If Only for a King

With the last verse of the book of Judges, the author forcefully reminds both his original readers and us of the point he has been trying to drive home. After his detailed history of the deliverers of Israel in the time before the nation’s monarchy, he set out in the final five chapters of his book to show the covenant unfaithfulness of the people. He wanted to illustrate the depths to which the people descended so soon after making their confident pledge of covenant faithfulness (Josh. 24:18, 21, 24). But even more than that, he wanted to declare the reason for all the sin, misery, and ethical squirelliness it was his duty to record. It all came about, he wrote, because “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” In other words, the people of Israel relied on the “wisdom” of their own untransformed minds to guide them. They had had strong, godly men (Moses and Joshua) to lead them during the Exodus, the wilderness wandering, and the conquest of Canaan. And after their settlement of Canaan, God periodically sent them judges to deliver them from oppressors, as well as to command and exemplify faithful living. But when they were left to themselves, they quickly went astray. How very different things might have been, the author suggests, if only Israel had had a godly king.

Consider the many points in the narratives of the final five chapters of Judges when a godly king could have stepped in and influenced events. Hearing of Micah’s creation of an image and a shrine, a king could have shut down the idolatrous worship being practiced there. He could have used his authority to punish the Levite for serving as Micah’s priest and to reform any corruptions of the tabernacle rituals. He could have summoned Israel to call Dan to account for wronging Micah and for establishing idolatry in its northern colony. He could have provided a voice of moderation in the national assembly called to respond to Gibeah’s sin, commanding that only warriors be executed and that no rash oaths be sworn. And he could have guided the nation through the ethical morass into which it plunged as it sought to restore the Benjamites. But “there was no king in Israel.”

In time, God would appoint a human monarch for his people, but he and many of his successors would prove to be royal disappointments. We will look briefly at that era in this year’s final study.