Judges 19-21 Shocking, Troubling, How did we come to this?

March 25th, Judges 19-21

       This last section of Judges is certainly not for the faint of heart. Almost to the point of why is it even in the Bible, what purpose does it serve? It almost feels a little like WWII when they made German citizens tour the death camps. Whatever denial you might have about what your government is up to will be shattered by you witnessing the truth first hand .
       The real troubling nature of the story is that it's no longer Israel against the godless nations around them. It's a civil war of godless Israelites treating each other with malice and evil. The story almost sounded like Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact I had to check and make sure I wasn't reading in the wrong place. It makes me wonder if the writer of this book used language from the Sodom story to prove his point about the evil nature of what was going on in God's promised land.      
       The end of the book of Judges summarizes the heart of the problem for Israel at this time in history. "In those days there was no King in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes." If chapters 19-21 represent the norm in Israel, you can see why God steps in.
       It's stories like this that will make tomorrows reading feel like a breath of fresh spring (snow melting!) air. Stories like this are a reminder of our past. The Bible is not a sanitized version of life, it reflects the joy, sorrow, embarrassing, proud moments of a people struggling to discover a God who says he loves them. Then the even bigger struggle of how to love God the way he loves us. A lifelong journey for us all.