October 20, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Isaiah 34:1-37:13; Philippians 3:1-21

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Judges 19:1-9

1     Now it came about in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah.

     2     But his concubine played the harlot against him, and she went away from him to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah, and was there for a period of four months.

     3     Then her husband arose and went after her to speak tenderly to her in order to bring her back, taking with him his servant and a pair of donkeys. So she brought him into her father’s house, and when the girl’s father saw him, he was glad to meet him.

     4     His father-in-law, the girl’s father, detained him; and he remained with him three days. So they ate and drank and lodged there.

     5     Now on the fourth day they got up early in the morning, and he prepared to go; and the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Sustain yourself with a piece of bread, and afterward you may go.”

     6     So both of them sat down and ate and drank together; and the girl’s father said to the man, “Please be willing to spend the night, and let your heart be merry.”

     7     Then the man arose to go, but his father-in-law urged him so that he spent the night there again.

     8     On the fifth day he arose to go early in the morning, and the girl’s father said, “Please sustain yourself, and wait until afternoon”; so both of them ate.

     9     When the man arose to go along with his concubine and servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Behold now, the day has drawn to a close; please spend the night. Lo, the day is coming to an end; spend the night here that your heart may be merry. Then tomorrow you may arise early for your journey so that you may go home.” NASB95^[1]

First of all, what is a concubine?  In the English the word is translated as a mistress, or a person that is being cohabited with.  In other words, marriage in the legal sense of the word is not taking place.  In biblical times a concubine was a woman who a man was married to, but of a lesser stature than a regular wife.  It was one of the forms of polygamy, and was practiced by the wealthy to show social status.  In this case, a Levite may have had a concubine because for some reason she was not worthy of the status as a Levite wife.  The Levitical law had some strict standards for the wives of Levites, and men are always finding ways around God's laws. 

If she were merely a lover, I don't think that this man would have traveled so far to get her back.  He also did not want to stay at her home for some reason.  Perhaps the reason was that her father did not send her back to him when she came home.  We really don't know the reason here.  If I am reading the text right, the implication from the scripture is that the father was only interested in worldly pleasures and in the pleasures of the moment.  In other words, it was time to party!  Whatever the reason here, the man was not enjoying the visit and departed late in the day to begin his journey home after being detained for five days. 

Josephus throws some interesting light on the subject because it is indicated that the reason he left was because of marital conflicts where they were fighting.  The Scripture indicates that she was unfaithful to him, indicating that she was behaving as a harlot or involved in sex outside of the marriage.  If that were the only reason that she left, I would wager that the Levite would not have sought her out.  As a matter of fact, it would have been more reasonable for him to have her stoned to death.  The Levite was in love, he sought out his wife, collected her and was returning home, or so it seems.  Perhaps he did not love her as much as seems to be indicated because later in the chapter he allows her to be sexually abused by the men of the city.  When that happens, he doesn't seem to be protecting her as a loving husband, but rather punishing her or treating her as an worthless object.  We really don't know.  I know things aren't what they seem to be in this story. 

Another way to look at this story is that in the previous chapter a different Levite responded to the times by switching sides and following after a false god.  This engineered the opportunity for an entire tribe of Israel to enter into idolatry.  The Levite in this passage is seeking out an adulterous wife, apparently crippled by the morals of the times.  He will later draw Israel together through the experience, we'll look more at that in the next few days.  We are looking at a graphic wake-up call for a nation that had strayed away from the Lord.  The question is whether or not it will work.  I wonder if we have entered into a similar situation today with the loose morals of our country.  What will it take to wake up the Christian community?  We will consider that question as we study this passage further.

In short, we really don't know why he sought out his concubine.  It could have been due to love, or to a refusal to allow his wife to leave him, or to a need to control her in some way.  We really don't know, all we know is that he sought her out and convinced her to return to him through soft words.  He talked her into coming back to him; that much we do know.

I am going to close here, all comments are welcomed.  Be sure to check out Erik's comments on yesterday's study, pasted below.

Father as we consider the tragic story before us, give us understanding on how to apply the principles behind this to our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

October 21, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Isaiah 37:14-39:8; Philippians 4:1-23

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Judges 19:10-21

10     But the man was not willing to spend the night, so he arose and departed and came to a place opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). And there were with him a pair of saddled donkeys; his concubine also was with him.

     11     When they were near Jebus, the day was almost gone; and the servant said to his master, “Please come, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.”

     12     However, his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners who are not of the sons of Israel; but we will go on as far as Gibeah.”

     13     He said to his servant, “Come and let us approach one of these places; and we will spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”

     14     So they passed along and went their way, and the sun set on them near Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin.

     15     They turned aside there in order to enter and lodge in Gibeah. When they entered, they sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night.

     16     Then behold, an old man was coming out of the field from his work at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was staying in Gibeah, but the men of the place were Benjamites.

     17     And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”

     18     He said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, for I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem in Judah. But I am now going to my house, and no man will take me into his house.

     19     “Yet there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and also bread and wine for me, your maidservant, and the young man who is with your servants; there is no lack of anything.”

     20     The old man said, “Peace to you. Only let me take care of all your needs; however, do not spend the night in the open square.”

