In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. – Judges 21:25

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 20, 2015): Judges 21

Donald Trump’s supporters seem to remain confused about why the world outside of Trumpville does not understand Trump’s common sense proposal that Muslims temporarily should be refused access to the United States. And, to be honest, those who live outside of Trumpville are amazed that the Trumpites can’t see that this is a really bad idea. First and foremost, it goes against who we are, not just as a nation, but as a continent. The words of the poem “The New Colossus” which is engraved on Lady Liberty keep on returning to my mind. The poem, written in the Nineteenth century, calls Lady Liberty herself “The Mother of Exiles.” But it is the end of the poem that is probably the best known. It is the well-worn refrain that guided the New World through its development.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

This is who we are – it is who I am. My ancestors started to come to North America in the middle of the 17^th century – starting to arrive as far as I have been able to discern around the 1650’s. My family has been here since almost the beginning of the European invasion of the New World. They came from Ireland, England, the Netherlands, Germany and France - among others of the ancient lands and the storied pomp. Most landed in New York, and almost all landed long before Lady Liberty began to stand guard over the city and the New World – but the belief was the same. In our diversity we will be made strong. Give us the garbage and the discarded peoples of the Old World, and we will make the New World a beauty to behold.

The problem would seem to be simply this. To discard the principles upon which we have built the nations of North America is to weaken and destroy her. We will finally become the ancient lands and storied pomp that drove our ancestors to go and live somewhere else. Or we can hold to our principles and allow all people “yearning to breathe free” to enter and, maybe, the extremists of a religion most of us still do not really understand will attempt to destroy us. The difference is that with the first, the leaving of our principles, we will definitely be destroyed. With the second, an incursion of the radicals that might come, we might be destroyed. I would rather chance the latter and live according to our principles than experience the certainty of our destruction at our hand that will come with the violation of our founding principles.       

The experience of Israel with the tribe of Benjamin was a dark moment in the history of ancient Israel. Historians have used the term “The Israeli Civil War” to describe this period. The children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, maybe for the first time, picked up their swords to battle each other, and to drive one of their tribes almost into extinction. On this day, Israel almost lost a part of its diversity.

And there are parts of the story that almost sound God-ordained. And yet the author of this account would seem to disagree. There is a repeated refrain throughout what we have as the latter part of the book of Judges. “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” The implication seems to be that, just maybe, God was the excuse and the justification for the action, but none of this was really according to his will. Everyone simply acted as they thought was right, really without much thought to what God might want. God just became the politically correct words that were used in the forming of the arguments. And in this period of time, it seems that the people from Trumpville won the day, fear and ignorance reigned and God was essentially forgotten.

It is most likely that these last few chapters have been placed at the end of Judges to connect with the events found in the Books of Samuel – and Israel’s search for a king. But for some the placement is wrong. It would seem that these events must have happened much earlier – for one thing, the first king of Israel would come from the now decimated tribe of Benjamin that is described in this passage – and a single generation does not seem to be long enough to provide for that transition to happen. Others have pointed out that the king was always God. And now was not the time for the human kings to take the throne, but for God as king to raise the Judges.

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. In those days, the destructive ideal of segregation and alienation that are an integral part of Trumpville took precedence over every other concern. But that was about to change – God the king was about to send the judges on their way.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Judges 1