The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 95: The Sin of Benjamin (2023)

Episode Date: April 5, 2023

As we conclude the book of Judges, we hear about the horrifying events that occurred among the tribes of Israel in the days when "every man did what was right in his own eyes". The readings for today are Judges 19-21 and Psalm 148. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hey everyone, before we get started today, I want to say a quick thank you for all your prayers and support for this podcast. It's been such a gift. This whole Ascension team has been so humbled to hear about the impact of this show in your lives. We have heard unbelievable stories of renewed faith, of conversion, of grace, and we're praying for each other. So please keep those prayers coming.

And if you're able, please consider giving a small financial gift to support the production of this show. This show is free to everyone, to anyone, but it's not free to make. And so if you want to find out how to make a gift, visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of

salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 95, and we're reading from Judges chapter 19, 20, and 21. We're finishing up the book of Judges, as I mentioned yesterday, the last couple of days. We are, gosh, it gets worse and worse. The whole story gets so much worse and so much worse. So keep that in mind. We're also praying Psalm 148 because we definitely need some prayers on a day like today with the awful stories that we're about to expose ourselves to. Wow, am I building this up enough? Hopefully not too much, not overselling the horror, the terrible things that are about to happen, but it's part of the story. It's part of our story. The Bible translation we're reading today is from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. As always, I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.

To download your Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. And if you did and printed it out, you'd be on the third page. You'd be starting a whole new leaf, whole new chapter, I guess. And tomorrow we're starting a whole new book for crying out loud. It's amazing. If you haven't yet subscribed to this app, I do not know you, man. But just subscribe, please. If you want to rate it, you can.

If you don't, that's completely fine too. Because why? Because it's day 95 and we're trucking right along. Judges 19, 20, and 21. We're praying Psalm 148. The book of Judges, chapter 19, the Levite's concubine. 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. And this concubine became angry with him, and she went away from him to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there for some four months. Then her husband arose and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys, and he came to her father's house, and when the girl's father saw him, he came with joy to meet him. And his father-in-law, the girl's father, made him stay and remained there with him for three days. So they ate and drank and lodged there.

And on the fourth day they arose early in the morning, and he prepared to go. But the girl's father said to his son-in-law, Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and after that you may go. So the two men sat and ate and drank together. And the girl's father said to the man, Be pleased to spend the night, and let your heart be merry. And when the man rose up to go, his father-in-law urged him till he lodged there again. And on the fifth day he arose early in the morning to depart,

and the girl's father said, Strengthen your heart, and tarry until the day declines. So they ate, both of them. And when the man and his concubine and his servant rose up to depart, his father-in-law, the girl's father, said to him, Behold, now the day has waned toward evening. Please tarry all night. Behold, the day draws to its close. Lodge here, and let your heart be merry, and tomorrow you shall arise early in the morning for your journey, and go home. But the man would not spend the night. He rose up and departed, and arrived opposite Jebus, that is, Jerusalem. He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys and his concubine was with him.

When they were near Jebus, the day was far spent. And the servant said to his master, come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it. And his master said to him, we will not turn aside into the city of foreigners who do not belong to the sons of Israel, but we will pass on to Gibeah. And he said to his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah. So they passed on and went their way, and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. And they turned aside there to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. And he went in and sat down in the open square of the city, for no man took them into his house to spend the night. And behold, an old man was coming from

his work in the field at evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning in Gibeah. The men of the place were Benjaminites. And he lifted up his eyes and saw the wayfarer in the open square of the city. And the old man said, where are you going? And from where do you come? And he said to him, we are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah and I'm going to my home and nobody takes me into his house.

We have straw and food for our donkeys with bread and wine for me and your maidservant and the young man with your servants. There is no lack of anything. And the old man said, Peace be to you. I will care for all your wants. Only do not spend the night in the square. So he brought him into his house and fed the donkeys and they washed their feet and ate and drank. The crimes of the Benjaminites of Gibeah. As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, base fellows,

surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him. And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, No, my brethren, do not act so wickedly, seeing that this man has come into my house. Do not do this vile thing. Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now, ravish them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do so vile a thing.

But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and put her out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was till it was light. And her master rose up in the morning. And when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, get up, let us be going. But there was no answer. Then he put her upon the donkey and the man rose up and went away to his home. And when he entered his house, he took a knife and laying hold of his concubine, he divided her limb by limb into 12 pieces and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. And all

who saw it said, such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the sons of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, take counsel and speak. Chapter 20, the tribes of Israel attack the Benjaminites. Then all the sons of Israel came out from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah. And the chiefs of all the people of all the tribes of, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 men on foot that drew the sword. Now the Benjaminites heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah. And the sons of Israel said, Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass? And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, I came to Gibeah that belongs

to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. And the men of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house by night. They meant to kill me, and they ravished my concubine, and she is dead. And I took my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel, for they have committed abomination and wantonness in Israel. Behold, you sons of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here. And all the people arose as one man, saying, None of us will go to his tent, and none of us will return to his house. But now this is what we will do to Gibeah.

