United in Outrage | Sunday, October 27, 2024
October 27, 2024 · Pastor Miles DeBenedictis
In this teaching
Closing the Book of Judges with chapters 20–21, this teaching examines the civil war provoked by the moral atrocity at Gibeah, showing that while outrage at evil is right, fallen humanity's attempts at justice always fall short or go too far—and that the only sufficient answer to evil and to our own sin is the wrath of God satisfied at the cross by the coming King of Kings.
- Enforcing justice is the proper and right response to evil and injustice; failure to be outraged at moral evil reveals a seared conscience.
- The right tools and measures of justice are extremely hard to judge, and the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
- Social chaos is the inevitable outcome of moral relativism, summed up in the book's final line: "everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
- The wrath of God is what human evil deserves, yet Romans 3:23 places us all under that same judgment.
- The cross is the only right remedy for sin, where God's wrath was poured out on the sinless Christ in our place.
- Our longing for a deliverer is ultimately answered only in Jesus, the faithful and true King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Readable is a lightly edited reading copy; Verbatim stays close to the spoken words. The audio and video are the record of what was said.
But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. Instead the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to the city of Gibeah, to go to battle against the children of Israel. ()
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. ()
When outrage at evil is right, but every human answer to it falls short, where do we look for justice?
October 7th and the Reality of Outrage
This week we finish the Book of Judges. In light of the message I gave last week from about outrage at horrible moral evil, I was looking this morning at a picture of my family taken on October 6th of last year in Athens, Greece. We were about to board a cruise ship on our way to Israel. Two days later we were scheduled to be in the port of Ashdod, twenty miles from Gaza.
But on the morning of October 7th, 2023, while we were a couple hundred miles away on our way to Jerusalem, I began getting bombarded with notifications about what was happening as Hamas attacked. That day has now become as significant to Israel as 9/11 is to us. Within hours I received text messages and emails asking if we were okay. We were more than okay aboard that cruise ship, but it was evident that what was happening a short distance away was an absolute horror.
Our tour was diverted—we never made it to Jerusalem. As the news, images, and video spread, so did a massive, understandable outrage. Millions, if not billions, of people were stirred to anger.
Be Angry, and Do Not Sin
As I shared last week from —a passage of twisted, outrageous moral evil—outrageous immorality demands moral outrage. When we see something hideous and heinous, the right response is anger, what we call indignation. Paul's command in takes hold: "Be angry."
I don't know a single person here who isn't good at fulfilling that command. The hard part is that contains two commands: "Be angry, and do not sin." This puts us on a fine tightwire. We are rightly angered at moral evil—righteous indignation—and yet we are commanded not to sin. How do we be angry and not sin?
The events at the close of Judges, in chapters 20 and 21, are not as disturbing as what triggered them in chapter 19, but they are still very strange. If you've read ahead, you probably left scratching your head. Rather than going verse by verse, let me summarize.
A Summary of the Atrocity and the War
In chapter 19, a horrible moral evil was committed in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, in a city called Gibeah. A Levite, one of the priests of the nation, came into Gibeah with his wife and stayed the night. Perverted men of the city surrounded the house and demanded that the owner deliver the Levite to them that they might know him carnally—the same thing that happened in Sodom in .
The host did not deliver the Levite, but instead—and it is hard to comprehend—his young wife was given to them, and they ravished her to death. In response, the Levite, rightly indignant, dismembered her body and sent it to all the heads of the tribes of Israel. We look at that and think, what on earth is going on? But it was a message they could not ignore, intended to shock and outrage them, to confront them with a moral evil they could not look away from.
In outrage, the nation gathered together as one man—the eleven tribes, with 400,000 men armed for war—saying this injustice must be dealt with. They fulfilled the command, "Be angry," and they were rightly angered.
Enforcing Justice Is Right—But Hard
This reminds us of an important truth. Point one: enforcing justice is the proper response to evil and injustice. When the eleven tribes gather, outraged and indignant, they are right. In fact, if you are not outraged by moral evil, it says something about the searing of your own conscience.
The difficulty—and we see it not only in the text but in our own hearts—is finding the proper and just response to injustice. Christians have wrestled with this for millennia. It touches the whole discussion of just war theory: how do you deal with wickedness? What is the right tool, and what is the right measure of justice? It is a far more difficult question than we often realize.
Their initial response was possibly the right first step: they gathered, united, declaring that what happened was wrong and needed to be dealt with. In they come to Benjamin and say, "Deliver up the men, the perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel." They were seeking to fulfill the law of Moses, which required capital punishment for such an atrocity. But imagine the picture: behind the messengers stood 400,000 armed men.
