Judges 19 DECLINE OF MORALS When we see the sad results of a deteriorating society and the apparent disintegration of all that maintained cohesiveness in the people of a nation or a family, we are inclined to ask, "What in the world happened?" That is what happened - the world!! The decline of moral order in a society is a result, not the cause, of the problem. In Israel the problem began when they did not carry out eh command of the Lord to eliminate idolatry and all of its influences from the land God had promised them. He was with them in many ways to help them claim for themselves what He had given them. Others also claimed the same ground in a way we call "squatter's rights" so they had to be driven out. The influx of hornets was God's first line of attack on their behalf so they could follow and remove the idols and those who worshipped idols, and take that which was rightfully theirs.
However, there was a "touchy-feely" attitude then as now, and the people of God seemed to think there was something good in everything if you looked hard enough for it, so don't be too hard on people. When we start to do that "which is right in our own eyes," there is no end to it. A casual attitude toward God and sin which led to idolatry was the root cause of the decline of Israel. Moral depravity is a result, not a cause. When faith in God begins to disintegrate, that is because of a tolerant attitude toward the world's ways and then we become participants in religious sin. "It works for them. Why don't we try it?" Before long religious idolatry is accepted among the people of the Lord.
When faith, and consequently our commitment to truth begins to disintegrate and decline, the decline in morals soon follows. Departure from the practice of biblical principles brings disunity among the people of God as those who hold fast to scriptural practices are considered old-fashioned and not relevant to the new day in which we live. "We need to learn to adapt to changing social mores," they say. When that happens, we lose the power we had and become weak because of our disobedience to God. When we forget God, we forget our purpose in being here. When we forget our purpose in being here, we lose our moral standards. When we lose our moral standards then any changing laws men make because it is expedient and "right in our own eyes" is easily accepted. When that is accepted, then we are capable of doing anything our depraved nature desires.
A Levite who lived in a very remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, allowed his lust to control him and took a "concubine," not a wife, to satisfy his sexual cravings without his commitment. When God's word is ignored, anything goes. Instead of regarding God's laws and God's word, we can become used to whatever a depraved society accepts. A slave woman is who he had, so it apparently did not disturb him too much when she was untrue to him and had another man as well. He had little regard for her, for God's laws and the standards of righteousness because he "did that which was right in his own eyes." Later, at his convenience, he went to get her again from her father's house. The inconvenience of righteousness and godly living has turned many who profess faith in Christ into those who are quite at ease in the world. They drink the world's strong "adult beverages," listen to the world's music, enjoy the world's leisure-time pleasures and don't mind the world's kind of speech.
Hospitality, public acceptance was of a high priority in those areas and in those times, even though women were mistreated and dishonored. The Levite and the old man from the same hill country of Ephraim who was living in Gibeah were much alike. Both were selfish, lacked courage, want to avoid conflict and were willing to disobey God's laws. When moral depravity sets in, brotherly love goes out. When social protocol has more authority than justice, righteousness and compassion, we know moral convictions have been replaced by evil. Israel failed to be governed by God's moral law and made the laws of the land to suit themselves. When that happens, lawlessness prevails and atrocities occur. In Gibeah that concubine was raped repeatedly until she died. The Levite took matters into his own hands when he sent twelve pieces of her body to all the tribes of Israel.
We may leave the practice of doing God's will slowly without hardly knowing its effects on us let alone others. Before long what I do and think will begin to undermine others and the "majority rules" becomes the standard by which we are expected to live, rather than what the word of God says and the will of God is. When we deliberately substitute our way of religious activity for God's way, we have committed spiritual anarchy which leads to moral decline and decay. What happens to individuals, is soon accepted by the nations and the guidelines God has given, and have been followed for generations, are abandoned leading to terrible evil. Perversions then are accepted and later, defended. Soon those very perversions become law and are considered essential, and right, in order for us to have freedom. Freedom to do evil as well as to do right is what eventually happens when "every man does that which is right in his own eyes."