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Judges 21 – Praying through the Bible #80 – A Prayer that is Ignored
Does God ever ignore prayers? Get ready to shake your head in disbelief at how quickly stupidity catches up to those living a repeating cycle of self-made idiocy by doing what is right in their own eyes (Judges 21.25).
Righteousness and rage, vengeance and vows make for unpredictable results and unthought-of realities. Israel is rightfully enraged at Benjamin because they wrongfully protected the guilty (20.13-14). Empowered by God, they punish by death every male except 600 escaped soldiers (20.47). God’s justice degenerates into vengeance. Man’s rage is not satiated. The soldiers annihilate “the entire city” (20.48). “The entire city” includes innocent, defenseless women and children not guilty of anything except being related. Rage knows no restraint. Rage not only wielded a sword, it made vows: “None of us will give his daughter to a Benjaminite in marriage” (21.1). When the fog of fury lifted, they realized the unintended consequences: Extinction for Benjamin. All too common it is that rationality returns only after the rant and rave has done its damage.
“They wept loudly and bitterly, and cried out, ‘Why, LORD God of Israel, has it occurred that one tribe is missing in Israel today?’” (21.3). No reply is recorded. Commonly it is said God answers every prayer with either a yes, no, or “Wait, I’ve got something better for you.” Is there a fourth possibility? Maybe God ignores some prayers. These Israelites pray, “Why?” when the answer is, “Why didn’t you think first; why didn’t you stop before it was too late?” The next day the people rise early, build an altar and offer burnt and fellowship offerings (21.5). No reply is recorded (20.26-28). Does God ignore their worship? Maybe there are some problems even worship cannot solve. We offer our problems to God; and consequences are God’s offerings to us to teach and warn.
The not-so sage Israelites look for a loophole. They had taken another rash and irrational vow that anyone not assisting in battle would be killed (21.5). So they “solve” their problem by repeating their mistakes. Since Jabesh-Gilead was absent, these fathers had not vowed concerning their daughters; so 12,000 warriors are sent to kill these men, including women and children (21.10). This is to show compassion to the male survivors of Benjamin (21.6). Somehow they think this is better than repenting (21.7). Purposely, the soldiers save 400 virgins to be wives, which is not enough. So they tell the remaining Benjaminites to kidnap the young women of Shiloh as they are coming to worship Yahweh (21.19). Kidnapping allows the daughters’ fathers not to violate their vow. You can’t make up this kind of stupidity. This is the self-made, head-shaking, continuous cycle of trouble in doing what is right in our own eyes. No wonder God is forced to ignore our prayers.
Prayer Challenge: If we ever wonder if God is ignoring our prayers, check our decision process. Pray we break the cycle of doing what is right in our own eyes.
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