Judg 21

Devotion 1 of 1: Judg 21

The story in this chapter was popular in my home church, Shiloh Church, because the daughters of Shiloh were given to the men of Benjamin as wives (v.19-21)! This happened because the tribe of Benjamin was crushed, and very few survived their defeat in chapter 20.
To remedy the situation, Israel decided to punish the city of Jabesh Gilead for not joining in the battle against Benjamin by killing their men, married women and children (v.6-11). This kind of act would not be permitted in today’s society. But in Bible times, the rules of war were different and very severe. In the end, 400 virgins survived the slaughter of their city and were given to Benjamin to rebuild their tribe (v.19-21).
By today’s moral standards, killing all the men, married women and innocent children of a city in order to help another group to regain their numbers would be a gross injustice! So one lesson we can learn from this story is that we should not judge Bible stories by today’s standards, but we must interpret the Scriptures according to the customs and culture of that time. Let’s not forget this rule as we study the Bible!

JOHN 7: Free sharing!
V. 41-42 say, “Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?”
The Jews had only partial knowledge about Jesus. They knew He was from Nazareth, and based on that, they rejected Him as the Messiah! But it was only partial knowledge! If they had known that He was born in Bethlehem, they might have accepted Him as their Messiah!
When we make decisions and judgments based on partial knowledge, we will often make mistakes. Let’s ask God to help us to gather as much information as possible so we can make the right decisions.