Today's Scripture Reading (March 1, 2022): Judges 17
Science fiction author Robert Heinlein (1907-1988)
argued that "I am free, no matter what
rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them
too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally
responsible for everything I do." The first part of Heinlein's comment is
descriptive. And it probably describes most of us. The hardest laws or rules to
keep are those we don't understand. If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us
anything, it is that we are only willing to obey regulations that we understand
and with which we agree. And part of the dance done by our politicians during times
of crisis is to find the place where we have enough restrictions to keep people
safe, and yet not so many that the majority of people would find them obnoxious
and not worth the effort to attempt to follow.
But
it is Heinlein's next phrase that is the most important. 'I am free because I
know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do." I am
convinced that moral responsibility is lacking in our society. We lack a moral
direction or have traded moral responsibility for what is expedient. Often,
those around us have let us take the practical path instead of the moral one.
It is part of the confusion of our era. Maybe we too often make excuses for our
children instead of holding them to a standard of accountability. Maybe …
The
ending chapters of Judges tell the story of a time of moral confusion in
Israel. And the theme of these chapters, as well as the rest of the book, is
summed up several times with the words, "In
those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit" (Judges 21:25).
The concept was that, hopefully, a King would have helped Israel set a moral
standard (and no, that seemed to be seldom the truth.) But in the absence of a
national leader, the nation existed in a continuous state of moral confusion.
There
is also evidence that what we have as the closing chapters of Judges should
really be placed chronologically at the beginning of the book. This means that
these stories took place soon after Joshua said his farewell, leaving the
nation without a leader or a King. It didn't take generations for Israel to
become morally confused. The path from righteous followers of God to a people
built around the idea of expediency took just months or a very few years.
And
the tale about this time of confusion begins with the story of Micah. Micah's
mother had lost thirteen kilograms (or twenty-eight pounds) of silver. It was a
significant amount of money that represented years of wages for the average
person. And when she realized that it was gone, she openly cursed the
situation, as might we all. But we find out that her son, Micah, took the
money. He returns it to her, and she blesses him for giving her back her wealth,
even though he was the source of her anguish and missing silver in the first
place. The willingness of Micah to steal the fortune from his mother and his
mother's refusal to make her son accountable for his actions tells us a lot
about the spiritual state of Israel during this era. If the story of Micah is a
typical example of Israel during this time, then they had become a nation that
didn't accept moral responsibility. Instead, they did what was expedient, and
the story of Micah demonstrates the theme of the book; "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw
fit."
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Judges 18
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