Judges Chapters 19-21 and the American Civil War

by

Philip du Nard

The American Civil War, or The War Between the States which lasted from 1861-1865, was one of the major events in the history of the United States of America. It has captured the imaginations of people to this day.

Volumes have been written analyzing the causes, issues, and events of that time, not to mention motion pictures that have been produced that have helped keep the memory of this time alive.

Chattel slavery is no more and the Union was preserved and so we might naturally think that it is strictly a matter of history and satisfying our curiosity that we should give any attention to the matter.

But various groups at both ends of the political spectrum are using history for their own purposes. Some on the left seem determined to not let the South live down the past and, more recently,on the right, we have a southern nationalist movement. The controversy over the display of the Confederate Battle flag is currently one of the most visible issues that highlights these opposing viewpoints.

Personally, I am in sympathy with those who wish to retain the battle flag as a symbol of southern heritage and as a reminder of the valor of their ancestors. I do not sympathize with those who bring reproach upon it by associating it with their evil actions and I daresay that Christian men of the caliber of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson would not sympathize with them either.  Nor do I share the secessionist views of the southern nationalists. Many of the things that they see wrong with the federal government concern other conservatives as well but they see secession as part of the solution and trace the foundation of many of our present problems back to the Union victory in the War Between the States. Some also believe that there is enough to distinguish the South in a cultural way from the other regions of the country to justify a separate country.

However, as one might surmise from the title of this article, it is not my purpose to discuss these things in the usual fashion but rather to try to get some Scriptural perspective as we examine three chapters in the Biblical book of Judges that seem to parallel somewhat our own national experience.

This is all foolishness to non-Christians as the apostle Paul said it would be. He wrote in I Cor. 2:14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

As Christians, we should also know what Paul wrote in I Corinthians 10:11 that, "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Thus, it is Christian and scriptural to try to draw some lessons from Bible history that are applicable to our own time.

.Rather than render a verse by verse exposition of these chapters, I will summarize them and comment. It is recommended that the reader read these chapters for oneself. Click here

The 19th chapter of Judges is devoted to giving the details of a capital crime that was committed in the territory of Benjamin. In this context, the various tribes can be considered analogous to our individual states. The 20th chapter is devoted to the national reaction to this crime when justice was not administered by the children of Benjamin and it amounted to what we would, in our day, call federal intervention and though the time element was different, the course and outcome was very similar to our War Between the States. In a matter of days, a nation of a few million sustained more battle deaths than the United States did in all the years of the Vietnam War.Although this just had to do with a single injustice,the moral overtone of the conflict is reminiscent of the atmosphere that existed over the question of slavery in the United States prior to and during the Civil War. The 21st chapter deals with the aftermath and reconstruction of Benjamin.

Chapter 19:1 states that "...there was no king in Israel..."the last verse of chapter 21 also states, "In those days, there was no king in Israel,: every man did that which was right in his own eyes." In a negative sense, this could refer to personal license and man deciding for himself what is right rather than using God's laws as a guide. But in a positive sense, since this was in the context of there being no king, that is, there was no strong central, federal government, this could refer to the great sense of personal liberty that arises from such a situation which was more characteristic of our own nation before the federal government came to be the regulating entity that it is today. Being used to this kind of independence may explain why the Benjamites were so resistant to the other tribes trying to impose their moral will upon them. For the Benjamites, it evidently was a question of "states' rights."

The other tribes, as the Bible Yankees, saw things in a different light. Their intent was to "put away evil from Israel" (ch.20:13). Notice they wanted to put away evil, not from Benjamin but from Israel. They emphasized the nation as a whole and recognized the importance of their Union.

Although no two situations are identical, it is fascinating to see how many parallels there are. One of Confederate President Jefferson Davis's cabinet members was even surnamed Benjamin. In the passage under discussion,It was a member of the priestly tribe of Levi that tried to get the other tribes stirred up to see that justice was done. There were Bible believing Christian ministers on both sides of the slavery debate but those who were opposed and actively promoting the abolition of slavery on moral grounds can be compared to this Levite. I realize, of course, that some will say that the slavery question was not the immediate and direct cause for the outbreak of war or federal intervention and there were other issues but it was, nonetheless, an indirect factor.

Just as the Benjamites were outnumbered, so too, southerners were outnumbered and did not have the resources at their disposal that the North had. But this did not deter the Benjamites or the South from fighting for what they believed was right. Both the North and South believed that there were Constitutional questions at stake. Likewise, the Bible Yankees wanted to see that justice was administered according to their own divine Constitution (ch.20:12-13). However, it appears that they had only one witness that could provide evidence for a capital crime. Bible law required two or three witnesses before anyone could be put to death. But they seemed determined to put them to death anyway. Though the Scriptures do not specifically say that this was why the Benjamites resisted, it is possible that they could have had some legitimate Constitutional concerns as well because of the manner in which the whole affair was handled and perhaps they saw this Levite who was trying to stir things up as a sensationalist and propagandist as some of the slavery abolitionists came to be regarded.

