September 16 -- "Bitter Weeping at Beth'el"

 Today’s Reading: Judges 21

"Bitter Weeping at Beth'el"

It was a sad and bitter end for the period of the Judges. The people came to Bethel and wept before God.  Weeping over the moral degeneracy that had invaded their land.  Weeping over the loss of so many lives in the battle with the Benjaminites.  Weeping over the shattered condition of their nation and their fellow tribesmen from Benjamin.  Weeping is the inevitable end for a people that disregards the Lord and builds a society where everyone does “what is right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)

The nation came together at a national historic site, known as Bethel.  This was a place in Israel located about 10 miles north of Jerusalem.  It seems that every nation on earth has its own historic sites and national monuments. Places where decisive battles were won.  Places where monumental decisions were made.  Places where people banded together and forged a new country.  The United States has many of these historic sites that have become national monuments.  Places that stand to tell the story of our founding as a nation.  Places like the Battlefields of Gettysburg, Independence Hall, Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, the Alamo, and many others.  It is in these places that we remember the battles, the struggles, the countless lives lost, and the hand of God enabling the birth our nation.

For Israel, one of these places was Bethel.  The word “Bethel” is the contraction of two Hebrew words, “Beth” meaning “house” and “El” meaning “God.”  Thus, Beth’el was the “house of God.”  The history of Bethel goes all the way back to Abram who, when he entered Canaan, formed an encampment between Bethel and Hai (Genesis 12:8 ); and on his return from Egypt he came back to it, and again "called upon the name of the Lord."  Later on, Jacob (Abram’s grandson) had an encounter with God at this same place.  Genesis 35:15 tells us that “Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken to him, Beth’el.”

At times of national tragedy, it is not uncommon for the people of a nation to reach back to their history.  Perhaps this is humanity’s way of attempting to find its roots and returning to a more glorious day.  For Israel, the nation had been struggling for 400 years to find its way in their new Land.  For 400 years they had repeatedly gone through the cycle of falling away from God, being defeated by their enemies, then returning to God in tears of repentance.  Now, after 400 years, they are weeping bitterly before God once again as they have drifted so far from Him.

It is time for all of us to get “back to Beth’el” and weep bitterly before our God.  We need to recognize the shattered condition of our nation and return to the House of God and seek His forgiveness.  Our nation – without God – is not invincible.  If we don’t return to Him in weeping and repentance, we cannot long stand. Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” (Luke 11:17)  A society without divine blessing cannot prosper; a nation without faith cannot endure because justice, goodness, and peace cannot prevail without the glory of almighty God.