An Eye for an Eye—and a Resistant Tribe
You've heard the saying, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." It gives us the idea of lex talionis—the punishment must fit the crime. The crime here was atrocious and needed to be dealt with; the law said these men should die. But something about how the message was delivered—perhaps those 400,000 armed men—caused Benjamin to resist. The children of Benjamin would not listen, and instead gathered to go to war against their brothers.
In this we can probably all identify with something. We do not always respond perfectly when we are angry. I rarely enter into anger with a reasonable, level head. Typically it is only after I have reacted that I find myself wondering, could I have handled that better? Could the eleven tribes have handled this better than dispatching 400,000 armed men? They probably could have. They were rightly indignant, but their response may not have been the best.
Instead of reconsidering, the eleven tribes gathered to go to war against their brothers—now a civil war. It was right for Israel to respond; it would have been wrong not to. Justice must be enforced when terrible moral evil has been committed. But how do we respond justly to evil? Outrageous immorality demands moral outrage, yet moral outrage rarely results in a perfectly moral response.
The Right Measure of Justice Is Hard to Judge
Point two: the right tools and measures of justice are incredibly hard to judge. This is why it would be hard to be a judge, why some of you duck out of jury duty—you don't want to be in the position of making that decision.
There was a similar circumstance at the end of the Book of Joshua. A tribe appeared to do something morally wrong, and eleven-and-a-half tribes came together on the brink of civil war. But there, they sent ambassadors ahead, negotiated, and reached a peaceful resolution. Here, that is not the case.
In the first two days of battle, 40,000 men of the eleven tribes died—ten percent of their force. On the third day, they nearly annihilated Benjamin, killing almost all of their 25,000-plus fighters, leaving only 600 men. They did to their own brothers what they had done to the Canaanites. I cannot help but think of James in the New Testament: "the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God." My wrath, even when justified, does not bring about God's perfect righteousness. That is the challenge of this passage: how do we deal with moral evil in a righteous way?
"No King in Israel": Moral Relativism and Chaos
The final chapter adds another crisis. Having nearly destroyed Benjamin, the eleven tribes must keep the tribe from going extinct. Only 600 men remain, and they have no wives. So they take a roll call: was there a city that didn't come to fight? Yes—so let's go kill them and take their young virgin daughters for Benjamin. When that doesn't provide enough wives, they tell the men, "Go hide in the bushes at the feast in the mountains, and when you see a young virgin dancing, take her." You read this and ask, what on earth is happening? How is this just?
The answer is the very last word of the book: "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Israel was no longer one nation under God. They no longer had God's rule directing them through His law. What had spread was what we would today call moral relativism—no right and true standard of what is right and true. Everyone chose for himself, and as long as it seemed like a good plan, they did it.
Point three: social chaos is the inevitable outcome of moral relativism. Some may argue against this, but I see no other outcome. If there is no universal standard, society falls into disorder—whether 3,200 years ago in Israel or in 2024 in the Western world. There was an erosion of authority; no one agreed who was over whom, so Benjamin could say, "Who are you to rule over us?"
A Testimony to Our Fallenness
This entire period is another testimony to man's sinful fallenness—whether the pagan Canaanites who rejected God or the people of God who had His covenant and law. The book opened in : "another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel... and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD." It closes with "everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
When you govern yourself only by what is right in your own eyes—because our hearts are desperately wicked—we fulfill Proverbs 14: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." It leads to destruction and chaos.
When we are confronted with gross immorality and injustice, as we are every day in a fallen world—especially at times like October 7th—we are rightly outraged, and we demand justice. But rarely are our demands satisfied, because our best efforts at justice are tainted by our sinful nature. Our best attempts frequently fall short or go too far. We are left with a pit in our stomach, asking: is there no justice for evil?
The Righteous Wrath of God
There is an answer. "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men" (). The wrath of God is what human evil deserves, what gross wickedness demands—the righteous wrath of God. Ezekiel said twice in chapter 18, "The soul that sins shall die." Romans says, "the wages of sin is death." Part of us says, that's true; there needs to be justice.
This is a comfort to those who have experienced malevolent evil. I've had conversations with people in our culture upset by the doctrine of hell. Do you know what that often indicates? That they have not suffered malevolent evil. How grateful I am that I have not. But there are many who have watched their children killed or their families ravished, and to them the doctrine of hell is a comfort—because hell says God will judge. There will be a final accounting.
But within that consolation is a devastating reality: , "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And that "all" includes me and you. It is easy to look at the perverted men of Gibeah, or Hamas, and say, "that needs to be judged"—but that very statement means I ought to be judged too. "But I didn't do something that horrible." It doesn't matter.
