Day 72, or March the 13th. We are all essential. Our thoughts today are based on Judges chapter
21, verses 2 and 3. The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising
their voices and weeping bitterly.
Lord God of Israel, they cried. Why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?
First, the big picture surrounding these verses. Civil war breaks out between Israel and Benjamin,
and the tribe of Benjamin is almost destroyed. It's ironic, really, as this small tribe would
produce King Saul, who ruled after the judges. It was also the tribe that gave us the Apostle
Paul, who was probably named after King Saul. It was only small, but the other tribes of
Israel saw, almost too late, that it could not be allowed to disappear. A cunning plan
is devised, and lots of young women are captured from Shiloh and taken by the Benjamites to
help replenish their numbers.
And now today's action step. Having vowed not to intermarry with the tribe of Benjamin,
the other tribes then had to search for an escape clause, when Benjamin was almost wiped
out and needed replenishing from outside. Even though the other tribes were larger than
Benjamin, they conceded that without them the tribes of Israel would be incomplete.
This seems an early prototype used by the Apostle Paul, who likens the church to a body,
with each part having a job to fulfill, in order to achieve whole body ministry. Sometimes
in local churches we are relieved when someone, who constantly raises queries and questions
in the fellowship, leaves. Beware, they are sometimes the folk who stir us up into action,
even if their ideas seem crazy at the time. When a church is made up of folk who agree
with each other all the time, the edge can wear off and stimulation for progress is dulled.
Thank God now for any of your fellowship who may irritate you. Don't ignore them. Listen
carefully, just in case God is speaking to you through them.