Today we are in a really painful part of the Bible.
It's arguably one of the lowest points in Israel's history.
It's very confronting.
Today we are talking about the depths of human depravity, of rape, objectification, murder, domestic violence.
We're talking about sinfulness revealed bare.
Anyway, it's one of the rock-bottom moments of Israel's history.
One which makes you think about who these people are and who their God is that they worship.
Have you ever had a rock-bottom moment in your life?
One which makes you think about who you are?
They're not really nice to think about once they're passed.
They're not enjoyable to recall.
You know, it's not nice to think about painful mistakes we've made in the past.
But this is what today's passage and the final sermon in our Judges series will do.
We're going to be confronted by the depths of human sin and depravity, and it should make us question our own hearts.
And I'm up here saying this now before the Bible reading.
We're looking at Judges 19 to 21.
We're going to look in particular at Judges 19.
And so I'm up here saying this now before we read to prepare us.
Because this passage we'll be confronting.
It might reveal something about you that you need to bring to the Lord.
It might remind you of painful things in your past.
This is a horrible part of the Bible.
It might be a painful trigger for some of us here.
It might trigger painful memories of the past.
And if it does, please feel free to walk out.
Sit up the back.
Meet with Debbie, who's just over in the corner.
Because your safety is really important to us.
And so I'm going to pray.
And then John's going to come up and read Judges 19.
Dear Heavenly Father, as we look at your word to us this morning, it is not an easy word to come to.
Father, I ask that you would comfort us and give us humility as we come before your word this morning.
Amen.
Thanks, John.
Judges 19.
In those days, Israel had no king.
Now a Nephi, who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim, took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
But she was unfaithful to him.
She left him and went back to her parents' home in Bethlehem, Judah.
After she had been there four months, her husband went to her to pursue her to return.
He had with him his servant and two donkeys.
She took him into her parents' home.
And when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.
His father-in-law, the woman's father, prevailed on him to stay.
So he remained with him three days, eating and drinking and sleeping there.
On the fourth day, they got up early and he prepared to leave.
But the woman's father said to his son-in-law,
Refresh yourself with something to eat, then you can go.
So the two of them sat down and eat and drink together.
Afterward, the woman's father said,
Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself.
And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law pursued him.
So he stayed there that night.
On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go,
the woman's father said,
Refresh yourself, wait till afternoon.
So the two of them ate together.
Then when the man with his concubine and his servant got up to leave,
his father-in-law, the woman's father, said,
Now look, it's almost evening.
Spend the nights here.
The day is nearly over.
Stay and enjoy yourself.
Early tomorrow morning, you can get up and be on your way home.
But unwilling to stay another night,
the man left and went up towards Juppus.
That is Jerusalem.
Jerusalem with his two settled donkeys and his concubine.
When they were near Juppus and the day was almost gone,
the servant said to his master,
Come, let's stop at this city of the Juppusite and spend the night.
His master replied,
No, we wouldn't go into any city whose people are not Israelites.
We will go on to Gilbite.
He added,
Come, let's try to reach Gilbite and Roma and spend the night in one of those places.
So they went on,
and the sun set as they near Gilbite in Benjamin.
There they stopped to spend the night.
They went and sat in the city square,
but no one took them in for the night.
That evening, an old man came,
an old man from the hill country of Ephraim,
who was living in Gilbite,
and the inhabitants of place where Benjamin came in from his work in the fields.
And he looked and saw the traveler in the city square.
The old man asked,
Where are you going?
Where do you come from?
He answered,
We are on our way from Bethlehem to Judah,
to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim, where I live.
I have been to Bethlehem in Judah,
and now I am going to the house of the Lord.
No one has taken me in for the night.
We have both straw and folder for our donkeys,
and bread and wine for ourselves, your servants, me.
The woman and the young man with us.
We don't need anything.
You are welcome at my house, the old man said.
Let me supply whatever you need.
Only don't spend the night in the square.
