Tag: phinehas

Judges 21: The powerful of the society did what was right in their own eyes to oppress the weak

Without the absolute standard of God and without the fear of God, the powerful of the Israelite society wielded its force to justify its irrational decision based on hypocritical oaths to exploit the weak. 

There is no righteous person, not even one (Romans 3:10). This chapter gives more reason for me to place my hope in Christ.

Summary of Judges 21

After almost annihilating the Benjamin tribe down to only 600 men, the Israelites started to feel sorry for them, becoming afraid of missing one entire tribe of Israel. Because they had sworn to the LORD not to give their daughters to Benjamin, they needed to find a solution for the remaining Benjamin. 

First, they decided to punish the men of Jabesh-gilead (probably part of either the Gad tribe or the Manasseh tribe), who did not participate in this war, by killing their men and giving their women, 400 in total, to the remaining Benjamin men as their wives. Because they still needed at least 200 more women, the Israelites came up with another “brilliant” solution. Second, the Israelites schemed to use the annual feast of the LORD at Shiloh where many young women would  participate. The Israelites covertly told the remaining Benjamintes to hide in wait in the vineyards to catch them (in fact, abduct them) as their wives. In this way, the Israelites do not violate their oath not to give their daughters to Benjamin, but still fulfill their solution to prolong the Benjamin tribe. 

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Incorrect Self-Reflection

After unleashing their anger by indiscriminately killing almost all the Benjamites, the Israelites came to feel sorry for themselves. Then, they began to blame God, by saying “Why, O Lord, God of Israel, has this come about in Israel, so that one tribe should be missing today in Israel?” (Judges 21:3).

This response by the Israelite reflects their utter inability to correctly self-reflect. The indiscriminate killing of the Benjamin tribe was done by the united Israelite force. The LORD never commanded them to do this. The Israelites were proving themselves to be a fool by raging against the LORD over the result that they caused (Proverbs 19:3 The foolishness of a person ruins his way, And his heart rages against the Lord). They could have stopped after convincingly defeating the armed soldiers of Benjamin of 26,000. They certainly did not have to kill almost all the inhabitants, including unarmed elders, women, children and other people. 

Then, they arose early the next day and built an altar to give burnt and peace offerings (Judges 21:4). They displayed an action of “piety,” but with a distorted heart condition. We call this hypocrisy. 

Extremely Legalistic about Oaths

To the Israelites, keeping oath was extraordinarily important. It must never be broken – even if it seemed to contradict the laws and character of God. Let’s call this the “idolization” of oaths. 

They had sworn not to give their daughters to Benjamin (Judges 21:1). They also desired to restore the Benjamin tribe (whom they destroyed almost completely). The Israelites needed to find at least 600 wives without violating their oath. In order to fulfill these two desires, they came up with two “brilliant” solutions, which were evil and absurd. 

The First Scapegoat: People of Jabesh-gilead

The Isrealites took an oath to punish the people who did not come up to participate in the war. The first scapegoat was the people of Jabesh-gilead. The Israelites sent 12,000 men to kill all the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead except for women eligible for marriage. 

This decision is very difficult to understand. The Israelites felt sorry for the annihilating Benjamin tribe, then they sent 12,000 men to kill additional Israelites. They were able to acquire 400 young women. Imagine the traumatic scar that will remain forever with these 400 young women, who suddenly lost their loved ones and would be given to men whom they have never met before! 

The Israelites proclaimed peace to Benajmin (Judges 21:13). This verse caused me to chuckle cynically because they proclaimed “peace” after killing 99% of the entire Benjamin people. They then handed over 400 captured women to 600 remaining men of Benjamin. 

They still needed to find 200 more. 

The Second Scapegoat: Women of Shiloh Festival

The Israelites came  up with the second evil, brilliant idea. They told the remaining Benjamites that there would be an annual feast in Shiloh where young women would come out to dance. The Israelites told the Benjamintes to use that opportunity to take them as their wives. In fact, the Israelites were telling the Benjamites to abduct (in a benign term) them. I don’t see how this differs from human trafficking. 