     21     So he took him into his house and gave the donkeys fodder, and they washed their feet and ate and drank. NASB95^[1]

It is interesting the way that the story develops.  The Levite was not comfortable staying in a city of strangers.  He felt that it was more necessary to move on to the land of his relatives.  Israel should be a safe place for him to spend the night.  This sounds logically true, and one would reasonably expect to be safer staying with those who are related to you. 

One other thing to notice is that these people really liked to party.  Look closely at verses 19-20, even though he was not invited into the homes of the people, there was sufficient supplies to meet his needs in the square.  It seems from his response that he was having quite a good time, and wasn't really worried about his safety at all.  As a matter of fact, from his response, he seems to be quite content in the square. 

The old man knew more, and persuaded the man to bring his family into his home.  It is interesting that this man wanted to defend the guests in his city.  It seems that he wanted to make sure that the old tradition of taking care of strangers was adhered to. 

Take in the scene; consider what is happening in the story.  Everything seems to be good, everybody is friendly, and the Levite is enjoying his time in the city.  The city was in deep sin, and it appeared to be good.  That is a cause of concern for all of us, the illusion of peace and tranquility can be false, and leading up to a disaster.

Erik sent in a comment on yesterday's study.  He is thinking out of the box on this one, very profound, and something to think about. Check out his comments following this study, (it is archived on the website under yesterday's study).

Father, as we consider Your word, and the situation the Levite was under, open our eyes so that we can see and perceive where we are at.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

October 23, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Isaiah 40:1-44:8 ; Colossians 1:1-2:23

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Sorry folks, I missed a day. 

Judges 19:22-30

22     While they were celebrating, behold, the men of the city, certain worthless fellows, surrounded the house, pounding the door; and they spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house that we may have relations with him.”

     23     Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my fellows, please do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not commit this act of folly.

     24     “Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Please let me bring them out that you may ravish them and do to them whatever you wish. But do not commit such an act of folly against this man.”

     25     But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and brought her out to them; and they raped her and abused her all night until morning, then let her go at the approach of dawn.

     26     As the day began to dawn, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was, until full daylight.

     27     When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, then behold, his concubine was lying at the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold.

     28     He said to her, “Get up and let us go,” but there was no answer. Then he placed her on the donkey; and the man arose and went to his home.

     29     When he entered his house, he took a knife and laid hold of his concubine and cut her in twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.

     30     All who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it, take counsel and speak up!” NASB95^[1]

Can you imagine being in that place?  Apparently the city was full of homosexuals, yet they weren't as picky as the homosexuals that were at Sodom and Gomorrah because they did not refuse the women that were offered to them.  They literally raped and abused her to death, then returned her body to the house of the old man. 

The first point I'd like to make on this is that everything seemed to be good when he entered the city.  Everyone was friendly.  They even shared their food and straw with the travelers.  However it happened, almost all of the men of the city preferred men as sexual partners.  They were not particular regarding the women either.  Notice that they refused to take the daughter of the old man, she was part of their community.  They did take the Levites concubine without question, because she didn't mean anything to them.

The last point, the Levite wasn't in much better condition than the men of the city.  He is seemingly being protected by the old man, but rather he is throwing his wife to the dogs.  The sacrifice of his concubine and offering her as a sex toy for the men of the city demonstrates that all he was concerned about was saving his own hide.  Whatever the reason for seeking out his wife from her homeland seems to lose it's noble purposes in light of this act of cowardice.  I'm not saying that he should have gone out himself, but he should have never sent the women out, it was a time to take up a sword and defend his home to the best of his ability.

Notice that he was not expecting to find his wife on the doorstep.  When he did find her, he treated her with insensitivity, telling her to get up and get moving.  The text seems to indicate that he was not concerned with the welfare of his wife, he was going to leave town without her, finding her on the doorstep was a surprise to him.  The dead woman didn't respond.  He then picked her up, placed her on a donkey and carried her back to his home.  At that time he had finally become angry enough to take up the sword and cut her corpse to pieces sending the twelve pieces to the twelve tribes of Israel.  Nothing like it had ever happened before, it was a wake up call for the nation. 

Last thought on this, as sexual promiscuity builds in America we are going down the same road.  The homosexual population is small in numbers, but great in strength, and it is a matter of time before we start hearing about stories like this one.  Please don't get me wrong on this, I believe that the homosexual people need to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and abandon their so called "natural tendencies".  This will take a huge miracle for each one that is drawn away from this lifestyle of sin. 

As the end times approach, things are not going to get better, they are going to get worse.  Already in America our church attendance has dwindled to the point where most churches are fortunate to be half full.  I hope that I am wrong, but the days of our children will be much darker than our days are because people are listening more to the secular world, rather than listening to God.  Once they abandon Him, the natural progression of man leads to perversion, just like it did during the days of the Judges.  The sixties ushered in the "feel-good" movement, that was corrected a bit by a built in social conscience which brought about the "Jesus movement".  Today as things slowly turn to sexual sin and to self autonomy, we are soon to be faced with an immoral society without a biblically based social conscience. 

Our job is to get on the bandwagon and draw as many as possible into simply reading the Word of God.  It's time to abandon our religious denominations because the crisis is staring us in the face.  Infighting between denominations and communities of believers will only aid the enemy in his move to remove the moral heart of America.  Enough for now, sorry about getting preachy.

Father, as we reflect on the tragedy described in this passage, draw each of us to a close relationship with You. 

In Him,

Joe Turner.