In A Time Of No Kings

In A Time Of No Kings

Living Righteously When Everyone Does What Is Right In Their Own Eyes

So here we are, living in a time that really isn’t that different from how things were described at the end of the book of Judges. That line, "Bayamim hahem, ein melekh b'Yisrael; ish hayashar b'einav ya'aseh", means, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). That isn’t just a little summary tacked on at the end of a bad story. That’s God showing us what it looks like when a people stop recognizing Him as their authority. It becomes every man for himself. And when that happens, the idea of righteousness gets totally twisted, because it's no longer about what God says is right, it's just about what feels right. That’s where things always start to break down.

The Hebrew there says ish hayashar b’einav ya’aseh. It literally means, “a man would do the straight thing in his own eyes.” The word yashar, that’s the key. It means straight, upright, even level. Not crooked. So in their own eyes, they were doing the right thing, the straight thing. But the standard was their eyes, not God’s. That’s the problem. They weren’t checking with the Torah. They weren’t asking prophets. They weren’t seeking the LORD. They were just trusting their own perspective. And that always leads to disaster, because we’re not as wise as we think we are.

Now this didn’t come out of nowhere. Back in Deuteronomy 12:8, when Moses was giving instructions before they entered the land, he said, "Lo ta’asu k’khol asher anachnu osim po hayom, ish kol-hayashar b’einav", which means, “You shall not do like we are doing here today, every man what is right in his own eyes.” God had already warned them not to carry that kind of behavior into the land. He said, don’t live like that anymore. When you enter the land and I give you rest, you’re going to have to live by My Word, not by your own feelings. But fast-forward a few generations, and there they are in Judges, doing exactly what He told them not to do.

And it gets worse. If you look at Judges 17, there’s this man named Micah who builds his own little shrine, makes an ephod, sets up household gods, and even hires his own Levite as a private priest. Then he says, "Atah yadati ki yeitiv Adonai li", “Now I know that the LORD will do good to me” (Judges 17:13). He’s got idols. He’s inventing a religion. He’s going totally against Torah, and somehow he believes that God is going to bless him because he means well. That’s how blind we can get when we do what’s right in our own eyes. We start calling our rebellion “worship.” We start thinking that sincerity is the same thing as obedience. But it's not.

Let’s not forget what the word melekh means. That’s the Hebrew word for “king.” In the context of Israel, that wasn’t just a government role. The king was supposed to be someone under God’s rule, someone who would lead people to live according to the Torah. In fact, the whole point of a king was to model obedience. You can see that in Deuteronomy 17:18-19, where God tells them that when they have a king, he’s supposed to write out a copy of the law, and read it every day, so he learns to fear the LORD and keep His Word. The king wasn’t above the law, he was supposed to be under it.

So the real issue in Judges wasn’t just that they didn’t have a human king. It was that they weren’t living like God was king. They had rejected His authority. And when we get to 1 Samuel 8:7, God spells that out plain and clear. He says to Samuel, "Ki lo ot’kha ma’asu, ki oti ma’asu mimlokh aleihem", “They have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.” That one hits deep. They weren’t just asking for a king because they wanted structure. They were asking for a king so they wouldn’t have to deal with the discomfort of being directly under God’s rule. They wanted a buffer. Someone they could negotiate with. But God doesn’t want middlemen, He wants hearts that will listen and obey.

And now, if we shift over to the New Testament, the apostle Paul writes in Romans chapter 1 about this exact same kind of thing. He says, "Kathōs ouk edokimasan ton Theon echein en epignōsei", “Since they did not see fit to retain God in their knowledge” (Romans 1:28). That word epignōsis means a full or clear knowledge, a deep awareness. They chose not to hold onto God in their understanding. So what happened? Paul says God gave them over to a debased mind, a mind that just runs wild. And then there’s this long list of destructive behaviors that flow from that. Not because God cursed them randomly, but because that’s the natural result of pushing Him out. When God’s not the king, the human mind starts making its own rules, and it always, always turns dark.

So whether we’re reading the Torah, the Prophets, or the New Testament, we see the same reality: when there is no submission to God’s rule, when there’s no melekh in our lives, then we each become our own authority. And that might feel like freedom at first, but it always ends up in bondage. We need more than just a moral compass, we need a standard. We need a voice higher than our own. We need a King who is righteous and whose Word doesn’t change with the times.So what does it actually look like to live righteously when everyone around you is doing whatever seems right to them? I mean, if the whole culture is like what we saw in Judges, spiritually confused, morally upside down, how do we walk steady in the middle of that? I think we have to go back to what God originally laid out. That’s where everything always starts: with His Word.