The men of Benjamin did as suggested by the Israelites. And this action did not violate their oath – technically. Those Israelite families whose daughters were abducted by the Benjamites did not “give” their daughters to them. They were only abducted. This was their rationale. 

Where was the fear of God in Israel? 

Victims were… the Weak

Jabesh-gilead was a small town. They became the first scapegoat of the Israelites’ plan to restore Benjamin. They were a small, weak town. 

Women at the Shiloh festival were abducted by the Benjamites against their will. What do you think their family backgrounds were? The influential and powerful families would have known about this secret scheme agreed between the Israelites and Benjamin to abduct young women. Therefore, those young women from powerful families would not have participated in the Shiloh that year. However, those families that did not belong to the “powerful” group of society would probably just have sent their daughters to the annual festivals. It was very likely that their daughters were captured by Benjamin. Again, the victim of this whole scheme was the weak families. 

Absence of Spiritual Leadership 

This happened during the time when Phinehas stood before the LORD (Judges 20:28). What was he doing when all these absurd actions and decisions were made by the Israelites? 

Note that Phinehas was a zealous person who did not take any sin lightly. He took a spear in his hand and pierced Zimri, the leader of Simeon tribe, and the Midianite woman through their body to kill them because of their indecent act in the presence of the assembly (Numbers 25). It is hard to imagine a person with this much zeal stood by when the Israelites were killing each other and made up a plan to abduct young women against their will. 

Perhaps, he was too old to do anything. Or, at the very worst scenario, he allowed himself to succumb to be complacent with a rising tide of the idol worship. He no longer was a person once he had been in the earlier days of Joshua. 

Conclusion

The book of Judges depicts the Israelites who became worse than the surrounding nations of Canaan. They showed no fear of God. They oppressed the weak. They took their oaths seriously while neglecting all the things that reflect the heart and the character of the LORD their God. 

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25)” is indeed a fitting conclusion statement.

Let me add a few phrases on this verse based on what I saw in the final chapter. 

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone (the powerful of the society) did what was right in his own eyes (at the expense of the weak, marginalized of the society).

Joshua 22: People of God – still just (sinful) people

This chapter describes a rather strange event that resulted in a misunderstanding between the Israel tribes on the west and east side of the Jordan River. Although the Israelites were chosen by God to be His people, from this episode, we find that they were just a group of people prone to sin, misunderstanding, and insecurity. 

Summary

After the distribution of the land, Joshua commended the two and a half tribes (Rebeun, Gad, and half tribe of Manassah) for having faithfully engaged in a long battle with their fellow brothers in the past seven years to help them inherit the land on the west side of the Jordan River. Before sending them back to their land, Joshua blessed them, commanding them to follow the law of the LORD, to love the LORD their God, and to share their plunder with those who stayed on the east side of the Jordan River. 

On their way back, the two and a half tribes built an altar on the west side of the Jordan River, which became a source of confusion to the rest of the Israelites (nine and a half tribes on the west side of the Jordan River), almost to the point of a civil war breakout. The two and a half tribes explained the true intent of the altar as a witness, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, and their explanation mitigated the tension. After listening to the explanation provided came the praise to the LORD God by the nine and a half tribes. Then, all of them went back to their land.

Compliment to the two and a half tribes (Joshua 22:1-9)

Joshua gave a full compliment to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (the two and half tribes) because they had kept the charge of the commandments of the LORD God by fighting along with the rest of the Israel tribes for all the long seven years of battle. Joshua’s praise to the two and a half tribes was fitting as they remained steadfast for seven years for the land that would be inherited for the other tribes, not for themselves. For this reason, Joshua blessed them (Joshua 22:6-7). 

Although the battles with the enemies might have ended, Joshua, in his blessing, also commanded the two and half tribes to observe the commandment and the law of the law and love the LORD. In addition, he also commanded them to share the wealth with those who stayed behind in their land on the east side of the Jordan. Note that this was Joshua’s version of the greatest command to the two and half tribes – first, love the LORD, and second, love your neighbor by sharing your great riches and spoil that they attained during the war time. The two and a half tribes would now face a different battle of keeping the law of the LORD to build up their society that would be worthy of God’s kingdom. 