Consider Habakkuk. He looked at his nation, filled with sin, and said, "God, you need to judge my nation." God answered, "Okay, I'll use the Babylonians." Habakkuk replied, "No, no—we're not that bad." The fickleness of my own heart in my moral outrage reveals that I, too, deserve judgment.
The Cross: The Only Right Remedy
What is the answer? This morning we partake of communion, and in the bread and the cup is God's answer. Point four: the cross is the only right remedy for sin. Wickedness must be judged; sin must be dealt with. And the cross is perfect justice poured out upon sin, because there Jesus, who never sinned, became sin for us, and God's wrath was poured out upon Him.
This fulfilled Isaiah, 700 years before Christ: "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
How many of you have been angered by injustice? Sickened by October 7th or 9/11? Your moral outrage is a self-condemnation. says, "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things... Do you think that you will escape the judgment of God?" When I judge something as worthy of judgment, I affirm that there is a standard of righteousness—and therefore unrighteousness must be judged.
We Need a King Not of This World
The deliverers in Judges who came to deal with the wickedness were ineffectual and flawed—Samson, Gideon, Jephthah. The best of men are men at best. We are left asking, is that all we have? We need someone to fix this.
That is exactly Israel's response two books later in 1 Samuel: "We need a king." But the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles are full of kings who were terrible. Even the best, David, commits adultery and murders to cover it up. Is there no one to fix this? The problem is that every king presented is of this world; we need a King who is not of this world.
John saw the answer in Revelation 19: "Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war... His name is called The Word of God... Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword... He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
Your Kingdom Come
We see the moral injustice of the world, as Israel did 3,000 years ago, and we cry for someone to make it right. We are nine days from a presidential election, and we say, "Maybe this person will fix it." I'm here to tell you, probably not—actually, the odds are zero. Don't misunderstand: I'm not saying don't vote. Vote. I voted last Thursday. But hold moderated expectations, because the kings of this world will always leave you longing for a King who is Faithful and True.
This is why Christians for millennia have prayed, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And the awesome thing is that on the cross, sin is punished—He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might receive His righteousness. Now we remember His body broken and His blood shed in fulfillment of Isaiah's words, because all we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Closing Prayer
Father God, I pray that You would remind us again that You are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that our desires for justice are only ultimately satisfied in You. We pray, come Lord Jesus, come. There is social chaos in our world; it is the inevitable outcome of departing from the truth of Your Word—moral relativism. And there is only one answer for evil and sin: the salvation found only in You at the cross. We thank You that Your body was broken and Your blood shed for us, to deal finally and completely with sin. Someday You will establish Your kingdom, and there will be no more suffering and no more sin. We say, come Lord Jesus, come.
Lord, we know from the Scriptures that without the shedding of blood there is no removal of the stain of sin. But You who knew no sin became sin for us; You took the sin of the world upon Yourself, stood in our place as a substitution, so that You could give us Your forgiving grace and Your righteousness. We thank You that You put away the enmity, that You deal with sin entirely, and that You will one day rule and reign with righteousness. Help us to be ambassadors of Your kingdom in this culture, lights shining in a dark place. We pray, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
And now may the Lord bless and keep you, and may He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Continue to pray for the Bailey family as they continue to serve the Lord in a huge way.
There are some other things to mention that we did not announce this morning. Next Sunday is not just the chili cook-off, which you definitely should come back for after the third service and bring a friend to church. We have some empty seats, so you should fill those next week for that. Also, next week is the time change, so you need to fall back. If you don't fall back, you'll be at the first service. Make sure you set your clocks back; your phones will do that automatically.
We are now in the single digits away from the election—just nine days away. With the election fast approaching, I want to encourage you to consider spending some time fasting and praying for our nation this week. We need God to move mightily in our country. One thing is absolutely certain: on November 6th, there will be more division in our culture. We need to pray that God would move in a huge way.
As Pastor Mark mentioned in the announcements, we are starting something called the Thankful 30 for the month of November. You can go to the website, ccchurch.com/thankful30. November is the month where we celebrate Thanksgiving, so it's a great time for us to be reminded about the important aspect of gratitude. We will also be doing a series of teachings in November on that topic.
One of the things I am thankful for is that we are going to finish the Book of Judges today. If you would take out your Bibles and open to the seventh book of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges—we are in .
