Daily Devotional
No King in Israel
When there is no king in a people, lust becomes cruelty, hospitality collapses, and even those set apart for holy service act without wisdom or mercy. The horror at Gibeah did not spring up in one night. It came from smaller despising of God: a woman cast off, men given to shameful passions, a town unwilling to restrain evil, tribes slow to judge themselves before judging another. So the land was filled with blood.
Yet Israel did one thing rightly: they gathered before the Lord as one man. Still, zeal without repentance is not enough. They asked for battle, but only after losses did they learn to weep, fast, and wait upon God. As Cyprian says, “Turn even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;” The church also must not rush to set others in order while keeping its own sins hidden. Judgment begins with truthful repentance.
The outrage of one city became the grief of all the tribes, for the sins of each member wound the whole body. Therefore unity is not mere agreement in anger, but common submission to God in truth. Clement exhorts, “But be ye all joined together with an undivided heart and a willing mind, ‘being of one accord and of one judgment,’ being always of the same opinion about the same things, both when you are at ease and in danger, both in sorrow and in joy.”
Let us then not live as men without a king. Christ rules. Therefore restrain evil early, honor the weak, confess sins plainly, and seek counsel from God with fasting before taking up any hard matter.
“Turn even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;”
— Cyprian, Epistles
“But be ye all joined together with an undivided heart and a willing mind, “being of one accord and of one judgment,” being always of the same opinion about the same things, both when you are at ease and in danger, both in sorrow and in joy.”
— Clement of Alexandria, Epistle to the Philadelphians (Long Version)
For Reflection & Discussion
What sin in your household, speech, or conduct have you delayed judging, and will you confess and forsake it today before it grows worse?
What hard matter facing your family or church needs to be approached with fasting and prayer rather than haste, and when will you set that fast?
Whom have you treated as disposable or left unprotected, and what concrete act of restitution, protection, or mercy will you do for that person this week?
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