“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (NKJV)
Study Bible makes this comment, “The Book of Judges concludes with a restatement of the apostate condition of Israel when they had not king (17:6, 18:1, 19:1). [New Spirit Filled Study Bible, Nelson, 2002]
In these three passages of scripture, we find the words, “In those days there was no king in Isreal, everyone did what was right in his own eyes”; “In those days there was no king in Israel”; and “And it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel…”.
This begs the question, what went wrong? How did God’s people who were miraculously delivered from Egypt under the leadership of Moses and the Hand of God; who had received the Law of God at Mt. Sinai; who were watched over, protected, and provided for in the wilderness; who were promised and received their own land of promise, despite their disobedience in the wilderness, end up a few generations later in a state of complete lawlessness, ignoring the Lord God that had delivered them from Egypt.
The answer to that question is more than adequately answered detailing Isreal’s history in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, selected Psalms recounting the history of Israel, and the Apostle Paul’s use of Israel’s behavior in I Corinthians 10:1-13 to remind the Church at Corinth what happened to their ancestors who sinned in the wilderness.
As you read the prophets, they constantly remind Israel of their covenant relationship to God and the necessity of not forsaking the Lord and ignoring His commandments.
A year ago, on July 1 ,2019, I read a devotional reflecting upon Judges 21:23 in a Billy Graham devotional entitled, “Wisdom for each Day”.
The devotional began asking the question. “Is our society today any different from the ancient society reflected in this verse?” Continuing, it said, “Sadly not different enough. Too many people today feel that the old moral standards are useless and out of date and they ought to be free to make up their own minds about what is right and what is wrong”.
My question to you is, do you agree or disagree with the assessment of the devotional? [Selah]
using the next sentence in the devotional, I am going to reword in the form of a question. Have we honestly faced the logical results of “everyone doing what is right in his own eyes” ? What will the results of this lifestyle look like, if in actuality “there is no such thing as right or wrong” ? And should we be “free to decide how we want to behave?”
What do you think? How would you respond? What do you envision?
The irony of all of this for me is that I composed these thoughts originally on July 1, 2019. As you and I reflect on what has taken place in our nation over the past year, and especially in the past several weeks of June 2020, we have seen, heard, and witnessed answers to these questions. But, then, this awareness is not really new, it has been coming to fruition in the United States in the past 100 years.
As our curent turmoil and unrest escalated, I decided to revisit a book (this month, June 2020) that I read a number of years ago. Christine and I are rereading it together. I want to quote from that book:
“The problem always was, and is, What is an adequate base for law? What is adequate so that the human aspiration for freedom can exist without anarchy, and yet provides a form that will not become arbitrary tyranny? In contrast to the materialistic concept, Man in reality is made in the image of God and has real humanness. This humanness has produced varying degrees of success in government, bringing forth governments that we more than only the dominance of brute force.”
The author quotes John Bracton, De Legibus et Consuetudinibus (c.1250): “And that he [the King] ought to be under the law appears clearly in the analogy of Jesus Christ, whose vice-regent on earth he is, for though many ways were open to Him for His ineffable rdemption of the human race, the true mercy of God chose this most powerful way to destroy the devil’s work, he would not use the power of force but the reason of justice.”
The author continues, “In other words, God in His sheer power could have crushed Satan in his revolt by the use of that sufficient power. But because of God’s character, justice came before the use of power alone. Therefore Christ died that justice, rooted in what God is, would be the solution. Bracton codified this: Christ’s example, because of who He is, is our standard, our rule, our measure. Therefor power is not first, but justice is first in society and law. The prince may have the power to control and to rule, but he does not have the right to do so without justice. This was the basis of English Common Law.”
These thoughts are a sampling of our foundation for government. 300 years later the Reformation “refined and cleared…the encrustations that had been added to the Jedeo-Christian world view and clarified the point of authority–with authority resting in the Scripture rather than church and Scripture, or state and Scrpture. This not only had meaning in regard to docrine but clarified the base for law. That base was God’s written Law , back through the New Testament to Moses’ written Law; and the content and authority of that written Law is rooted back to Him who is the final reality.”
The problem is that we, as a nation, have departed from this foundation. Many in our nation do not believe that God is the final Reality. As such, we have no absolutes; we have no standards; we have no reality except that which is resident within our self. Therefore, we too, are becoming, or should I say, have become a nation in which everyone (that is probably a bit strong), many are doing what is right in their own eyes.
The book that I have quoted from is, ‘A Christian Manifesto”, Copyright 1981, by Francis A. Schaeffer, Crossway, pages 27,28,29.
Schaeffer’s book, written 40 years ago, accurately described what was taking place in our nation at the time of its writing in early 1980, identifying the seeds of humanism that had been planted years before, that were now showing signs of being very healthy in our system. Since then, the world view of humanism has grown and permeated our nation, choking out the Biblical world view. As pessimistic as that may sound there is a remnant of God’s people who are praying and interceding for this nation and for the Church to rise up and be the strong influence that it needs to be in our nation. Let us cry out to the Living God who Alone is Reality. Our God reigns.
The reason I chose to revisit Schaeffer’s book is because it outlines and discusses the topic of Christian civil disobedience. Many in our nation today are wrestling with that topic. Are you?
Thoughts for the time in which we are living, a brother in Christ, deo
Living Words of Encouragement 