During the recent, and ongoing, coronavirus pandemic, some Americans may have been surprised to learn of the power of the governors of each state. It really came to the forefront, as each state handled the situation in their own way, with the governors setting the rules. In some ways, the President of the United States was the servant of the governors. It was important for the federal government to make sure governors had all they needed to care for their people.
It has usually been people of a conservative political viewpoint that have called for “states rights.” During the pandemic it has seemed to be the folks on the left who have been eager to tell the President not to interfere with the state leadership. The same has been true of the recent wave of protests and riots after the shooting of a black man in Minnesota by a white policeman. As I write, people have taken over an area of downtown Seattle. The governor is taking a wait and see attitude, and has made it clear the President has no authority to deal with the situation.
I am not bringing up this situation so as to introduce a discussion of the U.S. Constitution or to discuss states’ rights. Rather, we bring it up because it shows an area of struggle in our country related to the issue of “everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.” Hopefully our situation will be handled in a constitutional and just manner. Hopefully it will not lead to another “civil war.” But for the moment I am sure you can see how our national identity is being stretched. Some see this as good; others find it fearful.
Now think about the story before us in today’s reading. If we wanted to view this story in a political manner, we would say it’s a story about “tribal rights.” And it led to a civil war in Israel. But we would rather look at it in terms of Israel, the nation chosen by God, seeking to live out their national relationship with God. The final words of Joshua, to the nation, were, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve (Josh. 24:15). At the time the people’s response was: Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods (Josh. 24:16). If the stories in the book of Judges are in chronological order, then this story takes place around four hundred years after they entered the land (cf. Judges 11:26).
So, what can we say that is good? For eleven tribes to desire to bring justice into the situation is good. The fact that they sought the LORD’s direction is great. Their persistence was good, enduring two crushing defeats before finally seeing the LORD’s blessing. And their desire to remove the evil was good; if only they had had the same desire to remove the Canaanite nations as they did to deal with the tribe of Benjamin (20:48).
What do we learn? We learn that having no king (no authority for justice) and having everyone do what is right in their own eyes (in this case, seen in one of the tribes) brings tragedy. Like the American Civil War (no war involving the United States has taken as many lives as that war), the Civil War of Israel was a major tragedy (more on that tomorrow). Over 62,000 men of war lost their lives as well as all the tribe of Benjamin except for 600 soldiers.
A philosophy of governance which allows people to do what is right in their own eyes is doomed to failure. It is doomed because the people are fundamentally sinful. That is why God Himself appointed kings and rulers and presidents and governors to serve Him by ruling nations in such a way as to bring peace to the society (Rom. 13:1-7). Failure of these ministers of God will result in anarchy.
What is anarchy? In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
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