Tuesday, 2nd February 2021
In Chapter 20 we saw that all the people of Israel gathered at Mizpah except for the tribe of Benjamin. God meant for them to carry out a fair judgement, but without the tribe of Benjamin being present, it was never fair at the very beginning.
Section One: V1-14 Walk in the Flesh, Walk in the Confusion, Still not Enough
A terrible thing happened here. The Israelites killed the people of Benjamin, then they came to God and asked why this would happen? They made the disaster themselves and asked God to fix it. The next day they offered the burnt offerings and peace offerings, like nothing had happen. When we cry out to God, we should not just cry and complain, then pretend nothing has happened in the next day. The Israelites came before God only to vent their emotions, they did not really lay down themselves, repent and return to God. We should not live in wilfulness, but when we fast and pray, we should cry out to God, then repent and return to Him, for God will not despise a broken and a contrite heart.
The Israelites did not inquire from God, but they tried to solve the problem according to their own ways. They were already in the wrong path, but they continued to sin without asking God. God wanted to bless the 12 tribes, but now the Israelites had made a mistake (almost killing a whole tribe) and stopped the blessings for God to come upon them. They wanted to use their own ways to hide their own wrongdoings. When we don’t have the presence of God and when we don’t seek God, even if we want to fix our mistakes, we will fall into another mistake.
In order to keep the tribe of Benjamin in the 12 tribes, the Israelites took the women of Jabesh Gilead and gave them to Benjamin. In verse 13, the Israelites announced peace to the people of Benjamin, but they did not bring truth and teaching to them. Even after they gave all the women from Jabesh Gilead, it was still not enough, because the people of Benjamin did not appreciate for what they had. Without true repentance, we will make the same mistake again and again and never learn our lessons.
Section Two: V15-26 Without Teaching, Without Truth, People Act in Wilfulness
When the Israelites offered the women of Jabesh Gilead, the people of Benjamin were not satisfied with the offer. In confusion we cannot settle but becoming more confused. We want to settle things in our own, but without walking out of confusion we cannot make things right. When they realised the tribe of Benjamin will have no descendant, they were sad. At the very beginning it was one Levite, who pushed his concubine out of the door to the thieves. We need to see the whole truth, the real murderer was this Levite, but why did the tribe of Benjamin need to pay the price?
The conclusion of the Israelites was it was God’s problem. The elders spoke out finally in verse 16. They never spoke in the past but when they concluded it was God’s problems then the elders spoke. At the beginning it was caused by the thieves, but at the end the Israelites became thieves themselves and taught the people of Benjamin to catch the girls at Shiloh, the people of Benjamin would not learn the lesson and the Israelites compromised with their wilfulness.
The war started with the concubine of the Levite being mistreated, but at the end they took all the women of Jabesh Gilead and caught the daughters of Shiloh. They lived in the flesh, lived in the confusion, and lived in the sins. they were covered by their own wrongdoings and were making one mistake after another. All they wanted to do was just to solve their pressing problems without truly seeking God’s presence in their lives.
We need to live in the light of God all our lives, not to live in confusion or to cover our sins. We need to walk with God all our lives.
Response Prayer
We are just like the Israelites, we wanted to come out of our confusion, but without Your presence, O Lord, we will just come out from one confusion into another confusion. Often, we repent our sins but when we turned around, we sinned again. We did not really seek You, we thought repentance is to compromise with our mistakes. But today You want us to see, without true teaching, nothing can take away our confusions. Help us to really repent and return, to connect our authorities, we need to always live in Your presence, Lord. Come teach us O Lord, how to walk this path. Everything we have is from You, we can never be satisfied without You. We need Your presence, not just to solve our problems, but to be with us always. Amen.
