjamin was in trouble was because they took what wasn’t their’s, the levite’s concubine, and now they are being told to take more ladies for their own. The irony and confusing nature of all this is no surprise with what it’s says in the last verse of the chapter (look it up). For us, we need a bigger moral compass than just our perception of the world. Allow God to be what sets what’s right and what you should do in your life. Don’t find yourself in a cycle of hurtful mistakes because you choose to let yourself be your leader. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 601

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25 – This verse has been repeated throughout the book of Judges and rightfully is placed at the very end of the book. Judges has given us a picture of what happens when the ultimate authority of what’s right and wrong is ourselves. We have seen the loss it creates. We have seen the chaos it brings. We have seen the pain and death that comes with it. All because each person did what was right according to himself. What was needed in their story was a perfect God who knew what was right and could set up for them a way to exist with each other in peace. What’s crazy is they had that, yet turned away from it. Know you have this too. You can choose to follow the directions God’s gives on how to live and how to relate with others, or you can just do what’s right in your eyes. For sure, following God will put us in a different current than most of the people we do life with and that will create tension sometimes. Take Judges as your example of what it looks like when we go with the flow. Choose to do what is right in Jesus’ eyes. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1804

So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword; also the women and the little ones. Judges 21:10 – While I can’t possibly imagine anyone reading this chapter could see that any of this was “right in the eyes of the Lord,” let’s break down what exactly took place. First, a horrible crime was committed against the Levite’s concubine. In response Israel slaughtered almost all the tribe of Benjamin for committing that crime and harboring the criminals. Israel makes foolish oaths that no one can give Benjamin their daughter in marriage and that any tribe of Israel that didn’t help in this slaughter would be slaughtered themselves. After making these foolish mistakes, they further act in foolishness by killing the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead and kidnapped 600 women to give to the remaining men of Benjamin that escaped the earlier slaughter. This is truly just an insane amount of sinful actions happening in sequence, and the reason is so clear why such things took place. For in those days God was not their king, and each person did what was right in their eyes. When we get to determine was is right and wrong, the sort of things that took place in this chapter unfold and the sort of things we see in the news today unfold. God must be king in our lives and God must be the one that gets the final say on what is right and wrong. When we or anything else slips into that king role, we are doomed for pain like we see in the pages of Judges. Allow King Jesus to reign in your life and allow Him all authority in your life to determine what is right. Freedom, life, peace, and love is found in the Kingdom of Jesus, and all that is available to you today. Choose wisely and choose to be a part of the Kingdom of God. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2877