We will go up against it by lot, and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions for the people, that when they come, they may repay Gibeah of Benjamin for all the wanton crime which they have committed in Israel. So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man. And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that has taken place among you? Now therefore give up the men, the base fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and put

away evil from Israel. But the Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the sons of Israel. And the Benjaminites came together out of the cities of Gibeah to go out to battle against the sons of Israel. And the Benjaminites mustered out of their cities on that day 26,000 men that drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who mustered 700 picked men. Among all these were 700 picked men who were left-handed.

Everyone could sling a stone at a hare and not miss. And the men of Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered 400,000 men that drew the sword. All these were men of war. The sons of Israel arose and went up to Bethel and inquired of God, which of us shall go up first to battle against the Benjaminites? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first. Then the sons of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel drew up the battle line against them at Gibeah.

The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and struck down on that day 22,000 men of the Israelites. But the people, the men of Israel, took courage and again formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day. And the sons of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until the evening. And they inquired of the Lord, Shall we again draw near to battle against our brethren, the Benjaminites? And the Lord said, Go up against them. So the sons of Israel came near against the Benjaminites the second day.

And Benjamin went against them out of Gibeah the second day and struck down 18,000 men of the sons of Israel. All these were men who drew the sword. Then all the sons of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord

for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days. And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron ministered before it in those days saying, shall we yet again go out to battle against our brethren, the Benjaminites, or shall we cease? And the Lord said, go up for tomorrow. I will give them into your hand. So Israel set men in ambush round about Gibeah. And the sons of Israel went up against the Benjaminites on the third day and set themselves in array against Gibeah as at other times. And the Benjaminites went out against the people and were drawn away from the city. And as at other times, they began to strike and kill some of the people in the highways,

one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, and in the open country about 30 men of Israel. And the Benjaminites said, they are routed before us as at the first. But the men of Israel said, let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways. And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar.

And the men of Israel, who were in ambush, rushed out of their places west of Geba. And there came up against Gibeah ten thousand picked men out of all Israel, and the battle was hard, but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was close upon them. And the Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel. And the men of Israel destroyed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin that day. All these were men who drew the sword. So the Benjaminites saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin because they trusted to the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. And the men in ambush made haste and rushed upon Gibeah. The men in ambush moved out and struck the whole city with

the edge of the sword. Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that when they made a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city, the men of Israel should turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about 30 men of Israel. They said, surely they are struck down before us as in the first battle. But when the signal began to rise out of the city in a column of smoke, the Benjaminites looked behind them and behold, the whole city went up in smoke to heaven. Then the men of Israel turned and the men of Benjamin were dismayed for they saw that disaster was close upon them. Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them. And those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of them. Cutting down the Benjaminites, they pursued them and trod them down from Noha as far as opposite

Gibeah on the east. Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell, all of them men of valor. And they turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Ramon. Five thousand men of them were cut down in the highways, and they were pursued hard to Gidom, and two thousand men of them were slain. So all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men that drew the sword, all of them men of valor. But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Ramon, the abode at the rock of Ramon four months. And the men of Israel turned back against the Benjaminites and struck them with the

edge of the sword, men and beasts and all that they found, and all the towns which they found, they set on fire. Chapter 21. The Benjaminites Saved from Extinction Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, none of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin. And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God

and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. And they said, oh Lord, the God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel? That there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel. And the next day, the people early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the sons of Israel said, Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in assembly to the Lord?

For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the Lord, to Mizpah, saying, He shall be put to death. And the sons of Israel had compassion for Benjamin, their brother, and said, One tribe is cut off from Israel this day. What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them any of our daughters for wives? And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to the Lord at Mizpah? And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-Gilead to the assembly. For when the people were mustered, behold, not one of the

inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead was there. So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead with the edge of the sword, also the women and the little ones, this is what you shall do. Every male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall utterly destroy. And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known man by lying with him. And they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. Then the whole congregation sent word to the Benjaminites who were at the Rock of Ramon and proclaimed peace to them. And Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive

of the women of Jabesh-Gilead, but they did not suffice for them. And the people had compassion on Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. Then the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? And they said, There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin that a tribe be not blotted out from Israel, yet we cannot give them wives of our daughters. For the sons of Israel had sworn, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin. So they said, Behold, there is the yearly feast of the Lord at Shiloh, which is

north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Labona. And they commanded the Benjaminites, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and seize each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, grant them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty. And the Benjaminites did so, and took their wives according to their number, from the

dancers whom they carried off. Then they went, and returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the towns and dwelt in them. And the sons of Israel departed from there at that time every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance. In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. Psalm 148 Praise for God's universal glory.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise Him in the heights. Praise Him all His angels. Praise Him all His hosts. Praise Him sun and moon. Praise him, all his angels. Praise him, all his host. Praise him, sun and moon. Praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord. For he commanded and they were created and he established them forever and ever. He fixed their bounds, which cannot be

passed. Praise the Lord from the earth. You see monsters in all the deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command. Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds, kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, young men and maidens together, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted. His glory is above heaven and earth. He has raised up a horn for his people. Praise for all his saints. For the people of Israel who are near to him, praise the Lord.