Large “Strange” Altar (Joshua 22:10)

Then an unexpected event took place. The two and half tribes on their way back to their home built a large altar in appearance by the Jordan, which would eventually cause confusion and an escalated hostile response from the rest of the Israelite tribes (nine and half tribes) on the west side of the Jordan River. 

Why did they build the altar absent of God’s command? Let’s find out. 

Fast and Furious Initial Reaction (Joshua 22:11-15)

After hearing about the altar, the Israelites on the west side of the Jordan were alarmed and reacted hostile and quickly mobilized to go up against the two tribes in war. Positively viewed, their reaction was based on the LORD’s strict command to worship Him only in one designated place and to purge any person who prophesied false gods based on Moses’ last words (Dueteronomy 12 and 13). Therefore, in accordance with these commands, their quick reaction and determination to punish anything that rebelled against the LORD was understandable. 

On the other hand, however, in response to a strange, large altar, the rest of the Israel tribes could have sought first to have a session of conversations. In addition, given that two and half tribes fought along with them for a long seven years to help them settle over the Canaan region on the west side of the Jordan River, the rest of the Israelites could have demonstrated patience.  

Premature Accusation (Joshua 22:16-20)

This section covers the accusation by the sons of Israel against the two tribes. The content of the accusation shows two elements: 1) danger of premature assumption; and 2) hidden superior mentality of the Israel tribes on the west side of the Jordan River. 

First, this event shows that a premature, unverified assumption is dangerous. The sons of Israel assumed that the two and a half tribes already turned away from the following the LORD (Joshua 22:16) and built an altar. They already assessed that the sins committed by the two and a half tribes was commensurate with the iniquity of Peor (Numbers 25) and sin by Achan (Joshua 7). It was surprising to see how quickly this assumption was made by the Israelites on the west side of the Jordan. Didn’t they fight together with the two and a half tribes, and underwent a few life and death situations in the past seven years against the other nations? I thought that the camaraderie among them would have been stronger than what can be referred in this accusation. 

Second, in this accusation some superiority mentalities were demonstrated. In Joshua 20:19, the sons of Israel told the two and half tribes that if their land were unclean, “cross ino the the land of possession of the LORD, where the LORD’s tabernacle stands.” This statement shows that the nine and half tribes on the west side of the Jordan River consciously or unconsciously viewed their land “cleaner” than the land on the east side of the Jordan River. 

Although the entire Israel was chosen by God, the unity among the twelve tribes does not seem to be strong. Although chosen by God, they were still sinful humans. 

Defense and Insecurity (Joshua 22:21-29)

In response, the two and a half tribes told the rest of the sons of Israel that they did not turn away from the LORD. They articulated the reason for building an altar (Josh 22:24). They were concerned that their children would be blocked out of the land of the LORD and His tabernacle by the sons of the nine tribes in the west of Jordan. Because of this concern, they build the altar as a witness between the east and west side of the Israelite tribes. 

This was a strange reason. Why did the two and half tribes feared that in the future generation, the tribes on the west side of the Jordan River could block them from worshiping the LORD? Although all of them were one nation as God’s chosen people, a geographical division had already caused an anxiety and the fear of being left out. I would call this “insecurity.”

Again, this kind of insecurity seemed to be a byproduct of lack of unity among the Israelites although they fought together for seven years of long war against the inhabitants of the Canaan region. 

Conclusion

Although the hostile reaction was mitigated by the explanation provided by the two and half tribes, building an altar that the LORD God did not command was not a good idea. This event brought a division embedded among the twelve tribes of Israel into the surface. Noticeably, the LORD God and Joshua remained absent throughout this episode. The event indirectly shows that the “people” of God were still just humans prone to sin. 

On the other hand, we see a steadfastness of God – as demonstrated in the next chapters of Joshua (Joshua’s last messages) and all throughout the Bible – in continually pursuing His sinful people. Also, another aspect of the Bible is that it never shies away from depicting the shortcomings and depravity of people – even if they are people chosen by God.