Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
In those days Israel had no king.
Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her father's house in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her father's house, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. His father-in-law, the girl's father, prevailed upon him to stay; so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping there.
On the fourth day they got up early and he prepared to leave, but the girl's father said to his son-in-law, "Refresh yourself with something to eat; then you can go." So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterward the girl's father said, "Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself." And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the girl's father said, "Refresh yourself. Wait till afternoon!" So the two of them ate together.
Then when the man, with his concubine and his servant, got up to leave, his father-in-law, the girl's father, said, "Now look, it's almost evening. Spend the night here; the day is nearly over. Stay and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning you can get up and be on your way home." But, unwilling to stay another night, the man left and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.
When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, "Come, let's stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night."
His master replied, "No. We won't go into an alien city, whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah." He added, "Come, let's try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places." So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. There they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no one took them into his home for the night.
That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was living in Gibeah (the men of the place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the fields. When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, "Where are you going? Where did you come from?"
He answered, "We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord. No one has taken me into his house. We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves your servants—me, your maidservant, and the young man with us. We don't need anything."
"You are welcome at my house," the old man said. "Let me supply whatever you need. Only don't spend the night in the square." So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.
While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him."
The owner of the house went outside and said to them, "No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this disgraceful thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don't do such a disgraceful thing."
But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.
When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, "Get up; let's go." But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.
When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. Everyone who saw it said, "Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!"
Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out as one man and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah. The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords. (The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, "Tell us how this awful thing happened."
So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, "I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel's inheritance, because they committed this lewd and disgraceful act in Israel. Now, all you Israelites, speak up and give your verdict."
All the people rose as one man, saying, "None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house. But now this is what we'll do to Gibeah: We'll go up against it as the lot directs. We'll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Gibeah in Benjamin, it can give them what they deserve for all this vileness done in Israel." So all the men of Israel got together and united as one man against the city.
Judges 19, 20:1-11
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
There’s a lot of good in the world today. I know it seems that it isn’t that way by what we see in the news every day but do you think the news gives us an accurate assessment on the way things really are? Or does the news just show us what they want to show us?
I think the answers are no and yes…and one answer leads to the other.
For truly, any news show is subjective. They can’t possibly show everything. Instead, they have to show what they consider to be newsworthy. And this is where there will be an endless number of opinions given. For what is newsworthy to one person won’t necessarily be newsworthy to another.
So what often ends up being newsworthy? In a twisted way, it ends up being the negative, the tragic or the misfortunate things that happen. We rarely hear about good news but that don’t think for a minute that it’s because there isn’t any good news. There is but too often we never hear about it. Wouldn’t you like it if that could change? Me too and believe it or not…it could if we wanted it to. We only need to denounce evil and all stand for nothing less than good.
It’s this point that I think is central to the scripture in this devotional.
As Chapter 19 opens up, we see an immoral situation, one that would probably be interesting in a world that seems to thrive on sinful news. For we read of a Levite from Ephraim who took a concubine (mistress) from Judah who then was unfaithful to him before leaving and moving back in with her father.
So a priest had a mistress who had an affair and then left him. That’s how this story starts. It gets worse.
For the Levite goes to the concubine’s father and wants to get her back. Her father encourages him to stay there first three days which turns into a fourth day which turns into a fifth day and a proposed sixth day before the Levite decides to take the concubine, a male servant and donkeys and head toward Jebus (which scripture tells us is Jerusalem).
As they neared Jebus, the Levite was asked by his male servant about staying there. Not wanting to stay with alien people who weren’t Israelite, the Levite committed to traveling further to Gibeah or Ramah where they would settle down. They finally arrived in Gibeah, located in Benjamin, and surprisingly were not shown hospitality by any fellow Israelites, instead spending the night in the city square.
The next day, they were approached by an older man who was from Ephraim but who resided in Gibeah. The man had just come in from the fields when he saw the Levite, his concubine and the donkeys and asked, “"Where are you going? Where did you come from?" After the Levite answered the question, he details all he has finishing up by saying, “We don't need anything." In other words, we don’t need anything else except a place to stay. To this, the man said, “You are welcome at my house…Let me supply whatever you need.” So the old man took the Levite, his concubine, his servant and his donkeys in…feeding the donkeys, providing water so the guests could wash their feet and then giving them food and drink. All seemed well but that was soon to end.
For scripture tells us that “while they were enjoying themselves”, some “wicked men of the city surrounded the house”, “pounding on the door and shouting to the old man who owned the house”. They asked for the Levite to come out so the men could have sex with him. So Gibeah was no more that another Sodom.
We read where the older man…the owner of the house…tried to reason with the men saying, “No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this disgraceful thing”. Instead, the older man offered up his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine in exchange for the Levite saying, “I will bring them (the women) out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don't do such a disgraceful thing."
So the story thickens. A group of homosexual men want to have sex with a male guest and so the host offers his daughter and a concubine to them in his place, telling them they can do whatever they want to them.
The homosexual Gibeahites refused to listen to the older man and so the Levite did something terrible. He sent his concubine outside to the men who “raped her and abused her throughout the night” until dawn. As she tried to get back into the house, she fell and died at the doorway.
Another story headline…Mistress from Judah dies after being raped and abused by a group of homosexual men in Gibeah.
The Levite, who basically was an accessory to the concubine’s murder, inexcusably didn’t check on her until he woke up in the morning. After finding her dead, he “put her on his donkey and set out for home”. Once there, he did something horrific. For scripture tells us he “took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel”. Imagine what that must have been like…a tribe receiving something and discovering it was a body part. It’s little wonder that “everyone who saw it said, ‘Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!’
News flash! Levite man cuts his dead mistress into twelve pieces and mails a part of her to each tribe.
Well, the people of Israel were up in arms and they all “came out as one man and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah”. There, the “leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords” and asked, “Tell us how this awful thing happened."
Israel gathers at Mizpah! Demands explanation from priest!
So the Levite tells the gathered Israelites the story of what happened and why he felt impelled to send them a piece of the concubine to bring their attention to the “lewd and disgraceful act” and asking Israel to “…speak up and give your verdict." Israel stated their allegiance in standing against the evil committed and “united as one man against the city” (Gibeah) for the “vileness done”.
Breaking news! Israel promises to stand united against the evil in Gibeah!
Indeed…breaking news. A people bonding together against evil. Imagine that.
But how about doing more than just imagining it. How about actually doing it?
What if all people came together and decided they had had enough of evil? What kind of different world would we live in? For in essence, if all people stood together with one voice against evil, they would all speaking out against Satan…and in speaking out against him, there would be no place for him to work. For everyone would be committed to good and just and right…everyone would be committed to the things of the Lord.
Maybe I’m a dreamer but I refuse to lose hope in a day when evil might end. In fact, none of us should because Jesus promised us it would come…on the day He returns. And He will return one day to make everything right in the world…to hit the reset button on creation and set things back to where they were before sin and evil entered in.
Friends, this is good news for us…news that will always keep things bright, no matter what else we might hear or read. Evil will NEVER have the full victory and WILL NOT stand the test of time. Good WILL reign supreme one day. These are the divine headlines we should always hold to and tell others about. And when they ask where we got the news from, we need only tell them that they came from one author…the Author of our lives and Savior of our souls…Jesus Christ. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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