In light of the message I gave in last week about the outrage at horrible moral evil, I was looking this morning at a picture I have on my iPad. I always keep my notes on my iPad, but this is a picture of my family that was taken on October 6th of last year. We were in Athens, Greece, getting ready with a very large group of people—some from this church and others who come and use the Enduring Word website. We were preparing to get on a cruise ship and head to Israel. In fact, two days after that, we were scheduled to be in the port of Ashdod in Israel, which is 20 miles from Gaza.
Miles away from Israel, we were on our way to Jerusalem, which is kind of the high point of these tours that I've been planning for many years. This particular tour was one I had been working on for four years. We woke up on the 7th of October, a couple of hundred miles away from the port, and I don't really pay attention to the TV news. I get my news through notifications online and social media, and I was getting bombarded with all kinds of notifications about what was happening in Israel as Hamas was attacking on October 7th, 2023. That day has now become as significant to the people in Israel as September 11, 2001, is for us here.
Within several hours, due to the time difference, I started to receive a whole bunch of text messages and emails from people in our church, as well as friends and family back home, wanting to know if we were okay. I have to say we were more than okay because we were on a luxurious cruise ship in the middle of the Mediterranean. However, it was very evident that what was happening a short distance away from us was absolute horror. As I mentioned, I don't pay a lot of attention to the TV news, and I try to stay away from the images and videos of such events when they are happening. I don't believe it's best to put that into our minds and hearts, but the headlines alone made it clear that what was happening there was absolutely horrible.
Our tour was, of course, diverted, and we didn't make it to Jerusalem. As the news headlines, images, and videos spread, a massive outrage emerged, and understandably so. Millions, if not billions, of people were stirred to outrage and anger. As I shared last week, we were looking at a passage of Scripture in , which depicts a twisted and horrific moral evil. When something like that happens, whether it is the events in or the things you all witnessed in the news a year ago, or other equally terrible events happening around the world at any time, we see that outrageous immorality demands moral outrage. It stirs in us, and rightly so, anger—what we would call indignation. It's a great word, and we are stirred with it.
Moral indignation arises when we see something hideous and heinous. The right response is anger. Paul's command in takes hold: "Be angry." I don't know that there is a single person here this morning who is not really good at fulfilling that command. Be angry.
The hard part is that there are two commands that open : "Be angry," yes, I got it, and "do not sin." This creates a weird tension where we are rightly angered—what we would call righteous indignation or righteous anger—at moral evil. However, we are commanded not to sin. This places us on a fine tightrope between the two, leaving us torn between how to be angry and not sin.
The events at the close of the Book of Judges, beginning in chapter 19 and continuing through chapters 20 and 21, illustrate this tension. While the events in chapters 20 and 21 are not as disturbing as what triggered this response in chapter 19, they are still very strange. If you have read ahead in and 21, you probably left scratching your head, wondering what in the world is going on.
I am not going to go section by section through every verse this morning; instead, I will summarize what is taking place. In chapter 19, a horrible moral evil was committed by a group of people in the nation of Israel. The nation was divided into twelve tribes, and one of the tribes was the Tribe of Benjamin. In the territory of the Tribe of Benjamin was a city called Gibeah.
A man from the tribe of Levi, who was one of the priests of the nation, went into the town of Gibeah with his wife and stayed there that night. Perverted men from that city surrounded the home where they were staying and demanded that the owner of the home deliver this foreigner—still part of the nation of Israel but from a different city—into their hands so that they might know him carnally. You don't have to use your imagination much to understand what that meant; it is terrible, akin to what happened in Sodom in . The man who owned the home did not deliver the Levite into their hands.
Their hand prevented him from being destroyed by these perverted men from Gibeah. Instead, and it's hard for us to even comprehend this, his young wife was given to them, and they ravished her to death. They killed her. In response to this moral evil, the Levite is rightly indignant and angered. In a sense, he sends out a message on social media—not really, but he takes the body of his wife, dismembers her, and sends it to all of the heads of the tribes of Israel.
We look at that and think, what on earth is going on here? But it is a message to them that they cannot ignore. There is no way to look away from this; they have to be confronted by this moral evil. They have to respond to what has taken place. It was intended to shock; it was intended to outrage them. In outrage, the nation gathers together as one man. The text says in that they all gather together. The eleven tribes get together, and they have 400,000 men armed for war who basically say, "This is horrible; this must be dealt with. This injustice has to be addressed."
They fulfill the command of : "Be angry." They are rightly angered by what they have seen. So, they gather together, united to demand justice. This reminds us of an important truth. Point number one, if you're taking notes this morning: enforcing justice is the proper response to evil. It is right to enforce justice when there has been an evil injustice.