In Deuteronomy 6, right after the Shema, the “Hear, O Israel” passage that everyone knows, God tells His people exactly how to live, and what it means to stay grounded when things around them go sideways. He says, “Ve’ahavta et Adonai Elohekha b’khol levavkha u’v’khol nafshekha u’v’khol me’odekha”, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Right there is where righteousness starts. Not with rules, not with being better than someone else, but with love. Loving God with everything. Your inner life, your energy, your choices, your devotion. And from there, God says to keep His words on your heart, to teach them diligently to your kids, to talk about them when you sit down, when you walk, when you lie down, and when you get up. In other words, your whole life is supposed to revolve around His Word, not just your quiet time or your religious moments, but all of it.

Now that Hebrew word levav, your heart, isn’t just emotions. In Hebrew thought, the heart is your mind, your will, your intentions. Nefesh, your soul, is your life, your breath, your identity. And me’od, your might, really means “muchness,” like all your resources, everything you've got. So what He’s saying is: give Me all of you. Love Me with your thinking, your doing, your living, your strength, your everything. That’s the root of righteousness. That’s what keeps you from drifting into that “every man does what is right in his own eyes” stuff. You stop making yourself the center, and you start orbiting around God again.

Later in that same chapter, God warns them, “Hishamer lekha pen tishkach et Adonai”, “Be careful that you do not forget the LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:12). Forgetting God doesn’t mean forgetting He exists. It means living like He’s not involved, like His Word doesn’t apply anymore. And that’s exactly what was happening in the time of the Judges. They weren’t atheists. They just stopped remembering God in the way they lived. They forgot Him in their decisions. In their justice. In their worship. They knew His name, but not His heart. That’s what unrighteousness really looks like, it’s not always evil on the outside. It’s forgetting who you belong to.

Now flip forward to the prophets, and you see how much this grieved God. In the book of Isaiah, chapter 5, God says, “Oy omrim lara tov v’latov ra”, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). That’s what happens when everybody does what’s right in their own eyes. The categories get flipped. You start seeing things God hates as harmless. You start seeing things He loves as offensive. That’s not just sin, that’s confusion. And it leads to judgment every time.

But God doesn’t just leave us with warnings, He gives us pictures of what real righteousness looks like too. Think about the story of Joseph in Genesis. He was sold by his brothers, thrown in prison, falsely accused, and yet, he never gave in to bitterness or compromise. In Genesis 39, when Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce him, he says, “Eikh e’eseh hara’ah hagedolah hazot v’chatati le’Elohim?”, “How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). Now listen, he didn’t say “I can’t do this because I’ll get caught.” He didn’t even say it would be a sin against Potiphar. He said it would be a sin against God. That’s what it means to live with God as King, even when there’s no earthly king around, even when you’re isolated, in a corrupt environment, and no one would blame you for looking out for yourself. Joseph didn’t live by what was right in his own eyes. He lived by what was right in God’s eyes.

And David? Before he ever became king, when Saul was hunting him down, he had multiple chances to kill Saul and take the throne early. But he said in 1 Samuel 24:6, “Khalilah li me’Adonai im e’eseh et hadavar hazeh”, “Far be it from me, because of the LORD, that I should do this thing.” He refused to take vengeance, even though it made perfect human sense. He wasn’t looking at justice through his own eyes, he was trusting that God would handle it.

And then of course, in the New Testament, we see the same heart in Jesus. In John 5:30, He says, “Ou zētō to thelēma to emon alla to thelēma tou pempsantos me”, “I do not seek my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” That right there is the clearest definition of righteousness we’ve got. Not my will. Not my perspective. His. That’s the opposite of the Judges generation. And it’s the model for us in a world that’s still doing what’s right in its own eyes.

So how do we live that way? By holding on tight to what God says, even when it’s unpopular. By loving Him more than we love our own opinion. By making room in our lives for His voice, not just in the big moments, but in the everyday stuff. That’s what keeps us from drifting. That’s what brings peace when the world is spinning. That’s how we walk straight in a crooked generation.

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It’s easy to think that living righteously is just about you and God, just keeping your own walk clean and not getting swept up in the mess around you. And yes, that’s part of it. But when we really dig into Scripture, we see that God never designed righteousness to be a solo act. He always calls His people to walk together, to hold each other up, and to hold each other accountable. And that’s where things start to stretch us, because in a time when everyone is doing what’s right in their own eyes, it gets harder and harder to walk together in unity under God’s will. That’s why we need each other even more.

