Subject: Unity against Sin - Judges 17-21

Judges 20:11 (ESV Strong's)

So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man.

Subject:  Unity against Sin

The theme of Judges is, "everyone did what was right in his own eyes."    The nation had no ruler to lead them and keep them from following hard after sin.   After Joshua's death there was no transition plan for leadership.   Each tribe was to secure their own land and form their own tribe, with leadership from that tribe.   When the city of Gibeah, of the tribe of Benjamin, had taken a wife from a priest, raped and murdered her, the rest of the tribes came together to avenge her death.   This is the lone time in the book of Judges such unity of the tribes was mentioned.   Unlike other times when everyone did what they thought best, this instance brought them all together.   This is mostly because the priest cut his dead wife up and sent a piece of her to every tribe in disgust.    They rallied in equal disgust that someone would cut a person up into 12 pieces, to make a point.   This was a sick and sad time in Israel.   The unity would result in the deaths of almost 75,000 warriors in Israel.   But, the story is told to remind us about the consequences of failed leadership, the results of evil and unchecked sin in the lives of a few men, and the ability of a whole nation to unity against sin.   It took an unheard of story about the rape and murder of a women to get this nation to fall on their knees.   Today, in our society someone is raped and murdered nightly.  No one falls on their knees.  We call for more legislation and gun control.   Israel fell on its knees and came to exact justice as a nation, they were so abhorred with the events.   We have grown cold to these tragedies.   Would to God we united together to fight sin!! Even the church does not do so.  In 1 Corinthians 5 we have the events of the church coming together because their was sin in the church.   Today's church doesn't separate itself in unity over sin, it ignores it.