When the eleven tribes gather together to say this must be dealt with, and they are outraged and indignant, they are right. In fact, if you are not outraged by moral evil, it says something about the searing of your own conscience. They are rightly outraged by what they see, and they want justice. The difficulty, and I think we all can see this difficulty—not just in the text but in our own hearts—is finding the proper and just response to injustice.
Christians have been thinking about this for millennia. It gets into the entire discussion of Just War Theory and the proper response to wickedness. How do you deal with wickedness? What is the right tool, and what is the right measure of justice? It is a far more difficult question than sometimes we fully realize.
The people of Israel in were right to be morally outraged by the outrageous sin of the people of Gibeah. Their initial response, when they gathered together, is possibly the right first step. They see this moral evil, they gather together, and they are united in saying that what has happened is wrong and needs to be dealt with. So, they come together and want to respond.
In response to the wickedness, tells us that they gathered a united force of 400,000 armed men. They brought word to the tribe of Benjamin, the 11 tribes of Israel coming to the tribe of Benjamin, where the city of Gibeah was. They informed them that this situation needed to be addressed. In of chapter 20, it is stated that they came to the city and said, "Deliver up the men, the perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel."
The people of the 11 tribes of Israel were seeking to fulfill the law of Moses in , , and other places as well. The law required capital punishment for these perverted individuals in Gibeah who had committed this moral atrocity. They demanded that the tribe of Benjamin deliver these perverted men to them so that they could be put to death.
Imagine the picture: behind the messengers were 400,000 armed individuals. There is a saying you have probably heard before; it is from the Bible: "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Has anyone ever heard that saying before? It gives us the whole idea of lex talionis, the proper unfolding of the law.
What does this mean? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth indicates that the punishment must fit the crime. There needs to be the proper level of punishment for the crime. The crime was absolutely horrible and atrocious, and it needed to be dealt with, as the law stated.
These perverted individuals shall die, but behind the Messengers are 400,000 armed men. How do you think the Tribe of Benjamin responded? Look at of : "But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel." Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to the city of Gaba to go to battle against the children of Israel.
Maybe it was the 400,000 armed men, but something about the way this message was delivered to the people of Benjamin caused them to resist what the law was calling them to do. The law ordered that these perverted individuals in the city of Gaba be put to death, but the men of Benjamin resisted Israel's call for justice.
I think in this we can probably all identify with the struggle. We do not always respond perfectly when we're angry. I see some nodding; I think some of you know that this is true. You've observed it in yourself, and I certainly have observed it in myself. I do not always respond best when I'm angry. In fact, quite rarely do I enter into a situation with a reasonable level head when I am angered by something. Typically, it's only after I have reacted that I find myself thinking, "Could I have handled that better?"
I'm sure some of you have asked yourself that question before: "Could I have handled this situation better?" Now, again, we are in this weird tension. There is a horrible moral evil that has been committed, and we are called to be angry. The tension is to be angry and yet not sin. That is so hard because we are rightly indignant about moral evil. Could the eleven tribes of Israel have handled this better than dispatching 400,000 armed men to the city of Gaba and calling for the Tribe of Benjamin to deliver the perverted men of Gaba over to them? They probably could have.
They are rightly indignant, but their response may not be the best. Instead of reconsidering how best to respond to the Tribe of Benjamin and their resistance, the eleven tribes gathered together to go to war against their brothers. Now we have a civil war. It is a difficult situation. It is right for Israel to respond; it would have been wrong for them not to respond. They must respond to the gross wickedness of Gibeah. Justice must be enforced when injustice, especially terrible moral evil, has been committed.
But how do we respond justly to evil? Injustice and outrageous immorality demand moral outrage, but moral outrage rarely results in a perfectly moral response. I think you'll agree.
Point number two, if you're taking notes: the right tools and measures of justice are incredibly hard to judge. What's the right measure? What's the right tool to deal with the injustice that has come to pass? It's really hard to determine. This is why it would be very hard to be a judge. This is why some of you duck out of jury duty; you may not want to be in that position of making the decision. It’s a hard place to be.
Now, there was a similar circumstance, not identical to what we have here at the end of the Book of Judges, at the end of the previous book, the Book of Joshua. There was a tribe among the children of Israel at the end of the Book of Joshua that appeared to do something morally wrong against the law of God. So, eleven of the tribes, actually eleven and a half of the tribes, came together to deal with it. They were going to go to war against their brothers because of some moral evil that had been committed. They were on the verge, the brink, of civil war at the end of the Book of Joshua, just as they are here in this passage.
