Judges 20:1-7 – Watch out for misplace priority

In Judges 19:29, we saw how the Levite when he reached home, dismembered the body of his dead concubine, which he had brought home, into twelve pieces. He then sent them into the territory of Israel. Judges 19:30 tells us that when all who saw the dismembered pieces of the Levite’s concubine said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day.” That was the response the Levite had hoped for. He was seeking justice for what he supposed to be the injustice done to him and his concubine by the Benjamites at Gibeah. Despite the personal errors he himself had committed he did not think that he had done anything wrong. Essentially, he was blindsided by his own self-centeredness. This is the thing that always blinds a person to his or her own wrongs in life. Self-centred people can see the speck of dust in other’s eyes but fail to see the log in their own. We must learn not to be blind-ended by our own blind spots. This can be dealt with through an honest appraisal of one’s own life. Changes can never be made when we have no self-awareness.      

Remember that these events took place shortly after they had entered the promised land. Though Joshua had died, there was still a strong sense of unity among the tribes of Israel at this point. The Israelites then organized an assembly. Judges 20:1 said that “…from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah”. All the tribes except the Benjamites. By not turn up, the tribe of Benjamin had indicated that they were siding with their fellowmen at Gibeah. The leaders of the other tribes and 400,000 of their fighting men gathered there in consultation. The phrase, “…assembled as one man to the Lord,” suggests a spiritual overtone. But was this the case? Did they do it for the Lord? What did they do that suggested that they were doing it for the Lord?  It would be better if they had prayed corporately and sought a God-guided direction.

In this account, we saw how dramatically and eloquently the Levite had presented his case. He certainly knew how to arouse people’s emotion. He called what the Benjamites at Gibeah did, “a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.” He did not tell them his own wrong but instead misrepresented the story. He claimed that they wanted to kill him. And he failed to tell them that it was he who had pushed his concubine out to them to preserve himself. All that he wanted was to show how morally upright a person he was. Everything was so wrong up to now. This incidence of the Levite shows us how needful it is to be true to self. There is a need to build our moral fibre. His life was so wrong right from the start. In having a concubine, he already showed how unfocused he was toward his family. By not having the gall to stand up against the Benjamites he showed how cowardly a person he was. By throwing his concubine out, it showed his self-adsorption. These and much more if we want to pick on him. Suffice to say that his life tells us what can happen to us if we have misplaced priority. Let us love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. When we have this priority, we will seek His Kingdom first and His righteousness. All else will then be added unto us. This is Christ’s promise!