So he took him into his house and fled his donkeys.
After they had washed their feet,
they have something to eat and drink.
While they were enjoying themselves,
some of the wicked men of the city surrendered the house,
pointing at the door,
and they shouted to the old man who owned the house,
Bring out the man to come up to your house,
so we can have sex with him.
The owner of the house went outside and said to them,
No, my friends, don't be so foul.
Since this man is my guest,
don't do these outrageous things.
Look here, it's my virgin daughter and his concubine.
I will bring them out to you now,
and you can use them,
and do to them whatever you wish.
But as for this man,
don't do such outrageous things.
But the man would not listen to him.
So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them.
They raped her and abused her throughout the night.
And at dawn, they let her go.
At daybreak, the woman went back to the house
where her master was staying,
fell down at the door,
and lay there until day and night.
When her master got up in the morning
and opened the door of the house
and stepped out to continue on his way,
there lay his concubine,
fallen in the doorway of the house
with her hands on a threshold.
He said to her,
Get up, let's go.
But there was no answer.
Then the man put her on his donkey
and set out for home.
When he reached home,
he took a knife
and cut up his concubine,
limb by limb,
into twelve paths
and sent them into the area of Israel.
Everyone who saw it
was saying to one another,
Such a thing
has never been seen or done,
not since the day
the Israelites come out of Egypt.
Just imagine.
We must do something.
So, speak up.
Thanks, John.
It's not a fun part of the Bible, is it?
The graphic nature of that passage
is why we decided to have
our kids' church go for one more week.
Not the kind of stuff
we want our kids to be hearing,
but it's in the Bible.
And so we're here at the start of Judges 19.
We're introduced to a couple of characters.
Let me read from verses 1 and 2.
In those days, Israel had no king.
Now, a Levite who lived
in a remote area
in the hill country of Ephraim
took a concubine
from Bethlehem in Judah.
But, she was unfaithful to him.
She left him
and went back to her parents' home
in Bethlehem, Judah.
Okay, so,
we begin with the reminder
that we've had all through this book
that Israel had no king.
And we're introduced to two characters
right off the bat.
A Levite
and his concubine.
Now, this Levite,
he's from Ephraim.
And the Levites
were specially selected people from God.
They were to be the best of the best.
They were to be the holiest people.
They were the tribe
that had no land.
And they would serve at the tabernacle
and then the temple.
They would serve God.
They would offer sacrifices to God.
So, this Levite
was supposed to be especially holy.
Set apart from the rest of God's people
to serve God.
The whole nation was
God's special possessions.
But the Levites,
they were to be the best of the best.
To be the holiest.
To show the way.
To show the people
how to serve God.
To keep people
in a right relationship with God
with the sacrifices.
And we learn
that this Levite
took a concubine
from Bethlehem.
Now, a concubine
was considered
a second class wife.
She was a wife
who was also a slave.
And so,
this kind of second class wife
is a sex object.
It's why
he has her
not as a wife
but as an object.
So, the Levite
is both
her husband
but also
her master.
God has made it clear
to us
and to Israel
from Genesis 2
that marriage
is to be between
a man and a woman.
But many people
at this time
were following their culture.
And so,
even though
it was technically legal
for people
to have a concubine,
polygamy
and this kind
of second class wife,
this is
not God's plan.
And in the history
of Israel,
it's always brought
heartache to people.
We see this
with people
like Abraham
and Jacob
and King Solomon
and King David.
It does not go well
for people.
These first two verses
are a deeply
concerning opening.
This man was a Levite.
He was supposed
to be set apart.
He was supposed
to be one of God's
key people,
one of the best
of the best
but he has been
swept up in his culture,
pagan culture,
taking a concubine.
This Levite,
it appears
at the outset
is focused
upon himself.
And the relationship
between the Levite
and the concubine
is not a good one.
From the opening
we learn
that she was
unfaithful to him.
She fled back
to her parents' home
and even though
some horrible things
are going to happen
to her,
she is not painted
as innocent.