Fortunately, in that situation, they sent ambassadors ahead to confer with the tribe that they were about to attack. They were able to navigate and negotiate the situation to where there was a peaceful resolution. They were able to deal with it. In this situation, that's not the case. The eleven tribes gathered 400,000 armed men and went to the Tribe of Benjamin. They said, "You need to deliver these perverted individuals to us that we may put them to death." That's what the law requires.
In the midst of that, the Tribe of Benjamin stands against the other tribes and resists. They go to war, and in the first two days of the battle, the passage describes in that 40,000 men from the eleven tribes of Israel die. This is 10% of their 400,000. On the third day, they come and nearly annihilate the Tribe of Benjamin, killing almost all of their 25,000-plus fighting force. Only 600 men from the Tribe of Benjamin are left. Not only do they kill the men of the tribe, but they essentially do to the Tribe of Benjamin what they had done to the Canaanites, almost completely annihilating the entire tribe of the children of Israel.
When we see this, I can't help but think of what James says in the New Testament: the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. My wrath, even though it might be justified, does not bring about the perfect righteousness of God. It is such a difficult thing because we are confronted with these kinds of situations in our lives on a rather frequent basis. There is a moral evil that has been done, and we are angry about it, as we ought to be. However, we then try to figure out how to deal with this moral evil in a righteous way. That is the challenge presented in this passage.
In the final chapter of Judges, which I won't go through verse by verse, there is an added level to this situation—an additional crisis. The eleven tribes of Israel have basically destroyed the Tribe of Benjamin, and they must figure out how to ensure that the tribe does not become extinct. There are 600 men from the Tribe of Benjamin that remain after the tribe is almost completely destroyed in chapter 20, but they have no wives. This is a problem. The Tribe of Benjamin is likely going to go extinct if they don't do something.
So, they decide they need to fix this situation. When you read their solution, you might wonder what in the world is going on. The eleven tribes conduct a roll call to see if there is any city that did not come to help them fight against the Tribe of Benjamin.
Benjamin, they go, "Yeah, there was this city over here. Okay, let's go kill them and take their young virgin daughters and give them to the Tribe of Benjamin." You're going, "What in the world is going on?" Then they don't have enough wives for the 600 men of Benjamin, so they say, "Well, we still have a problem. We don't have enough women. What should we do?"
Well, there's a feast taking place in the mountains of Ephraim. They say, "All right, you other men, the 600 that didn't have wives, you go hide in the bushes. When you see a young virgin dancing, you just go take her, and she'll be your wife." You're reading this, and you're going, "What on Earth is happening here?" You wonder, "How is this right? How is this just?"
The answer is in the very last word of the book. Look at : "In those days, there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Israel was no longer, at this point, one nation under God. They no longer had God's rule and reign in their lives, with His law directing them. They no longer had a corporate commitment to following God's law.
What had spread throughout the nation was what we might identify today as moral relativism. There was no right and true standard of what is right and true any longer for the people. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. They all chose for themselves what they were going to do, and as long as they figured, "Well, it seems like a good plan to me," then they would do that thing.
When you have conditions like that, when moral relativism is the rule of the day—whether it was 3,200 years ago in Israel during the time of Judges or it's in 2024 in the Western world we live in—true social chaos is the inevitable outcome of moral relativism. There may be some who would argue against this statement, but it seems to be very true to me, and I don't see any other outcome. If there is no universal standard, no right and true standard of what is right and true, then society falls into disorder.
History shows that the people of Israel lacked a corporate commitment to God's law, and there was little, if any, shared value system among them. During this time, there was an erosion of authority; no one agreed on who had the right to rule. The Tribe of Benjamin could question, "Who are you to rule over us?" This lack of moral authority is evident throughout this period of Israel's history. It serves as another example, another testimony to man's sinful fallenness. Whether it is the Canaanite peoples who have rejected God entirely or the children of Israel, who had the Covenant and the law of God, this period highlights the reality of human sinfulness.
The opening of the Book of Judges begins with these words from : "Another generation arose after Joshua's generation that did not know the Lord or the work that God had done for Israel to bring them into the land." Subsequently, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot God, His rule, and His authority over their lives. The final word of this book, found in , states, "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
When individuals govern themselves according to what seems right in their own eyes, we must remember that we are fallen and our hearts are desperately wicked. In a world where everyone acts according to their own judgment, we fulfill what Solomon observed in Proverbs 14: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death." This path leads to destruction and chaos.
We are confronted daily with gross immorality and injustice, especially during times like what occurred on October 7th of last year. When faced with such immorality, we are rightly outraged. It stirs indignation within us, and we desire justice; we demand that something be done to rectify the situation. However, our desires and demands for justice are rarely satisfied.
