Judges 19-21

by Jill Ice

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25

The last verse of the book of Judges is a concise summary of the portion of Israel’s history recorded in Judges.  It comes on the heels of a tragic and horrifying event (19:22-30) which separated the tribe of Benjamin from the rest of Israel and caused a civil war to ensue between the two.  From this follows death, more sin and sadness.

Disobedience to God -> sin -> war -> death -> sin -> sadness

When we do “what is right in our own eyes”, we follow our own hearts, which are sick and deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9).  Our own hearts betray us.  Instead of peace and prosperity, the desire of our deceitful hearts leads to sin…death…

We need a rescuer. We need the One Who created us to come make our hearts clean, new and whole. We need to give our lives to the One Whose plans for us are plans for our welfare, and not for evil; plans to give us a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Rescued hearts -> a future -> a hope -> the fruit of the Spirit

love  

joy  

peace  

patience 

kindness  

goodness 

faithfulness