She is painted
as sinful too.
She's not innocent.
She left her marriage
and she left
her master.
Both of those things
were unlawful to do.
And so,
the concubine,
she had been living
with her dad,
her family,
back at home
for four months
and the Levite
went to persuade her
to return.
Now,
I'm going to be away
from my wife
for four days
this week
and I'm going to be
longing
to see her again
on Saturday.
This Levite
has been away
from his wife
for four months.
I wonder
why he finally
decides to go
and get her back.
Maybe he wasn't
bothered to go
and get her back.
Maybe he just
eventually wanted
his property back.
Maybe it was
the status symbol
of having a concubine.
Maybe it was
something coarse
like he just
wanted sex back.
And so,
when he gets there,
he is met
by the concubine's
father.
Verse four.
His father-in-law,
the woman's father,
prevailed on him
to stay.
So he remained
with him three days,
eating and drinking
and sleeping there.
On the fourth day,
they got up early
and he prepared
to leave.
But the woman's father
said to his son-in-law,
refresh yourself
with something to eat,
then you can go.
So the concubine's father
welcomes him
with open arms,
come,
let's eat,
let's drink,
stay,
stay for another night.
No,
another night,
let's eat and drink some more,
sit down,
relax.
And he keeps him there.
For four days,
with food,
with drink,
with good hospitality.
And it seems strange.
Why is this father
so hospitable?
It doesn't seem
that the Levite
is treating his daughter
that well.
Why is the father
so hospitable?
I wouldn't be like this
if it was my daughter.
It seems strange
as we read it.
So why is he so generous?
What is his motive?
What is his plan?
Well,
the penalty
for adultery
and the penalty
for leaving a master,
they were both severe.
It was death
and disgrace
for the family.
And so it appears
that the father
is trying to make sure
that the Levite
doesn't press charges.
Come on,
let me make you happy
with food and drink,
stay another night,
let me really lay it on thick.
Whatever you like,
I'll get it for you.
Trying to make sure
that the Levite
doesn't sue the family.
He's so happy
that the Levite
just wants to take
the daughter home,
he's just giving him
as much food and wine
as possible.
Even though the Levite
went to persuade
his concubine
to return,
there's no mention
of the Levite
or the father
talking to her.
She has no choice
in the matter.
Both the father
and the Levite
are treating her
as an object.
One for sexual gratification
and the other
to avoid disgrace
and loss of face
and money.
It's really interesting
at this point
that the author
of Judges
hasn't written any names.
These characters
don't have names,
it's just the Levite,
it's the concubine,
it's the concubine's father.
None of them have names.
And it seems
that the author
is pointing out
some stereotypes.
You know,
this is what Levites
are like,
this is what concubines,
this is what women
are like,
and this is what
fathers of daughters
are like.
So Levites,
the ones who are
supposed to be holy
and serve and love God,
well,
they're just
decrepit,
sexually depraved men.
Fathers in Israel,
well,
they'd prefer to get rid
of their daughters
than lose money
or lose face
and honour.
And women,
well,
stereotype of women here
is that they just
run off from their husbands
and they run off
from their masters.
It paints
a dark picture
of Israel.
And the story
is about to get
far darker.
Eventually,
the Levite
and his concubine
leave.
And they end up
in a Jewish city,
Gibeah,
part of the tribe
of Benjamin,
one of the 12 tribes
of Israel.
And an old man
welcomes them
into his house
because staying
in the town square
was not safe.
That should concern us
as we read this.
Why is it not safe?
And we obviously
find out why.
And so they go
inside his house.
Verse 22.
While they were
enjoying themselves,
some of the wicked
men of the city
surrounded the house,
pounding on the door.
They shouted
to the old man
who owned the house,
Bring out the man
who came to your house
so we can have
sex with him.
The owner of the house
went outside
and said to them,
No, my friends,
don't be so vile
since this man
is my guest.
