“Now it came about in those days, when there was no king in Israel.” (v.1)
We’ve heard this phrase many times now in the book of Judges. This time, it speaks of the people of Israel. They had no king; they had no authority over them. Therefore, every man did what was right in his own eyes. In our chapter today we will see just how dark the children of Israel became.
What brings one man to do what is delightful in the eyes of God (the concubine’s father vv.2-10) and another to do what is despicable in the eyes of God (the man of Ephraim vv.22-30)? Perhaps the answer is that we are made in the image of God and therefore have a desire to do good but, have been marred by our own sin and have an innate bent toward evil.
The culture of our modern world today dictates that, “Every person can determine what is right for him or her personally,” or “What’s right for me may not be right for you. There are no absolutes.” That’s the big lie in our society today.
Deep inside every human being there is the knowledge that this type of thinking is absolutely wrong. There are absolutes. The universe is governed by absolute laws. One of which is gravity. If you try and defy gravity or try and bend the law to fit your understanding of gravity, I guarantee you will find yourself suffering the effects of gravity.
This is exactly what happened to the people of Israel. They ignored God’s law, did what was right in their own eyes, and slipped into the dark side of evil. Seeking one's own pleasure at the expense of all others (as we see here in chapter 19) arises out of a heart that is deceitful and desperately wicked. Sadly we see this everyday in the news.
There is no control over such a heart, but there is a cure found in the grace of salvation through our LORD Jesus Christ.
The Truth: “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” (Hebrews 5:9)