Though the Benjamites were outnumbered, they won the first battle, just as the Confederates won at Bull Run early in the Civil War and the Bible Yankees did not have as easy a time against Benjamin as they might have expected just as the North did not secure a quick and easy victory either as they had hoped.

But, both the Bible Yankees and the modern Yankees ultimately prevailed. After the Benjamites had been dealt a serious blow but not completely defeated, the Bible Yankees turned their attention to the civilian population in Benjamin and went on a city-burning campaign destroying even the animals. This reminds us of General Sherman's march through Georgia laying waste to the countryside and afflicting the general population as a war strategem. It is not my purpose to comment on the right and wrong of these actions but merely to establish a parallel.

Though Abraham Lincoln is a greatly revered President, he is regarded as evil in southern nationalist circles. Lincoln is judged ( and not just by southerners) to have overstepped his Constitutional limits at times as President. There were some northerners who objected to the war. These were known as the "Peace Democrats." Lincoln arbitrarily suspended some of their Constitutional rights in what he considered a necessary wartime measure. Perhaps these Peace Democrats should have been thankful Lincoln was not a Bible Yankee. The inhabitants of Jabeshgilead evidently did not support the war against Benjamin either and, as a result, were massacred by the other tribes (ch 21:5,8-10).

The spirit displayed during the reconstruction of Benjamin shows the other tribes still regarded the Benjamites as brethren and there were measures taken to insure the survival of Benjamin as a separate tribe that were not taken during the reconstruction of the South and in that respect the reconstruction of Benjamin seems less bitter than that of the South. But we must remember that those measures were necessary in Benjamin and not in the South because the war against Benjamin evidently had a much more severe impact on the women of Benjamin than the Civil War had on the women of the South--and it was bad enough for southern women-- and so one might contend that the Benjamites had more reason to be bitter than southerners.

It is worth mentioning that the Bible Yankees sought divine intervention through prayer as did northerners and southerners in the American version, and they obtained it. However, as noted previously, God did not grant them an easy victory. This may be an indication that their own house was not in order and this was to be a chastening experience for them as well and not just for Benjamin as Abraham Lincoln thought the Civil War was for both North and South. But it was not the will of God that the nation break up over this. Despite this devastating experience, Benjamin was successfully reconciled to the rest of the nation. The Benjamites did not consider themselves to have been forged into a new nation, albeit an occupied one, by this ordeal as some southern nationalists now claim of the South over a hundred years after the War Between the States.

Christians know that the Bible can be considered as a revelation of God Himself and of His will and that it took 66 books of the Bible to fully reveal that will and we ought to "let none of his words fall to the ground." Therefore, we might reasonably ponder what lessons are to be learned from this example . There probably are more lessons to be learned from this than can be set forth here but since there is a striking parallel with our own national history, it should have special significance for us and its chief value for Americans and American Christians should be to help us put that history into perspective and thus properly direct our efforts.

To provide some balance, it should be noted that some time later, the northern 10 tribes of Israel broke away from the economic oppression of King Rehoboam splitting Israel into two separate nations much as we did from Great Britain and the divine stamp of approval was put on this action in I Kings 12:24 when God said, "...this thing is from me." Thus, secession efforts are not necessarily by their nature inherently wrong. It is a case of what is the will of God in a particular situation.

Judging from the events themselves and the historical outcome, there clearly is more resemblance between the War Between the States and what transpired in Judges 19-21 than there is with what transpired in the days of King Rehoboam. Therefore, the preservation of our own Union does not appear to be the great mistake that southern nationalists make it out to be but something in keeping with God's plan. For well-meaning and good Christians, as some southern nationalists clearly are, to hark back to what happened in the 19th century and zealously pursue the ultimate objective of the southern nationalists of breaking up the United States so as to form a revived Confederacy is not in keeping with this purpose. This bespeaks a lack of understanding of what God's great purpose for the United States is and such a course can be likened to the foolish virgins of Matthew 25 who,though they trimmed their lamps, that is they got out their Bibles and tried to use them ( the Word of God is called a lamp in Ps. 119:105) they were, nevertheless operating without sufficient light to be fully acting in accordance with the divine will.

In Ephesians 5:15-17, St. Paul admonishes Christians to "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time because the days are evil.Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is." In other words, Christians need to be alert as to what is going on and the only way they can act appropriately in response is if they understand God's will. This principle is often limited in application by Christians and Christian ministers to our individual lives or, if they give it a national application at all, limit it to general moral principles that apply to everyone as set forth in the Scriptures. But, just as God's specific will and plan for an individual may differ from what His will is for another individual, so too, this may be the case with certain nations.

The significance of the United States in the divine scheme of things is a separate study and I do not suggest that 3 chapters in Judges by themselves are sufficient to reveal that significance. But the conclusion drawn here based on the historical parallel is in harmony with the teaching that the United States is a nation of prophetic destiny and is not destined for the ashheap of history like Babylon and the Roman Empire as some believe or be broken into pieces.

It behooves us as Christians to get understanding of the times in which we are living and it is my hope that this study of Judges 19-21 has contributed to that end.