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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.