Back in Leviticus 19:17-18, God says something that totally flips our modern idea of “live and let live” on its head. He says, “Lo tisna et achikha bilvavekha, hochei’ach tochiach et amitekha, v’lo tisa alav chet”, “You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.” That’s deep. God’s saying, if you see someone going wrong and you stay silent, that’s not love, that’s hatred. And by keeping quiet, you actually share in their sin. Real love means stepping in with truth, not out of pride or condemnation, but because you want to see them come back to the right path. It’s about protecting the relationship between each other and before God.

And right after that, verse 18 gives the foundation of it all: “Ve’ahavta l’rei’akha kamokha”, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus quotes this in the New Testament, but it’s straight out of Torah. So yeah, righteousness is personal, but it’s also deeply communal. You don’t get to just look the other way when your neighbor’s heading off a cliff. God expects us to care, and to speak, and to walk with one another.

In the time of the Judges, this totally fell apart. When tribal leaders went off-track, nobody said a thing. When entire communities did horrific things, like in Judges 19 and 20, there wasn’t a voice that stood up early enough and said, “Hey, this is not of God.” They waited until it exploded into civil war. And that’s what happens when you don’t have a godly structure in place, a king, a prophet, a priesthood that functions rightly, and when nobody takes spiritual responsibility for the community. Righteousness gets redefined, and before long, people are calling violence “justice” and calling disobedience “liberty.”

But let’s not just stay in the warnings, there are examples of what it looks like when people actually walk righteously together, even when they’re surrounded by a crooked generation. Think about Ruth and Boaz. The whole book of Ruth takes place in the time of the Judges, it literally opens with “In the days when the judges ruled.” So right there, we know the setting is moral chaos. But what do we see? A Moabite woman, Ruth, who chooses faithfulness over convenience. And a man, Boaz, who chooses righteousness over advantage.

When Boaz finds out who Ruth is, he doesn’t exploit her. He protects her. He tells his men not to touch her. He makes sure she’s safe. And when the opportunity comes for him to redeem her, he does everything according to the law, no shortcuts, no backroom deals. He even says in Ruth 3:13, “Im yiga’lekh tov, yige’al; v’im lo yachpotz laga’lekh, u’ge’altikh anokhi”, “If he will redeem you, good, let him redeem; but if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you.” Boaz was willing to do it the right way, even if it meant waiting. That’s what righteousness looks like in community. He’s honoring the law, honoring Ruth, and honoring God.

In the New Testament, we see the same pattern in Acts chapter 2. Right after Pentecost, when the Spirit fills the believers, we get this glimpse into what community looks like when Jesus is King and everyone’s living under His rule. Acts 2:44 says, “Kai ēsan pantes hoi pisteuontes epi to auto kai eichon hapanta koina”, “All the believers were together and had everything in common.” They broke bread, prayed, shared what they had. Nobody claimed their stuff as their own. It wasn’t forced socialism, it was willing, joyful generosity rooted in love and truth.

And in Hebrews 10:24-25, we’re reminded why this matters. It says, “Kai katanoōmen allēlous eis paroxusmon agapēs kai kalōn ergōn”, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” Not just stir up arguments. Not stir up drama. But stir up love and good works. That means we’re supposed to be actively thinking about how to help each other live better, love deeper, and stay on track when the world’s pulling us in every direction.

So when there’s no king, and people are doing what’s right in their own eyes, the righteous don’t retreat, we lean into each other. We hold fast to the Word, we hold fast to the Lord, and we hold each other up. And we do it not because we’re better, but because we belong, to God and to each other.

So the truth is, we’re not meant to live without a king. And not just any king, the King. Because yeah, the period of the Judges was wild, and yeah, Israel eventually asked for a king like all the other nations, but even the best of them, David, Solomon, they still fell short. And God knew that. He gave them what they asked for, but all along He was preparing for something better. Someone better. A King who wouldn’t rule for His own glory, who wouldn’t take bribes, who wouldn’t twist justice or break covenant. He was preparing to give us Himself, in flesh, among us.

When Isaiah was prophesying in the middle of national collapse and spiritual confusion, he didn’t just say judgment was coming, he said redemption was, too. In Isaiah 9:6, he writes, “Ki yeled yulad lanu, ben nitan lanu, vatehi hamisrah al shekhmo”, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder.” And he goes on to call Him Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. That’s not a metaphor. That’s a King. That’s a ruler who doesn’t just show up for battle, but carries the government, the authority, the weight, the order, on His shoulders. Not on the people. Not on the culture. On Him.

