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In Christ, Mark
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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 our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
There’s a lot of good going on in the world today.
I know it seems that it isn’t true from what we see in the news every day but ask yourself whether or not the news stations give us an accurate assessment of the way things really are…or do they 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 program is inherently subjective and too often, not objective. On one hand, it’s impossible to show everything but there is a choice as to what gets shown and if or if not an agenda is set that dictates content shared. So what we see is stations choosing programming they feel will be newsworthy but also allowing the worldviews, which includes political leanings, to shape what gets shown and how it is framed to the viewers. Too often this ends up with a story that may be interesting to one person that is rejected by another.
Of course, there are some happenings that seem to appeal to all and unfortunately these events are the tragic, unfortunate things that happen to people like people being shot, sometimes dead. Or other acts of violence that are committed. Or serious car accidents. Indeed, it seems like we rarely hear about good news but we shouldn’t be so naïve to believe that there isn’t any to report on for there is…a multitude of stories that would speak to the wonderful things people are doing for others…but those stories just don’t make it into the broader public eye.
Wouldn’t it be refreshing if we could change that? Wouldn’t you tune into a channel where there was nothing but positive uplifting news, 24/7?
I know I would and it’s not something that is impossible in any way. As a people, we just need to demand that we’re done hearing about shooting and killing and bad wrecks and will stand for nothing less than hearing of all the good that is happening in our communities and world.
It’s this point, exchanging glorification of evil for the promotion of good, that I think is central to the scripture in this message today. For as we see Judges, chapter 19 open, we are immersed in an immoral situation, one that would probably be interesting in a world that seems to thrive on sinful news. This immorality involves a Levite (priest) from Ephraim who took a concubine (mistress) from Judah who was then unfaithful to him before leaving altogether and moving back in with her father.
So to summarize, a priest had a mistress who had an affair and then left him. That’s how this story starts.
And then it gets worse.
For the scriptures tell us the Levite went to the concubine’s father, wanting to get her back. Her father encourages him to first stay there three days which turns into a fourth day and then a fifth before proposing a sixth that had the Levite fed up. We read where he decides to take the concubine, a male servant, and donkeys, heading toward Jebus (which was another name for Jerusalem).
Well, as they neared Jebus, we see where the male servant suggests that they should stay in the city, a suggestion that was quickly shot by the Levite because the Jebusite people were alien people (non-Israelite). And so the Levite traveled beyond Jebus to Gibeah, located in Benjamin, where they were “surprisingly…not shown hospitality by any fellow Israelites” and so they spent “the night in the city square” instead.
The next day, we read where they were approached by an older man who was from Ephraim but resided in Gibeah. Having just returned from the fields, he saw the Levite, his concubine, and donkeys and asked them:
"Where are you going? Where did you come from?"
And after the Levite answered the man’s question, he details all he has before finishing up by saying:
“We don't need anything."
In other words, the Levite was basically saying that all they needed was just a place to stay in town.
Well, in an instant act of hospitality common to the Jewish cultural norms, the man tells the Levite:
“You are welcome at my house…Let me supply whatever you need.”
And with that, 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 change.
For the scriptures tell us that while the old man and his company were “enjoying themselves”, some “wicked men of the city surrounded the house” and pounded “on the door”. They shouted out to the old man, asking him to send out the Levite guest so they could have sex with him…which in the moment, made Gibeah look like another Sodom.
In response to this, 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”.
We even see the older man and Levite do something unconscionable as they were willing to give a virgin daughter and concubine respectively in place of 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."
Note how the virgin daughter and concubine didn’t have a vote in this matter as the plot thickens. The old man and Levite were willing to sacrifice them to prevent the Levite from being sexually assaulted…and this would have been bad enough but we see where they also granted the Gibeathite men permission to do whatever they wanted to the women. It was nothing short of horrific.
Well, we read where the homosexual Gibeathites refused to listen to the older man and so the Levite did something incredibly awful for the scriptures tell us that he sent his concubine outside to the men who “raped…and abused her throughout the night” until dawn. After the evil onslaught, we read where she tried to get back into the house but fell and died at the doorway.
If there was a news station in biblical times, they may have led with the following headline…”Mistress from Judah dies after being raped and abused by a group of homosexual men in Gibeah”.
When we get right down to it, the Levite was essentially an accessory to the concubine’s murder and inexcusably, he didn’t even check on her until he woke up in the morning. When he found her dead, we read where he “put her on his donkey and set out for home” and when he arrived there, he did something else that was outrageously amoral . For the scriptures tell us that he “took a knife and cut up” the dead concubine “limb by limb” and “into twelve parts” which he then sent “into all the areas of Israel”.
Can you imagine what this much have been like for each of the twelve Israelite tribes who received a portion of this woman’s body from the Levite?
It’s little wonder that “everyone who saw it said” the following:
“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!”
Again, a news channel back then might have this as the main story:
“Breaking news! Levite man cuts his dead mistress into twelve pieces and mails one part of her to each tribe.”
Well, the reaction of the Israelites was understandable for we read where they were up in arms, all coming “out as one man” to assemble “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."
“News flash! Israel gathers at Mizpah! Demands explanation from a Levite priest!”
In response to the request, we find the Levite telling the gathered Israelites about what happened in Gibeah and why he felt impelled to send them a piece of the concubine to bring their attention to the “lewd and disgraceful act” that had taken place. He asked for the people of Israel to “speak up and give your verdict” and we see where the Israelites pledge their unity in standing up against the “vileness done”.
“This just in! The people of Israel unite against the heinous evil done in Gibeah!
Friends, isn’t this something we should be doing as well? Shouldn’t we show ourselves as a people who are lock-stepped in our rejection of evil, no matter what form it takes.
For how much change would we see our world if every single person would decide that they were fed up with evil once and for all?
The world’s population is around 8 billion people and there is no question it can be a force if they would only be able to come together for a common cause. If this force, under the guidance and direction of God, spoke out against any and all forms of wickedness, it would be the same as speaking out against Satan himself and if everyone were opposed to him then there would be no place for him to do his malevolent work. Everyone would be committed to things that are good and just and right because they would be dedicated 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 that this day will one day come…on the day when He returns. When that happens, we know through the scriptures that perfect justice will be carried out as the reset button is hit on all creation, returning things to where they were before sin entered in…to a place where there was no evil.
My brothers and sisters, this is incredible good news for us, today and every day, news that will always keep things bright and joyful, no matter what else we might hear or read in the worldly news.
The truth is that evil will NEVER have the full victory and WILL NOT stand the test of time for good WILL reign supreme one day.
These are divine headlines given to us by God’s Word and we should always hold to…and tell others about them, making sure that the perfect promise of this good news is grounded in Jesus, the Author of our lives and Savior of our souls…the One who will vanquish Satan and evil from life forever.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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