Father, it is right that we give you praise and it's right that we give you glory in the midst of horror, in the midst of true horror, in the midst of true evil. We thank you for your word. We thank you for being our king. We thank you for guiding us in not only the depths of our conscience, not only with your spirit, but also with your truth and with your life, with your law, with your word, and by your grace that gives us power to accomplish your will and accomplish your word and accomplish your law. Thank you, Father. Give your praise today. Help us to keep moving forward. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Oh, brother.

Okay, there we go. I told you, I told you that this is some of the, some of the darkest stuff in the Bible is here in the end of the book of Judges, chapter 19, 20, and 21. So you've already caught the story, right? Here's this Levite, he's a priest, and he takes a wife. No, it's not even a wife.

It's a half-wife, essentially. He has called her husband a couple times in scripture here, but she's not his a wife. No, it's not even a wife. It's a half-wife, essentially. He has called her husband a couple of times in scripture here, but she's not his full wife. She's a concubine, which already goes to show, you know, there are people in the Old Testament, we've already seen them, who had concubines. It never ends well. It never ends well because God made it very, very clear. From the very second chapter of the book of Genesis, that this is the reason why a man

shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they should become one flesh. This is so, so key. So whenever we see these breaks in God's law, breaks in what is clear that God has said, especially when it comes to family, this is so incredibly important, especially when it comes to sexual relationships. Whenever we see a break in that, what happens is catastrophe, catastrophe. And that's exactly what happens today, where she runs off, goes back to her father's home. The Levite comes and gets her. For whatever reason, it eludes me, escapes me,

why the woman's father wants her husband, I guess, for lack of a better term, to stay extra days. But finally, they leave in the twilight of the evening. And so because of that, they go to, I mean, think about this even. They don't go into Jabez, where the Jebusites are, Jerusalem. They go to the land of Benjaminites in Gibeah, thinking these are our brethren, right? These are our family. This is a tribe of the house of Israel. And yet here they are, and just disaster happens where the men of Gibeah want to essentially molest the Levite, but instead they throw out

his concubine. And it's just the most tragic, tragic, tragic thing. It is not the right thing. Again, remember this, remember this so, so clearly. Not only is her death the wrong thing, not only was the Levite pushing her out the door, I mean, just the horror of that. Also him taking her body, cutting it up into 12 pieces and sending it to the 12 tribes of Israel. Also horror, right? I mean, this is like literally from a horror movie.

But then here are the other tribes saying, who did this, Benjamin? We're going to go kill them. And so then they do, right? They go against Benjamin and they kill them and they kill everybody, including all the women. So then they're stuck thinking, oh, wait, what have we just done? We've just now cut off essentially Benjamin from the 12 tribes of Israel, which are needed. And so, and we also, and they also, you probably got this. They made a vow that none of our daughters will become wives of the Benjaminites. So what are you going to do? They then, gosh,

it's just so awful. They go to Jabesh Gilead and they kill everybody. And they basically kidnapped 400 women who had not been married before, 400 virgins. It's okay. Here's 400 wives still wasn't enough. So then gave permission to the Benjaminites to kidnap women who were worshiping the Lord at Shiloh, saying that this is a way out of our vow because we didn't give them permission. If you took your daughter, that's okay because they just took her. You didn't break your vow by giving her to these men as their wives. And again, if that sounds messed up to you, good, good, because everything, everything gets summed up by the last line in the book of Judges 21, 25. Judges 21, 25 sums everything up so darn perfectly where it says, in those days, there was no

king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. And this sums up just so much. And that's one of the reasons why I love the book of Judges. This book of Judges sums up where we are right now, completely. Where we are in our culture, where we are in our country, where we are in the world right now, where we have given ourselves over to relativism to such a degree that we just do what's right in our own. You know what it is to do what's right in your own eyes? That's called relativism. That is, who knows what truth is? You

have your truth. I have my truth. You have what you think is right. I have what I think is right. One of the reasons why the book of Judges is so appropriate for us today is because it's so broken and we live in such a broken place. But brokenness has been chosen because truth had been revealed to the people of Israel. They chose to not pay attention to it. And truth has been revealed to us and we choose to not pay attention to it. And truth has been revealed to us and we choose to not pay attention to it. And that's one of the reasons why this book of Judges is so critical to us to never, ever forget. Not only this process of turning away from God, doing what was right in our own eyes,

and then suffering the consequences for that, but also the redemption part. And the redemption part is, then we call out to the Lord. We recognize what we've done. We call out to the Lord. He hears our prayers, just like he heard the prayers of the Israelites. And call out to the Lord. We recognize what we've done. We call out to the Lord. He hears our prayers, just like he heard the prayers of the Israelites. And he comes to our aid. And that's

what we're going to see in the next three days in the first book of Samuel. The next three days, we're going to get through the first eight chapters of the book of Samuel, but then we're going to take a break. You probably have seen this coming if you have already downloaded the reading plan, recognize we're taking a break and we're taking a seven-day journey through the book of the gospel of John, which is coming up soon. Oh man, but three at first, three quick days in 1 Samuel 1 and 2, all the way to 1 Samuel 6 through 8. That's coming up tomorrow and the days after.

I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.