Fast forward, and that’s exactly what Jesus claimed to be. Not just a teacher. Not just a prophet. Not even just a Savior. He was and is King. In John 18:36-37, when He’s standing before Pilate, He says, “Hē basileia hē emē ouk estin ek tou kosmou toutou”, “My kingdom is not of this world.” And when Pilate asks Him if He’s a king, Jesus doesn’t dodge. He says, “Su legeis hoti basileus eimi”, “You say rightly that I am a king.” And here’s the kicker: “Ego eis touto gegennēmai kai eis touto elēlytha eis ton kosmon, hina marturēsō tē alētheia”, “For this reason I was born, and for this reason I have come into the world: to bear witness to the truth.” So there it is. The King came to bring the truth, and not just speak it, but be it. Live it. Die for it.

That’s the King we follow. And the thing about Jesus is, He doesn’t just give us instructions. He gives us Himself. That’s why in Matthew 28:18, after the resurrection, He says, “Edothē moi pasa exousia en ouranō kai epi tēs gēs”, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” That’s not future tense. That’s now. He’s not going to rule, He already does. The kingdom is real, and it’s present, even in a world that doesn’t recognize it yet.

So what does that mean for us, right now, in this world that still feels like Judges all over again? It means we’re not waiting around for a better government or a more moral society or a religious revival to start living under the King. We already have Him. And we already know what He wants.

He wants us to obey His voice. To love Him with everything. To love our neighbors like we love ourselves. To carry each other’s burdens. To reject idols. To stay clean in a dirty culture. To speak the truth even when it costs us. To forgive the people who don’t deserve it. To live like He’s really on the throne, because He is.

And here’s the beauty of it: we’re not trying to do all this in our own strength. Because if we’re honest, we’re not naturally righteous. Left to ourselves, we’ll fall right into the Judges cycle, doing what’s right in our own eyes, then paying for it, then crying out for help, then forgetting again. But through Jesus, the King, we’ve been given the Spirit. In Ezekiel 36:26-27, God promised it way before Pentecost. He said, “Ve’natati lachem lev chadash, v’ruach chadashah eten b’kirb’chem”, “I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you.” And then He says, “V’et ruachi eten b’kirb’chem, v’heilkhalti etchem b’chukotai”, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes.”

That’s how we live righteously in a time like this. Not by being strong enough. Not by trying harder than the next person. But by yielding, really yielding, to the King. Letting His Spirit shape us. Letting His Word correct us. Letting His presence anchor us. And remembering, always, that the world might not see Him yet, but we do.

So yeah, we might be living in a time with no visible king, with everybody doing what’s right in their own eyes. But we’re not leaderless. We’re not lost. We’ve got a King. And He’s not absent, He’s reigning. Right now. And He’s coming again, not to take sides, but to take over. Until then, we live like citizens of His kingdom, right in the middle of the mess. We shine. We speak. We stay steady. We live straight when the world bends. Because we know who we belong to.

And that changes everything to carry His Kingdom forward. That means living out His truth every day, in every moment. It means not just talking about His reign, but demonstrating it in how we live. Jesus didn’t just teach about His Kingdom, He embodied it. He demonstrated what it looks like when the reign of God touches every aspect of life: the way we love, the way we serve, the way we stand for truth.

In a world where everyone is doing what seems right in their own eyes, our challenge is clear. We have a King. And His reign is real. The kingdom is not some far-off future reality, it’s a present truth that we live under now. Our job is to submit ourselves fully to Him, to follow His example, and to live out His commands with the strength that only comes from His Spirit. We are not waiting for God to set things right someday; we are part of the process right now, under His rule, walking out His righteousness in a world that desperately needs it.

So, in the midst of a society that no longer knows or even cares about absolute truth, we have to hold fast to His Word. We have to live as if He is King, because He is. We have to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and love our neighbors as ourselves, even when the world tells us to do what’s right in our own eyes.

And this is where the power of righteousness lies. It’s not in being better than others, or more moral, or following a set of rules. It’s in submitting our lives to the authority of Jesus, the King, who leads us in a way that is not just right in our own eyes, but in God’s eyes. We don’t make up our own standards of right and wrong, we follow the One who is the Truth.

The King has come. And He’s called us to live under His reign, in His Kingdom, even now. So let’s do it. Let’s live righteous lives not because it’s easy, but because He is worthy, and His way is the only way that leads to life. Let’s remember that, just like in the time of the Judges, when everyone does what seems right in their own eyes, the only safe place to stand is under the authority of the true King.

 

 

image by deepdream.ai with my description.