October 25, 2021
Series
Made Perfect in One
By JIM SEAGOE
Jim Seagoe uses the difficult account of Judges 19 to 21, especially the war with Benjamin, to examine unity, judgment, and recovery among God’s people. He treats the narrative as a serious lesson for ecclesial life, asking how believers pursue holiness and truth without losing the goal of being made one in Christ.
Part 1
Judges 19-21 tell of a horrific civil war involving the Benjaminites: how it started, how it was conducted and how Israel recovered from it. Because the story is so unpleasant, it is easy to read it dutifully and then move on. Yet we are told “whatever things were written before were written for our learning.” (Rom 15:4).
Part 2
In the first part of this article of this series, we considered the civil war between Israel and Benjamin in Judges 20-21. We noted that Israel continued routing Benjamin until almost the entire tribe was wiped out. Was this really the right thing to do? We’ll consider this question and continue with the theme of how we can achieve unity amongst God’s holy people.