Dear Amy,
How can we find hope in the darkest times?
The people of God have gone through some really dark times over the years, and among the worst would be during the time of the judges. But even as we start thinking about it, tell me this doesn’t sound just like 21st Century New Zealand.
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
― Judges 17:6
We start to get a sense of quite how horribly wrong things had gone from the story of an Israelite called Micah who stole 1100 pieces of silver from his own mother, albeit later restoring them to her.
And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image.”
― Judges 17:3
Could she have uttered anything more oppugnant?
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
― Exodus 20:4
This is simply apostasy, when the people of God abandon holiness and all that is good and honouring to him, and go their own way. What followed shortly afterwards was therefore somehow inevitable. It is surely the very darkest story in the whole of Scripture. Brace yourself, for it is gut-wrenchingly awful. It is the story of a Levite and his concubine who had just embarked on a poorly planned and unwise journey.
He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him. When they were near Jebus, the day was nearly over, and the servant said to his master, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.” And his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will pass on to Gibeah.” And he said to his young man, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah.” So they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, and they turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah.
― Judges 19:10-15
Having rejected as unsafe the foreign city of Jebus they instead took refuge in Gibeah, the city of the Benjamites⸺one of the twelve tribes of Israel⸺the people of God. What then happened at the house where they sheltered?
As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.”
― Judges 19:22
“Know” is a horrible euphemism which here means gang rape. Such was the hospitality of the people of that city.
The Levites were set apart for the service of the Lord, but this particular Levite was the vilest coward and he decided to sacrifice his concubine to save himself.
So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light.
― Judges 19:25-26
Then she died. The Levite chopped up her body and dispatched the twelve pieces throughout the land. The tribe of Benjamin was cast off by the rest of Israel. Shamed. Shunned. Civil war ensued.
Surely the very darkest story in the Bible. Surely the very darkest of times.
Where then is hope to be found?
There’s a vital principle that must be understood, and here it is particularly clear. Hope is not found in the situation itself. The situation here is so very dark and utterly without hope.
Instead we need to hear from Isaiah and from John the Apostle.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
― Isaiah 9:2
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
― John 1:5
It is always the case, but it is not usually quite so clearly seen, that there is true hope only in Jesus. Only in his death and resurrection. Only in the grace that flowed so freely at Calvary.
Now that we have looked ahead by a thousand or so years, there’s something else to notice in this timeframe, which is Paul’s rebuke of a group of people who were thinking rather highly of themselves.
If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
― Philippians 3:4-6
Something had happened in those long years such that being of the tribe of Benjamin had been transformed from shame to honour. Exactly how this had been woven together from strands of grace over the years is beyond my understanding, but the end result is apparent, and such is redeeming grace. Such is resurrection victory. Such is the power of the cross.
There is no shame that is beyond the redeeming power of the cross and the healing and restoring power of the resurrection. Praise the Lord!
Know that even in the very darkest times, Amy, hope remains! 🙏