Reading
SAA Notes
Benjamin is almost destroyed as a Tribe of Israel! The message is that religion cannot make any difference in itself. We need the Lord Himself, the work of the Holy Spirit! Benjamin puts family first above all other considerations. This is misplaced loyalty because it puts family in God’s place. It destroyed them except for the grace of God!
SJA Notes
* Righteous and Faithful God, we shout to You with loud songs of joy – For You, the LORD MOST HIGH, are to be feared.
“But the Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel.”
It can seem a bit strange that the tribe of Benjamin would stand and defend the “worthless fellows” of Gibeah, those who took such terrible actions in the previous reading.
We today can have a similar temptation – to choose human bonds and earthly community over what God has laid down.
The men of Gibeah were acting in gross perversion, they were broken men in need of a better saviour than what the judges were.
Religion on its own is worthless. Without the Holy Spirit living in and at work in us we are useless vessels, hopeless and helpless.
Today now, just as then, we need to stand firm in the WORD of God – Informed each day by God and His wisdom, the voice in our heads being His.
He is our rock, our deliverance!
* Gracious Father God,
Please use these passages of Israel’s troubled history to refine us as we read them – Please write Your word on our hearts.
You are our strength and our refuge Lord God.
Please equip us each day to go about what You want for us to do.
Amen.