Right Words

If I had to pick the 10 bleakest chapters in scripture, I would tentatively choose the following:

Gen. 6. Universal depravity of the antediluvian world: fallen angels, giants, men, and beasts (“all flesh had corrupted his way”)

Gen. 19. Turpitude of Sodom and its effects on Lot and his family.

Lev. 18. Catalogue of illicit physical unions perpetrated by the Canaanites preceding the Israelite conquest.

Lev. 26. Warnings to the Israelites en route to Canaan on the consequences of disobedience in the promised land.

Num. 31. Divinely decreed vengeance on the Midianites for their offenses against Israel (Num. 25).

Deut. 28. Similar warnings to those in Lev. 26, but to the wilderness survivors on the brink of entering Canaan.

Judg. 17-19. In my opinion, these are some of the bleakest chapters in the Bible, since they portray Israel at one of its lowest points spiritually, almost in a state of anarchy.

Psalm 137. The graphicexamples of divine retribution here are meant to be disagreeable and shed light on how the Israelites were treated by their ruthless conquerors.

After reading my short summaries of these chapters, do you see a thread? If you guessed the sinfulness of man, you are correct; but more holistically, the righteous judgment of God on sin in its various forms. These chapters are not dark because of God. No, the LORD is “righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works” (Ps. 145:17), even severe judgment, which complements his goodness (Rom. 1:22). The truth is that what makes these chapters dark is the sinfulness of man. Thank the Lord for showing us who we truly are apart from him and how desperately we need his grace to redeem us!