2021年2月2日 星期二
士师记 21
一塌糊涂
–
国中没有王、没有权柄来管理、做判断，并不是好的事情，因为下面一团混乱。到士师记20:26-28，以色列人才开始有点醒悟，来到耶和华神面前哭号禁食。真正的禁食不吃东西然后做其他事情，而是完全的放下自己，谦卑回转寻求神。当时神的回复是“….我必将他们交在你们手中”。为什么神要这么说呢？当时全以色列人聚集时，便雅悯人没有来参与，这就不是一个公平的审判，神要他们能有公平，才将便雅悯人交在他们手中。但是以色列人却将这些便雅悯人几乎赶尽杀绝。
一，1-14：走在血气里 走在混乱里 还是不够
2-3，以色列人自己做出杀戮的行为，反而来到神面前质问神为什么会发生这样的事。
4, 百姓哭了一个晚上，觉得没事了，就自己筑坛献祭 – 这是迦南人拜偶像做的事。他们并没有像在20章26-28节那样认罪、让大祭司来献祭。这次他们好像20:23节一样，只是来到神面前宣泄的情绪，没有真正放下自己，认罪悔改。我们在神面前是否也是这样？当我们禁食的时候，是否有一个伤心痛悔的灵？忧伤痛悔的心神必不轻看。
5，8，以色列人“彼此”相问，说明他们只想自己解决问题，就算在神面前也没有寻问神。他们只想用自己的方法弥补在前一章害得自己弟兄几乎绝后的错误，因为神本来是要祝福每一个支派。
8-12，以色列人杀了玛拿西支派的基列雅比人，抢了他们的处女，只为给剩下的便雅悯人做妻子。当我们没有神的同在，没有寻求神的时候，我们只会从一个错误跳到另一个错误。
13，全会众向便雅悯人“说和睦的话”，却没有说真理，没有说明之前他们所犯的错。所以便雅悯人剩下的这600人只是带着老我回来。当我们来到神面前时，是否从神那里学到功课？还是就好像23-24节说的，以色列人做完事情就各回各家去了。我们以为事情过了就好了，却没有在错误中学到功课，反而在错误中任意妄为。
14，便雅悯人觉得“还是不够”，但是已经抢了400个处女，为什么他们还是一错再错，觉得不够多？因为便雅悯人不满足，不知道错，认为600个男人就一定需要600个妻子。他们没有一颗感恩的心，所以“还是不够”。
二，15-25：没有教导 没有真理 各人任意而行
在混乱中是没有办法解决问题的，唯有在神话语的光中我们才能看清事情的真相。
15, 百姓将问题归咎到神身上 – 但神当初只是将便雅悯人交在以色列人手中做审判，查清事件的原委，知道其实当时是那个利未人自己将他的情妇推出去，真正的凶手是这个利未人。然而以色列11支派没有让便雅悯人出来对质，反怪在神的身上。
16-22，他们得出的结论就是, 这错误是神的问题，于是长老出来说话，想出一个解决方案，就是去示罗抢上来过节的女孩子。他们没有负起责任，反而教导便雅悯人继续做回匪。便雅悯人在这样的混乱中继续凭着私欲去行。
24，利未人的情妇死了，以色列人出来争战，但在示罗有人的女儿被抢了，他们却不理，这是何等的一塌糊涂，任意妄为。
没有神的同在，罪就充满以色列，他们却不知道自己是活在混乱里。求神帮助我们靠着每一天的晨祷，一生一世都活在神的亮光中，与神同行，不要走在混乱、蒙蔽里。
追求：
从士师记21章我们看见，当以色列人没有人为他们做审判时，他们没有真正的自由。哪怕他们来到神面前哭，他们只是解决自己的情绪。我们很多时候是跟以色列人一样的，当我们没有神同在时，我们只是从一个混乱跳到另一个混乱。求神让我们看到自己认罪悔改后又回到过去，只是想解决问题却没有寻求你。主，我们来到你的面前，我们寻问你，我们为什么总是觉得不够，没有办法感恩？主 你让我们看见，当我们没有被教导时，我们里面的混乱不能平息。让我们与你连接，与我们的权柄连接，来到你的光下，我们不是遇到问题才来寻求你。让我们常在你的同在中，指教我们当如何行。我们一切所有从你而来，唯有你能使我们满足。帮助我们，在困境中，不单单是寻找一个解决方案，而是愿你同在，赐下你的话语，让我们走在你的光，你的同在当中。