Don't do this
outrageous thing.
Look,
here is my virgin
daughter
and his concubine.
I will bring them
out to you now.
You can use them
and do whatever
you wish.
But as for this man,
don't do this
outrageous thing.
But the men
would not listen to him
so the man
took his concubine
and sent her
outside to them.
And they raped her
and abused her
throughout the night.
And at dawn
they let her go.
At daybreak,
the woman went
back to the house
where her master
was staying,
fell down at the door
and lay there
until daylight.
This,
this is such a horrible
incident.
It should cause us
to grieve.
And it's told
in such a way
that it,
it makes it
seem that God
is grieving too.
How does the Levite,
how does the master
react?
Well,
after he sent her
outside,
he went to sleep.
Verse 27,
when her master
got up in the morning
and opened the door
of the house
and stepped out
to continue on his way,
there lay the concubine
fallen in the doorway
of the house
with her hand
on the threshold.
He said to her,
get up,
let's go.
But there was no answer.
Then the man
put her on his donkey
and sent her for home.
When he reached home,
he took a knife,
cut up his concubine
limb by limb
into 12 parts
and sent them
into all the areas
of Israel.
Now,
this is just horrible.
The detail brings us
to the unimaginable horror
of the woman's
night of torture.
She was used,
she was abused
and she was tossed aside.
And then her body
was carried with disdain
on the back of a donkey,
cut up
and sent around
the country
in a sick
and twisted way
of making people angry
at the tribe
of Benjamin.
How does this passage
make you feel?
Are you feeling uncomfortable?
Are you feeling angry?
Are you feeling saddened?
Are you just confused
as to why this is
even in the Bible?
Well,
it's a reminder for us
about the depravity
and the depths of sin
that happen
when we worship
an idol
and not our God.
That's what the book
of Judges
has been about.
Worshipping idols
and not God
and the consequences.
The Levite
had made an idol
out of sex.
He'd conformed
to the culture
around him,
not taking a wife
but having the status
symbol
of a concubine,
a sex object.
The men of Benjamin,
well,
they see sex
as more important
than obeying God.
The host,
he prefers to honour
his guest
and offer his own daughter
for rape.
The concubine's father,
well,
he worshipped
his own honour
and his own money
afraid of what would happen
if the Levite
took him to court.
This is truly horrible.
It is domestic violence
in the extreme.
This kind of behaviour
still happens today.
We're going to talk about
what domestic violence
looks like
in our response
to it
a little bit later.
But there is no good character
in this story.
There is no one
calling for salvation.
There is no one
calling for God
to save them.
God is deliberately
pushed out of this story
to show the horror
of humanity
laid bare.
Judges has been
about idolatry
of the people
and here the idols
are not other gods
but it is sex,
it is worshipping
the culture,
it is their own honour,
it is money.
Because conflict
reveals
what our idols are.
They reveal
the things we protect
when everything else
is on the line.
We'd prefer to
protect our identities
than confront our sin.
We'd rather see
other people get hurt
than have our own
frailty and sin
exposed.
Pursuing an idol
can justify
all kinds
of depraved acts.
This passage
might make us
grieve,
it might make us
angry,
it might make us
feel sad
but it should
send us
on our knees
before Jesus.
Knowing the depths
of humanity's sin,
knowing the depths
of our sin
and the sin
of the world
that meant
that God
himself
had to die.
Even though
innocent,
Jesus was brutally
murdered.
Knowing what
our world
is like
and knowing
what we are like
should make us
realise how
big and amazing
God's grace
to us
is.
That God
can even
love people
who would do
a horrendous
action like this.
We should be
crying out
to our God
of mercy,
asking God
that he would
send Jesus
back today,
that he would
not delay
any further,
that he would
never allow
this kind of
horrendous act
to happen
again.
It should
make us
weep
that people
can be so
depraved
as to throw
a person
aside
or reduce
someone
like this.
