“In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.” – Judges 19:1
So begins what is likely the most terrible story in the entire Bible. Sin upon sin. Crime after crime. Atrocity after atrocity. The author of Judges makes clear why the whole monstrous story happened: “there was no king in Israel”…
Of course, there was always a King in Israel, ever since the people entered the land. God Himself was the king of Israel. Unfortunately, the people regularly rejected and ignored their King. They pursued other gods. They indulged every sinful whim of their depraved minds, hearts, and souls. Throughout the book of Judges, the story plays out. Cycle after cycle, each one worse than the last…. the people fell into vile sin, God gave them over to punishment at the hands of their enemies, the people cried out to God, and God raised up a judge who restored the nation.
Nonetheless, with each cycle, the recovery was to a lower level than the previous time. Each low of sin and suffering was far worse than any before. Until this concluding travesty. Israel desperately needed a king. If they wouldn’t obey God, perhaps a human king would get and keep them on track. Nope! The testimony of the rest of the historical books of the Old Testament is that human kings certainly couldn’t make a lasting difference.
God’s people needed a king like David, but Who could establish an entirely new covenant. A covenant of grace reflected in radically changed hearts rather than a covenant of laws written on stones and ignored by people with stones for hearts. In its own dark way, this story points forward to the one true King with the power to transform depraved hearts. The King Who went to the cross to save His people. The King who overcame death so we could overcome death as well. The King Who died and lived to set us free from slavery to our depraved hearts. Even this awful story points forward to Jesus.
However, it also reminds us that if Jesus isn’t truly the king of our hearts, then we may call ourselves God’s people yet still fall into vile sin and depravity. That remains all too common amongst those calling themselves Christian. If Jesus is your Lord, then live like it! If Jesus is your King, obey Him! Do what He commanded you to do and never again live like you don’t have a king. #FollowJesus