Tuesday, February 23: Judges 20-Revenge is a dangerous desire

   It is one thing to punish wrong, it is another to go beyond punishment to humiliation. It seems to me that Israel crosses that boundary in chapter 23, yet another sad chapter in the history of Israel.

There is so much carnage in this chapter: 25,000 Benjamites dead in battle; 40,000 Israelites dead in battle. That is a high price to pay to make a point. As vile as the rape was, the Israelites coming to exact revenge were no saints. Remember everyone did that which was right in their own eyes. It seems that pride lurked beneath the surface, multiplying the carnage. Israelites seeking revenge sent wave after wave of men to their death to make a point. Then the pride of the Benjamintes caused them to get sloppy and overly aggressive on day, 3 which led to their demise. Revenge and anger ruled the day. Revenge and anger resulted in death, lots of death.

No wonder Proverbs says: Pride goes before a fall (Pr 16:18).

I began to think about revenge and the dangers of it. When I want revenge, I loose restraint, I get all self-righteous and I do stupid things, which either costs me or costs others because I go overboard. It seems that is what happened in this chapter… 65,000(!) people died because a group of rabble gang raped and murdered a woman. What the gang did was horrible, even despicable, but there must have been a better way to seek justice than to sacrifice 65,000 additional lives to make a point.

God whispered, “Beware of revenge, Bill… leave revenge to me. Revenge is My arena not yours.” I was reminded of the scripture which reads, Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord (Romans 12:19). Such was my lesson from the Lord today.

God, there are times when I get all self-righteous over something that happened to me and I want to rush out and gain my revenge. As a teen I had a ‘playful’ expression, “I don’t get even, I get ahead.” Stop me, Lord, slow me down, hedge me in when I want to get even or worse, ahead. Keep me from seeking my revenge because, Lord, those are the times I hurt people. I say things I ought not, or I do things I should not. And, Lord, it is hard to clean up the damage I can do. Forgive me, Lord. Lord, You warned me today about the damage that revenge can do. Forgive me for past transgressions and help me, Lord, to not go there in the future. Lord, I submit my impulse to You… even more, I submit my life to You… I am Yours, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I am Yours…

 

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