It should
make us
cry out to
God that
we would
not be
like this,
to beg
God
to reveal
our idols
so we
don't justify
the things
that we
pursue
in our
own
sinful
depravity.
The
Levites
sent
the
concubine
out to
the
twelve
tribes
of
Israel
hoping
to
get
a
response
and
we
see
their
response
in
chapters
20
and
21
we
didn't
read
those
I'm
going
to
briefly
tell
the
story
and
then
we're
going
to
think
about
what
our
response
to
domestic
violence
should
be.
And
so
what
is
the
response
to
the
Levites
sending
out
body
parts?
Well
the
response
is
that
it's
the
tribe
Benjamin
hand
us
over
those
who
committed
this
atrocious
act
hand
us
over
we'll
put
them
to
death
and
that'll
be
the
end
of
it
but
the
tribe
of
Benjamin
they
get
defensive
and
protective
of
their
own
like
all
of
us
do
they
get
defensive
and
so
they
say
no
we're
going
to
muster
an
army
so
Israel
get
together
an
army
400,000
Benjamin
gets
together
an
army
26,000
giant
army
compared
to
tiny
army
and
we get
the
first
mention
of
God
in
all
of
this
mimicking
the
very
start
of
the
book
of
Judges
they
asked
God
verse
18
who
of
us
should
go up
to
fight
first
against
the
Benjamites
the
Lord
replied
Judah
shall
go
first
so
in
the
first
fight
Judah
goes
up
and
they
get
massively
beaten
22,000
are
defeated
in
one
day
they
come
back
to
God
and
say
the
same
thing
who
should
go
up
they
go
up
again
and
get
defeated
again
18,000
in
one
day
and
finally
they
come
before
God
with
the
right
attitude
weeping
fasting
an
attitude
of
humility
before
God
verse
28
they
ask
shall
we
go
up
again
to
fight
against
the
Benjamites
our
fellow
Israelites
or
not
the
Lord
responded
go
for
tomorrow
I
will
give
them
into
your
hands
and
so
they
do
they
go
up
they
destroy
the
Benjamites
the
Benjamites
started
with
26,000
and
25,000
and a
bit
more
are killed
that day
they
destroy
their
city
they
put
everyone
to
the
sword
they
had
initially
intended
to
just
kill
those
who
had
done
the
atrocious
act
and
they
end
up
wiping
out
a
city
and
almost
destroying
a whole
tribe
of
Israel
nearly
26,000
people
and so
in response
to this
tribe of
Israel
nearly being
wiped out
Israel is
grieving again
chapter 21
verse 3
Lord
Lord God
they cried
why
has this
happened
to
Israel
why
should
one
tribe
be
missing
from
Israel
today
they're
grieving
why
should
one
tribe
of
the
12
tribes
of
Israel
nearly
be
missing
they've
only
got
600
men
left
God
what
are
you
going
to
do
they
seem
to
blame
God
for
this
where
it's
just
been
Israel
acting
and so
to fix
this
issue
of
only
600
men
left
none
of
whom
have
wives
they
go
and
take
400
wives
from
another
city
but
they
have
200
men
left
what
are
we
going
to
do
with
these
200
men
we
need
to
rebuild
this
tribe
of
Benjamin
400
men
have
wives
but
there's
200
men
who
need
wives
what
are
we
going
to
do
and
so
they
end
up
stealing
wives
they
go
and
they
kidnap
wives
for
these
last
200
men
Israel
was
rightly
grieved
over
what
had
happened
but
God
was
pushed
far
away
from
their
decision
making
so
they
overreact
their
response
was
to
kill
a
whole
tribe
almost
and
then
to
fix
this
problem
of
almost
killing
a
whole
tribe
they
come
up
with
another
terrible
idea
let's
go
and
kidnap
women
and
so
we
started
with
one
Levite
who
had
followed
his
pagan
culture
and
had
taken
a
concubine
for
a
wife
and
in
response
to
the
acts
that
happened
a
tribe
is
nearly
wiped
out
and
200
women
are
kidnapped
God
is
pushed
