Judges 20

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Man-Made Morality

June 4, 2023 | Judges 19-21 | exposition

Unlike the earlier chapters, these final five chapters are so spiritually dark, and Israel has drifted so far from God, that these chapters are almost never preached. Indeed, these final chapters are so disturbing that you may be tempted to cover your ears and look away. Unlike the earlier chapters, in these final chapters, there is no foreign oppressor. The enemy is within, not without. No judges are named. This is Israel on its own. Editorial comment by the author on Israel’s sin is minimal, leaving the reader the burden of interpretation.

Last week, we covered the first “case study” depicting Israel’s spiritual decline into “Man-Made Religion.” Now this week, we’ll look at how Israel’s moral condition has become more like the Canaanite peoples around them than the people God had called them to be as His holy nation, in a sermon called “Man-Made Morality.”

Man-Made Religion

May 28, 2023 | Judges 17-18 | exposition

We Americans love a good buffet! Are you guilty of making up your own religion? Or do you have faith in God as He reveals Himself through His Word and through His Son, Jesus? In Judges 17-18, Israel began to follow a man-made religion that displeased God.

“But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel” (Judges 20:13 NKJV).

May 4, 2017

One of the most tragic stories in the book of Judges is about the rape and murder of a woman by the men of Gibeah and how their tribe, the tribe of Benjamin, chose to defend them, rather than turn them over for justice. The tribe of Benjamin was nearly wiped out by the other Israelite tribes as a result, but not before Benjamin killed 40,000 of them in defense.

The sin of a few “perverted men” in Gibeah ended up costing all of Israel, and especially the tribe of Benjamin. Why? Because Benjamin put their tribal identity above their national identity, and more than that, above their spiritual identity under God. Identity politics causes division and war. Unity under God brings peace.

What is needed? We must put God first in our priorities and loyalties. Tribal identity must take a back seat to our identity in Christ.