Judges 19-21

Day something.....  :)

So the electricity has been off 4 times in the past hour!  And the snow hasn't even gotten here yet!! 

But!!! After my whining yesterday, I'm leaving this afternoon to get to Tulsa and STILL get to scrapbook.  My mother in law offered to keep the kids since my mom wouldn't be able to get here.   So, me and the kids are off to take their Easter pictures together!  This will be their first portraits TOGETHER!!  I'm excited!  

Chapters 19-21  Okay......about the lady the got chopped into 12 pieces.......first  of all: YUCK and WHAT IN THE WORLD??! She was left for dead.  And boy are the Benjamites in trouble!!! They are refusing to submit to GOD and the the authority of the tribal assembly.  So...to prove a point about how far immoral they are the concubine is cut up and sent to each of the 12 tribes.  Their lives were just going on about their daily business while this lady was raped and beat to death AND NO ONE NOTICED, CARED, OR STOPPED THEM!  Their lives were not affected....or so they thought until now!!!   The Benjamites refused to hand over the men who did this (the men of Gibeah) a civil war ensues.  The outcome of the war is a near extinction of Benjamin and a great national tragedy.  

The whole book of Judges makes plain the disastrous consequences of breakdown of authority, when people become a law unto themselves, setting their own standards of permissiveness.  Hum...sound familiar in today's times??  

Well....the electricity has gone OFF ......AGAIN and it lost my oh so profound summary!  GRRRR!   

Okay.....the short of all of the book of Judges......it is already summed up in verse 25 of the last chapter:  "all the people did as they please."    This is also saying "they didn't listen to God and to His commands.  The entire book of Judges is about being loyal to God and to God alone.   

Tomorrow:   all of the book of Ruth.....all 4 chapters! :)