away
to
the
very
edges
of
this
story
he
is
just
a
bit
part
player
he's
only
consulted
when
people
want
him
in
a
battle
and
then
we
don't
hear
from
God
again
in
Judges
in
the
book
of
Judges
we
see
this
cycle
of
sin
and
judgment
and
Israel
crying
out
for
salvation
and
God
would
send
a
judge
and
all
of
that
is
absent
that
cycle
is
not
here
in
the
book
at
all
God
is
almost
absent
from
this
tale
it's
a
recognition
of
how
depraved
people
are
it
focuses
in
on
what
people
can
do
and
what
people
are
like
there
is
no
crying
out
to
God
Israel
thought
they
knew
how
to
deal
with
this
situation
but
they
only
made
things
worse
now
we
might
think
this
is
a
terrible
story
okay
it's
a
horrific
part
of
the
Bible
but
that's
fine
I'll
just
turn
the
page
it's
not
like
us
today
people
don't
do
that
these
days
surely
Christians
surely
we're
better
than
that
now
surely
we
don't
do
those
kinds
of
things
as
Steve
said
earlier
in our
series
on
judges
we need
to have
humility
we need
to have
humble
authenticity
as we
come to
God's
word
and
passages
like
this
as we
are
confronted
with
domestic
violence
the
sexual
objectification
of women
and men
it's
important
at this
point
to talk
about
the
church's
response
and
our
response
over the
last year
there's been
a campaign
that's
come to
the fore
it's
been
called
me
too
or
hashtag
me
too
if
you
understand
hashtags
it's
been a
way
of
drawing
attention
to
sexual
assault
and
harassment
particularly
in the
TV
and film
industry
many
people
have
lost
their
jobs
because
of
their
prior
sexual
assaults
have
come
to
light
including
an
American
film
producer
called
Harvey
Weinstein
who's
one
of the
most
famous
and
again
we can
think
that's
people
in
Hollywood
this
is
people
far
away
from
us
that's
not
us
that's
not
us
here
in
the
church
we're
better
than
that
just
over
a
year
ago
in
July
of
2017
there
was
a
report
on
the
730
report
on
ABC
and
they
did
an
investigation
specifically
into
domestic
violence
in
the
church
particularly
how
people
use
the
Bible
to
justify
abuse
the
730
report
spoke
about
a
couple
who
lived
not
that
far
from
here
the
man
said
to
his
wife
using
the
Bible
incorrectly
you
the
problem
is
you
don't
obey
me
the
Bible
says
you
must
obey
me
and
yet
you
refuse
and
so
he
yells
at
her
and
abuses
her
you
are
a
failure
as
a
wife
as
a
Christian
as
a
mother
this
man
appealed
to
scripture
to
control
and
abuse
his
wife
another
story
a
25
year
old
woman
from
Sydney
was
told
by
her
church
leaders
to
go
home
and
go
back
to
her
husband
who
had
been
abusing
her
and
so
she
went
home
and
the
husband
stabbed
her
to
death
shortly
after
these
are
just
two
horrendous
stories
of
people
that
are
not
that
far
from
us
not
that
different
from
we
are
not
immune
to
this
sort
of
horror
if
anything
the
statistics
on
domestic
violence
are
the
opposite
the
statistics
say
that
one
in
four
women
at
some
point
in
their
life
will
be
victims
of
domestic
abuse
men
are
victims
too
but
less
commonly
but
they're
still
victims
because
domestic
violence
is
not
just
sexual
violence
or
physical
violence
there
are
many
types
sexual
physical
verbal
mental
financial
social
spiritual
violence
and we
want to
respond
in the
right
way
to
domestic
violence
as
Deb
mentioned
earlier
we
have
a new
domestic
violence
policy
in
it
it says
that
when
a
victim
has
shared
a
concern
of
abuse
we
should
respond
in
a
number
of
ways
I'm
just
going to
