Every man did that which was right in his own eyes

Student Choice assignment #2
Judges 17-21

1. Read chapter summaries for Judges 17-21. Read institute manual commentary for "Every man did that which was right in his own eyes".  Write brief summary of events described in these chapters.

*Micah the Levite made graven images to worship and consecrated a priest for himself.
*Danites went in search of an inheritance.
* Rape of concubine at Gibeah
*Tribe of Benjamin almost all killed in a war

It was easy to tell from reading these chapter summaries why the statement is made that "every man did that which was right in his own eyes".  The people did not make the best choices and in doing what they felt was RIGHT, they made grievous mistakes that cost them so much.  Micah thought that having his own priest would make the Lord bless him because he had a priest, but he missed the boat by going about it the wrong way.  The Benjaminites abused a concubine and she died and that essentially started a war which did not help the Benjaminites because they were almost all wiped out and they started out being the smallest tribe anyway.  The Danites went in search of a land to dwell in, an inheritance, and passed by where Micah dwelt and took his priest and his graven images and went to a land that was quiet and peaceful and burnt it and took it over. 

2.  Read Judges 21:25. Explain why this is such an accurate description of this terrible time of Israel's history.  Read John 14:6; 2 Ne 9:28-29; Isaiah 55:8-9.  Write the reasons these verses give for why doing things the Lord's way is so much better than our own.

The people had no king at this time.  They had no leader.  No one who was guiding them and giving them counsel to help them make good choices and be peaceful one with another.  Therefore they acted selfishly and only seemed to care about themselves and how they could get ahead no matter the cost to others.  The scripture in Isaiah spoke about how the "heavens are higher than the earth" and so God knows so much more than we do.  In John it said the Christ is "the way, the truth and the life", the only way for us to know or to get to be with Heavenly Father is through Christ.  And in 2 Nephi it talked about the "cunning plan of the evil one" and how we don't listen to the counsels of God because we think we are wise and already know everything.  Our so called "wisdom" is not true wisdom and it doesn't help us or do us any favors.  We NEED the Lord's help!  We need His guidance because we can not possibly get back to our Father without Him in our lives guiding us.