Because our best efforts at justice are tainted by our sinful fallen nature, our best attempts at justice are just that: their best attempts. They frequently fall short or go too far. We are left in the tension of what the right response is to the wicked things that have happened.
How do we answer the question we find ourselves asking when we see justice falling short or going too far? We are left with a pit in our stomach, a pain in our chest, and a thought in our minds that says, "Is there no justice for evil?" There is an answer to this question. I mentioned it last week, and it is really how this whole book wraps up: enforced justice is the proper response to evil and injustice.
So, what is the answer to evil and justice? The wrath of God will be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, as tells us. That is the answer: the wrath of God. That is what human evil deserves; that is what gross wickedness demands. The righteous wrath of God is the right answer to evil and injustice.
Ezekiel, the prophet, observed this 2,500 years ago. Twice in , he states, "The soul that sins shall die." That is the demand of the righteous wrath of God and the law of God. There is a part within us that acknowledges this truth. When we see gross immorality and sin, we say there needs to be justice; there needs to be wrath.
Romans tells us that the wages of sin is death. The soul that sins shall die. This is a consolation and a comfort to those who have experienced evil in this world. Some of you have experienced malevolent evil in your life, and within you, there is a demand for justice.
There needs to be justice, but it's fascinating because I've had conversations with people in our culture today who get upset at the biblical doctrine of hell. They are bothered by this, and you know what it's an indication of? When someone does not like the doctrine of hell, it's an indication that they have not suffered malevolent evil against them.
How awesome that is! I'm grateful I've not suffered malevolent evil against me, but there are many people right now and throughout history who have watched their own children be killed by someone else or have seen their family members be ravished by someone. They have experienced extreme perversion and malevolence. For them, the doctrine of hell is a comfort. It signifies that God will judge. That's what hell says: God will judge. It gives them hope that there will be a final accounting, that there will be a judgment.
There is a part of us that says yes; there is a part of us that recognizes that this needs to happen. There needs to be wrath. However, in the consolation and comfort that God will pour out wrath upon ungodliness and unrighteousness, there is a devastating, fearful reality. What is that devastating, fearful reality? It is : "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." In that "all" is me and you.
You see, it's easy for us to look at the moral evil of the perverted men of Gaba, the moral evil of Hamas, or the moral evil of whoever it is, and to say that needs to be judged. But in saying that it needs to be judged, we must understand and recognize that it means I also ought to be judged. Well, I didn't do the same level of horror or wickedness that they did. It doesn't matter.
There’s a great story in the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. There was a man named Habakkuk. You probably know that name; it might come back if you're looking for a baby name. Habakkuk was angry because he looked at his nation and saw that it was totally filled with sin. He felt that there needed to be a judgment for sin. Has anybody ever felt that? Like there needs to be a judgment for sin? Am I the only one? Okay, well, good, there are a few like me who want people judged.
So, he looked at his nation and said, "God, you need to judge my nation." God replied, "Okay, I'm going to judge your nation. I'm going to use the Babylonians." Habakkuk responded, "Who? No, no, we're not..."
That bad? I mean, really, a lot. Come on, that's not very nice. Lord, why would You do that? Well, You just told me that they should be judged. Yeah, but not that way. The fickleness of my own heart in my moral outrage for sin makes me realize that I deserve judgment also.
What is the answer? Well, we're going to partake of communion this morning, and in this, the bread and the cup is God's answer. Point number four: the cross is the only right remedy for sin. Wickedness must be judged; sin must be dealt with. What is the cross but perfect justice being poured out upon sin? Because in the cross, Jesus, who never sinned, became sin for me and for you, and God's wrath was poured out upon Jesus for sin, fulfilling the prophecy of the prophet years before Christ, who said this: "He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes, we are healed."
We all, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned everyone to our own way, and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Don't miss this. This is heavy; it's powerful.
First question: How many of you have ever been angered by injustice? Okay, I think most of you. The rest of you are not listening. Pay attention. How many of you were sickened by what happened on October 7th or 9/11? Okay, morally outraged? Your moral outrage is a self-condemnation upon you. Let me read it to you. : Paul says this: "Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are who judges." Have you ever judged something as wrong, condemned it, damned that thing? Yes, we all raised our hands.
You are without excuse, whoever it is who judges. For in whatever you judge, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. Do you not think, or do you think that you will escape the judgment of God? That's .
When I judge something as wrong and worthy of judgment, I am saying that there is actually a standard of righteousness, and therefore unrighteousness must be judged. The sinful wickedness that is presented to us in the Book of Judges is twisted and sickening. Unfortunately, the deliverers that come to try to deal with it are ineffectual, and they themselves have problems. I mean, Samson, Gideon, Jephthah—go down the list. All of these deliverers that are coming to deliver from the sinful wickedness make us wonder, is that all we have?