quickly
read
out a
couple
of
them
we
should
believe
someone
when
they
report
domestic
violence
we
should
be
compassionate
we
should
prioritise
their
safety
we
should
listen
with
care
we
should
support
the
victim
we
should
empower
the
victim
now
this
is
just
a
brief
snapshot
of
some
of
the
responses
of
how
we
should
respond
but
they
are
really
important
we
shouldn't
just
assume
that
domestic
violence
doesn't
happen
here
for
too
long
in
church
and
in
our
culture
and
in
our
country
it
has
been
a
taboo
topic
it
has
been
something
we
just
don't
talk
about
when
we
hear
about
abuse
we
need
to
believe
we
need
to
honour
and
we
need
to
love
the
victim
even
if
it's
difficult
to
hear
about
we
may
not
want
to
believe
that
a
long
standing
elder
or
member
of
the
church
could
do
that
but
we
need
to
believe
and
listen
to
people
this
passage
from
judges
paints
a
picture
it
is
a
scary
picture
of
people
it
painted
this
picture
of
Levites
that
they
are
sexually
depraved
it
painted
a
picture
that
fathers
don't
care
about
their
daughters
that
they
prefer
their
honour
and
their
money
and
it
painted
a
picture
that
women
well
they
don't
obey
their
masters
and
they
leave
their
husbands
painted
a
picture
of
the
people
of
Benjamin
as
depraved
and
the
older
man
who
invited
them
in
well
he
puts
his
honour
over
his
own
daughter
it's
important
to ask
ourselves
some
questions
how
are we
impacted
by our
culture
are we
controlled
by our
idols
even
at the
cost
of committing
the worst
sins
what are
Christians
like
what's the
stereotype
of Christians
what are
we like
do we
hide away
from the
reality
of our
sin
and our
responsibilities
to act
how do
men
treat
women
today
is it
that
different
do men
still
objectify
women
how do
women
treat
men
how do
fathers
treat
daughters
slavery
is the
same
today
as it
was
thousands
of
years
ago
weak
people
are
trapped
and abused
by
the
strong
coming
to the
end of
Judges
this
passage
along
with the
rest
of the
book
points
out
how
much
we
need
a
deliverer
we
have
no
way
of
choosing
someone
who
can
save
us
he
needs
to
choose
to
save
us
and
this
deliverer
well
he
does
all
of
this
work
of
salvation
by
himself
because
there
is
nothing
we
can
contribute
we
are
depraved
people
we
need
a
king
who's
not
only
going
to
save
us
from
God's
punishment
for
our
sins
but
we
need
a
king
who
is
going
to
make
us
fit
for
heaven
who's
going
to
purge
our
hearts
of
the
idolatry
of
the
sin
the
depravity
and
the
horrors
hidden
in
each
of
our
souls
judges
finishes
with
that
common
refrain
in
those
days
Israel
had
no
king
everyone
did
as
they
saw
fit
we
are
all
searching
for
a
king
we
are
all
searching
for
someone
to
save
us
someone
to
rule
us
someone
to
satisfy
the
desires
of
our
hearts
and
we
will
always
choose
an
idol
something
that
we
make
a
God
that
we
shape
ourselves
for
the
God
of
heaven
has
sent
us
Jesus
the
only
one
who
provides
what
we
are
looking
for
the
great
king
the
ultimate
judge
who
will
save
us
from
our
own
depravity
let
me
pray
dear
heavenly
father
lord
we
thank
you
for
your
word
to
us
even
though
difficult
and
confronting
father
we
ask
that
you
would
help
us
confront
the
sin
and
depravity
in
our
own
hearts
and
souls
father
purge
it
from
us
cut
it
out
even
if
it
is
painful
father
we
thank
you
for
Jesus
that
he
has
saved
us
and
we
have
forgiveness
and
we
ask
that
you
would
fit
us
for
heaven
fit
us
to
be
perfect
with
you
Lord
amen