What Is Sin? – Judges 20:16
Among all these were 700 chosen men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
Judges 19-21 records an event in the history of Israel during the time of the Judges that led to a war between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of Israel. Israel and Benjamin both mustered their troops in the lead-up to this war. And the verse quoted above partially describes the forces available to Benjamin.
They had 700 chosen men who were left-handed. The significance of being left-handed is unknown. It may be that their attack came from an unexpected direction. And these 700 were expert marksmen. They could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. I suspect this was somewhat of an exaggeration, but, like David facing Goliath, they were deadly accurate.
That is interesting. But what does it have to do with sin? The word translated in Judges 20:16 as miss is ḥâṭâ’. This word is used 238 times in the Old Testament. And in 188 of those times, it is translated as sin.
Missing the Target
These 700 marksmen provide an illustration of what sin is. It is missing the target. What is the target? You might say it is the standard God has set for me.
There is a moral standard that I should live up to. And when I fall short of that standard, I miss the mark and have sinned. That is how we most commonly understand sin.
But it is more than just a moral failure. If God calls me to do something, and I fail to do it, I miss the mark and have sinned. God gifts each of us to serve within the body of Christ. When we fail to properly use those gifts to serve Christ and his body, we also miss the mark and have sinned.
What I am doing might be good. But is it what God wants me to be doing? If not, I have fallen short, missing the mark, and sinned against my Lord.
Our goal as believers should be to become expert marksmen, always striving to hit the mark with missing.
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