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by Katie Erickson

“The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: 'Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.'
The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. 'Lord, God of Israel,' they cried, 'why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?'
Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.
Then the Israelites asked, 'Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the Lord?' For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah was to be put to death.
Now the Israelites grieved for the tribe of Benjamin, their fellow Israelites. 'Today one tribe is cut off from Israel,' they said. 'How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the Lord not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?' Then they asked, 'Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?' They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.” (Judges 21:1-9)

Recently, my sister-in-law has been helping us with some filing and organizing of papers at our house, which we hadn’t touched for too many years. Before she started, the filing cabinet and the room were relatively neat and organized. It looked okay on the outside, but we knew that there was a mess of papers inside that needed organized, filed, or thrown away. Something had to be done to fix the problem that we knew existed.

What does that have to do with Israel and the book of Judges? First, some context. The events of Judges 19 led up to a civil war in Israel in Judges 20, where the rest of Israel fought against the tribe of Benjamin in order to rid the nation of the immorality that was going on there. Israel won, and Benjamin’s army was essentially wiped out. Many of their cities were burned to the ground, including Gibeah where all of this drama had started.

The Israelites were remorseful over what had happened, and they wept before God at the near total loss of one of their own tribes. It’s hard to say whether they realized that their punishment went further than they originally intended, or whether they were just sorry it had to come to this, that Benjamin deserved such punishment. Either way, they were very remorseful before God that this situation had occurred.

Back in Judges 20:1-2 when Israel assembled at Mizpah before beginning the war, they took the oath against their daughters marrying into the tribe of Benjamin, because of the immorality that was evident in that tribe. Essentially, the men of Benjamin had become like the Canaanites they lived near. Now, however, they were regretting that oath, because it looked like the entire tribe of Benjamin could die out.

But, there was an even more important oath, referenced in Judges 21:5: “Then the Israelites asked, ‘Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the Lord?’ For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah was to be put to death.” Who was guilty of breaking this oath? The city of Jabesh Gilead, in the tribe of Manasseh.

Israel was really not in a good state at this time. They had just fought among themselves in essentially a civil war, and now it looked like one tribe would be completely wiped out. And now, one city may need to be put to death, simply for not showing up!

All of their oaths seemed to keep getting them in trouble. Israel had to punish the tribe of Benjamin for their immorality, but that punishment left a bigger wound than they had expected. Did they go too far? They did keep checking with God and He kept telling them to move forward, so it appears as though they followed God’s direction. But now, their oaths are seeming to get them into more trouble.

So back to our filing cabinet. In order for my sister-in-law to organize all the paperwork, first it had to all come out and the room turned into what looked like a big mess! There were piles of papers everywhere, and some mess from the paper shredder, since it seems there’s no way to empty one of those and not make at least a little mess. The file cabinet had to be emptied before all the papers could be organized and re-filed.

Israel was in that “mess” stage here. They knew there was a problem so they fixed it, but the solution at this point still looked like a huge mess! They haven’t gotten to the “neat and organized” part yet.

What in your life feels like you’re in the “mess” stage? Do you have a situation that you’re working through, that seems to be going from bad to worse? Keep trusting God and keep working on what He is calling you to do, and you will keep moving toward the “neat and organized” phase when you’re following His will.

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