Day 86 · Part 6: The Judges
No King in Israel
In the Story
In context
This is one of the hardest passages in the Bible, and parents may want to read it first. A Levite and his concubine, a wife of lower rank, stopped for the night at Gibeah in Benjamin. When men of the town surrounded the house, he put her out to them; they abused her all night, and she died. At home he cut her body into twelve pieces and sent them through Israel. The Story tells it without detail (Judges 19:14–30; 20:4–6).
This, too, comes from early in the judges’ time: Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, was priest (20:28), and the site dates it about 1370 BC. When Benjamin would not hand over the men of Gibeah, the other tribes went to war. Tens of thousands died, and of Benjamin only six hundred men were left (20:12–47). The people grieved, “There is one tribe cut off from Israel today,” and found them wives by force: Israel killed the people of Jabesh Gilead, sparing four hundred young women, and Benjamites carried off dancers at Shiloh (21:6–23).
The book ends, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes” (21:25). Gibeah would later be the home of Israel’s first king, Saul (1 Samuel 10:26), and Hosea spoke of “the days of Gibeah” (Hosea 9:9).
For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper. He will have pity on the poor and needy. He will save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.
Psalms 72:12–14 · Judges ends with “no king in Israel”; Psalm 72 prays for a king who will “redeem their soul from oppression and violence.”
In the Bible
World English Bible, as published by eBible.org (public domain).
Judges 19
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Judges 20
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Judges 21
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A hymn for today
Nearer, My God, to Thee · words by Sarah F. Adams
- Nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer to Thee!E'en though it be a crossThat raiseth me;Still all my song shall be,Nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer to Thee!
- Though like the wanderer,The sun gone down,Darkness be over me,My rest a stone;Yet in my dreams I'd beNearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer to Thee!
- There let the way appear,Steps unto heav'n;All that Thou sendest me,In mercy giv'n;Angels to beckon meNearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer to Thee!
- Then, with my waking thoughtsBright with Thy praise,Out of my stony griefsBethel I'll raise;So by my woes to beNearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer to Thee!
- Or if, on joyful wingCleaving the sky,Sun, moon, and stars forgot,Upward I fly,Still all my song shall be,Nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer, my God, to Thee,Nearer to Thee!