The book of Judges ends with a crazy story, one I wouldn’t believe if it wasn’t written in the Bible:

A gang of men brutally rape and murder a woman while she’s passing through their town. Her cowardly husband dismembers her body and send parts throughout the nation. Men from across the country, incensed at this horrible crime, gather to punish the evildoers (from every town save one). In the meantime, the clan of the perpetrators gathers in their defense. A bloody civil war ensues, producing tens of thousands of casualties. The defending tribe is overwhelmed and nearly wiped out. Now mourning the imminent loss of one of the tribes of Israel, the leaders of the victorious clans search for wives for the survivors (having previously killed all their innocent women and children). First they march to the town that failed to turn out earlier and put everyone to the sword, except the virgin women. When this fell short of the quota, they allowed the remaining single men to kidnap brides from a nearby festival. Problem solved. Then they all went home.

Judges chronicles a society rapidly devolving. The author comments, In those days Israel had no king; everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

I like the idea of doing whatever I want whenever I want to do it. However, as this story illustrates, absolute freedom fails to bring out the best in human nature. Despite the appeal, freedom without limits eventually leads to chaos. The strong dominate the weak and innocent people suffer.

The Israelites yo-yoed between the ways of the Lord and living as they saw fit. The stories recorded in Judges, as bizarre as they read, remain strong examples of how the way of the self results in chaos, while following the Lord leads to flourishing.

Judges 19-21 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Jackson Simmer