Surprise Picks: An Ancient tale of Redemption

A little over a week ago, Senator John McCain shocked his party, his opponents, and the world with his pick of female Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Unlike her critics, I applaud her selection, not only b/c she is a conservative woman, but b/c her record in Alaska demonstrates that she is a capable leader.
Some folks diminish her track record, but I do not find her selection nearly as surprising as one God made quite some time ago when leadership was in decline and moral integrity at an all time low for the Israelites in ancient times.
The book of Judges (Old Testament of the Bible) ends with a very sad depiction of Israelite society without a judge to lead them. But in it, I found a marvelous act of redemption from the heart of God (and a surprise pick) that is often overlooked.
A Levite priest had been traveling with his new wife (Judges 19) and stayed the night in Gibeah (a town in the land of Benjamin). While there, several men in the city gang-raped the girl, and she died.
The Levite calls upon the other tribes of Israel to vindicate this horrible crime. Four hundred thousand leaders and warriors show up and vow to take revenge. This comes in two forms: one, they vow never to give their daughters as wives to Benjaminites and two, they go to war and slaughter the entire tribe of Benjamin (b/c they harbored and protected the guilty men of Gibeah), with the exception of 600 men who manage to escape.
Afterward, the Israelites mourn the potential loss of an entire tribe (the 600 will not have any Jewish girls to marry and continue an unpolluted bloodline). They find a loophole: no one from the town of Jabesh-Gilead had made the vow not to marry the Benjaminites, so the four hundred virgins available are offered to the remnant, leaving two hundred to "kidnap" (with permission) maidens who attend a festival in Shiloh.

So, the tribe of Benjamin, once favored by Jacob, is rescued from annihilation, but the story of redemption, God's redemption, is so much greater...

Judges closes with the simple commentary: "In those days, Israel had no king, so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes." (Judges 21:25) Moral decline. An absence of leadership. A need for change.

Moving along in the Scriptures, one comes along the book of Ruth, story of the Moabite woman who marries Boaz and becomes the great-grandmother of King David, and a progenitor of Christ.
This book is followed by I Samuel, which tells the story of the last judge of Israel and its first king.

After many years of successfully leading Israel, Samuel the judge grows old, and the people request a king.
God grants their request by selecting Saul of Kish...a Benjaminite!

When Saul himself objects by pointing out, "I'm only from Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel..the least important [family] of all,"(I Sam 9:21) then hides at the public announcement of his anointing, I have a much better idea now why!

What grace on the part of God to favor a tribe whose last mention was the shame and reproach of a sin labeled the worst since Israel had left Egypt! (Judges 19:30)

The sinful tribe of Benjamin, nearly wiped out for its stubborn refusal to deal with a brutal crime, is chosen to receive the highest honor: the crown in Israel.

In the person of Saul, the tribe of Benjamin is lifted from the lowest status (least in number and in honor) to the highest in rank and power.
In addition, God pours out His Spirit on Saul, changing his heart and causing him to prophesy (I Sam. 10:9, 10).
It's not the people's choice--it is the Lord's: "This is the man the Lord has chosen as your king. No one in all Israel is his equal!" (I Sam. 10:24)
Now that is a surprise pick!!!