We need someone to fix this, and that's exactly what Israel is going to do in the next two books, in the Book of 1 Samuel. What is Israel's response going to be to all of the wickedness and the ineffectual deliverers that came to them during the 350 years of the time of the judges? Their answer is to say, "We need a king. If we just had someone to come and fix this, we need a king to deliver us."
In the books of Samuel and Kings and Chronicles, there is the story of a whole bunch of kings who all failed. Pardon my French—actually, it's not French—but anyway, they were terrible. Even the best ones were terrible. David, the best king, what does he do? He commits adultery and murder to cover it up. You might be thinking, "Please, is there not someone to fix this? Can't we just have a good king?"
The problem is that all the kings we are going to be presented with are of this world, and we need a king that is not of this world. That's where we are left calling out for a king. John, in the New Testament, the Apostle John, had a revelation. He saw a vision. What did he see? Let me read it to you: . I'll try to wrap it up.
Going to partake of communion, John says, "Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, he judges and makes war." How many of you want a deliverer who is faithful and true, and who judges in righteousness? That's what I want. I want someone who judges righteously.
John saw the Revelation, and what did he see? His eyes were a flame of fire. On his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. The armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now, out of his mouth goes a sharp sword with which he will strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
We see the moral injustice of the world, like the people of Israel did three thousand years ago during the time of the judges. They said, "We need someone to right this wrong. We need someone to fix this." Their response was, "We need a king to rule over us." Then they got a whole bunch of kings, and they were all terrible. They were left in a place longing for someone to come who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who is not of this world, and who will rule in righteousness with faithful truth.
That's where we are, days out from a presidential election. We see all kinds of moral chaos, all kinds of problems, and all kinds of issues. We say we need someone to fix this, and maybe this person will fix it. I'm here to tell you that it's probably not going to happen, and actually, it's not going to happen. The odds are zero.
So what are we looking for? We're looking for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This is why Christians for millennia have prayed, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Now, don't misunderstand me; I'm not saying don't vote. I'm saying vote. I voted last Thursday; you should vote. But you should have moderated expectations because the kings of this world will always leave you saying we need a king who is called Faithful and True.
True, the King of Kings should lead me and you, if we're Christians, to say, "Lord Jesus, come quickly. Come quickly, your kingdom come; your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven."
The awesome thing is that there on the cross, sin is punished. The wrath of God is poured out upon sin. Why? He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might receive His righteousness.
I’m going to invite Anthony and the team to come up. They are going to lead us in worship, and we’re going to remember His body that was broken for us and His blood that was shed for us. In fulfillment of Isaiah's words, He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The punishment so that you and I could have peace with God was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Why? Because all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Anthony is going to lead us in worship, and if you have not received the bread and the cup for communion, the ushers will walk around and give them to you. After we’ve all received them, we’ll partake together in just a moment.
Father God, I pray that You would remind us again that You are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Our desires for justice are only ultimately satisfied in You, and we pray, "Come, Lord Jesus, come." There is social chaos in our world; it is the inevitable outcome of departing from the truth of Your Word, moral relativism. There is only one answer for evil and sin: it is the salvation that is found only in You.
At the cross, we thank You that Your body was broken and Your blood was shed for us to deal finally and completely with sin. Someday, one day, You will establish Your kingdom, and there will be no more suffering and no more sin. We say, "Come, Lord Jesus, come."
Jesus, on the night that He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had broken it and given thanks, He gave it to His disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me."
Let's partake together. In the same manner, after they had eaten, He took the cup, saying, "This is..."
The cup of the New Covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Let's partake together.
Lord, we know from the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, that without the shedding of blood, there is no removal of the stain of sin. But Jesus, You who knew no sin became sin for us. You took my sin, all the sin of the world, upon Yourself. Your body was broken and bruised; You shed Your blood to atone for and deal with sin. You stood in my place, the place of my brothers and sisters here, as a substitution so that You could give us Your forgiving grace and Your righteousness.
God, we thank You so much for Your grace. We thank You that You are the one who puts away the enmity. You are the one who deals with sin entirely, and You are the one who will one day rule and reign with righteousness. God, I pray that Your rule as our Lord and King would be evident in our lives and that You would help us to be ambassadors of Your kingdom in this culture, in this place, at this time. Help us to be lights shining in a dark place.
Lord, we do pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven." We pray, "Lord Jesus, come quickly." We thank You for Your goodness and Your grace.
Now may the Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
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