The Times of the Judges: A Meditation for the Last Week of Epiphany

And the children of Israel departed thence at that time,

every man to his tribe and to his family,

and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.

 In those days there was no king in Israel:

every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

 

The times of the Judges in Israel, from the end of the conquest of Canaan by Joshua to the transition of Samuel to King David, is captured in the Books of Judges, Ruth, and 1^st Samuel.  Often emblematic of these times is the phrase repeatedly written and used to conclude the Book of Judges, every man did that which was right in his own eyes.  While the season of Epiphany often focuses on the light of God’s Word which comes to us through Moses, the Prophets, and ultimately Jesus Christ which illumines the souls of men to everlasting life by grace through faith, the time of the Judges is also enlightening for us in a different way:  it shows us the dark fate of mankind when they cling to their own understanding rather than the Word of the Lord.  As Jesus would remark during His teachings, when the eye or willful intellect of man becomes darkness in his soul, what darkness it can become!

 

It is certainly true that God did not ultimately abandon the people of Israel during their over 400 years of tumult under the Judges.  As the people of God wandered from Him and His Word, God allowed Israel’s enemies to rise against them, persecuting and dominating them as tyrants.  When the remnant of surviving Hebrews would come to their senses, abandon their harlotry with foreign gods and their evil ways, God would raise up among them a savior—a Judge—to beat back the tyranny of their wicked rulers and restore them again to peace in His fellowship.  Even so, this cycle of faithful repentance would last for about a generation until a new generation cast away their fidelity to the God of their Salvation, and began again to prostitute themselves before the infernal pagan deities which once enslaved their forefathers.  In the rising and the falling of the people, plenty of sordid stories are captured of those who tried to solve their problems on the power of their own benighted intellect, with bloody calamity at every turn.  With God the people flourished, unassailable by their foes; apart from God, they flailed about in vain until enslaved by the objects of their lustful desire.

 

This is the portrait of fallen man which is validated in every age, including our own.  The Church, foreshadowed as the fulfilment of the promises of God to Israel in Jesus Christ, has watched the world ebb and flow from seasons of grace to periods of destruction, depending on whether the heart of the people was closer or further from their Savior.  In each corner of the world, one generation grows weary under the boot of tyranny from men and demons, cries out to God in faith and repentance, and sees restoration come to them, though not without sacrifice and tears.  In the aftermath of great conflict, that generation gives thanks to God for their salvation, raises up monuments to memorialize God’s good gifts to men, and teaches their children to remember God’s providence.  And within a generation or two, the children and grandchildren of those who were rescued by grace and providence through faith and repentance wax fat and wonton in their hearts, forget the God who gave them peace, and begin their descent into darkness once more.  It is a story played out more times than history can record, but the recordings of history bear witness that life and salvation are found in God alone, and that apart from Him there is only darkness, slavery, brutality, and death.

 

And yet, this cycle we see playing out before our eyes in our land today, is found within our own souls, as well.  As we begin to think that we are the measure of all things, that our intellect will save and rescue us from the perils of death and disease and discomfort, that the devices of our minds and our hands will forever secure for us the objects of our endless desires, we begin our walk away from the light and life of God’s Eternal Word.  Be it slow or quick, passionate or apathetic, our wandering away from the Light of Christ takes us ever further into the dark wilderness where the ancient tyrannical foes of our ancestors wait in malevolent anticipation for our arrival.  With eyes darkened we make out delusional images in the darkness which are not there, even as those things which are begin to circle us.  With minds deceived and twisted we think we can find our way through the wilderness to a new prosperity, even as our ravenous deceivers lure us deeper into their lairs.  There in the darkness, apart from God and His saving Word, we find ourselves no match for the ancient evil which hunts us, and in whose haunts lay strewn the remains of countless others like us, who have perished in their wandering too far from the Light.

 

As we look forward to Lent, we remember who and what we are in our fallen state—that on our own power we are lost and hopeless in a dying world which remains under the sway of the evil one until the Last Day dawns.  But unto us who sit in great darkness, a Light has come.  To us who lay under the diabolical tyranny of sin, death, and hell which we duly earned by our own most grievous fault, the Lord has raised up among us a Savior and Judge.  To us, so prone to wander from the Light of His Eternal Word and embrace the putrefying decadence of Baal, Molech, Dagon, and Beelzebub, a Victor has come to restore us to wholeness and life.  To us who deserve only condemnation and eternal judgment, has come the Gospel of His forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus.  To us who have wandered far from the Light, the Light has come to lead us back home.

 

Whatever the darkness we are lost in this day, let us remember that our God seeks and saves the lost.  In Him alone is the healing and restoration of our nation, our communities, our families, and our own souls.  It is Jesus who has been raised up among us to save us; who is our pillar of cloud by day and our pillar of fire by night; our gracious Judge who pays our debts upon His Cross and sets our tyrannical captors to flight; whose Holy Name alone is given under heaven whereby we must be saved.  Hear Him in whatever darkness you may find yourself this day; see the Light of His loving countenance and hear the good news of His Word that your sins are forgiven, and your life is restored, by grace through faith in Him.  Return to the Lord our God who has saved us from every evil, enlightened every darkness, and dispelled every wicked tyrant.  Hear Him again, and in faith and repentance, live forgiven and free forevermore.  Amen.