In those days there was no king

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. – Judges 17v6

This verse always brings back my teaching days. I taught a ‘key verse’ for each book of the Bible and I tried to use innovative methods to help the students to remember them. This was the key verse for Judges and we sang a song that went like this. ‘In those days there was not king, was no king is Israel. And every man did that which was, which was right in his own eyes. No king to rule them, no king to rule them, no king to rule them. No king in Israel.’ We sang this to the tune of ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and all these years later I can still sing it. I wonder how many former students still can J ?

Judges was a difficult time. With no established leadership the people just went about their own way. They did whatever was right in their own eyes without regard to God or any human leadership. There are some truly morbid stories to evidence just how bad man can be when left to his own devices. We see it here in the book of Judges and we see it in everyday life today.

Sadly, too often our own eyes can become our standard. We can make choices based on what makes sense to us instead of what our King says about it. We act like we have no king, even though we do. We think somehow that our King is not really aware of our actions so we pursue that which is right in our own eyes.

How often do our own eyes guide us?