OK, you can turn in your Bibles to Judges chapter 19. Judges chapter 19, somewhat of a disturbing chapter of Scripture. As I mentioned in prayer, it records the depravity of man. 19, 20, and 21 are a unit. It is a unit that goes together.
But because of the length, we'll just deal with 19 this Wednesday night. and then take up the subsequent chapters in the following Wednesday nights. We will probably stop after Judges in terms of our study in the Old Testament. We will resume probably in the fall, and we will be in the book of Ruth. We're not going to skip Ruth.
We'll go through Ruth and then continue on to 1 Samuel. But after completing Judges, there'll probably be a few weeks span before we actually get into the book of Ruth. So beginning in chapter 19 at verse 1, And it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote mountains of Ephraim. He took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
But his concubine played the harlot against him and went away from him to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah and was there four whole months. Then her husband arose and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back, having his servant and a couple of donkeys with him. So she brought him into her father's house. And when the father of the young woman saw him, he was glad to meet him.
Now his father-in-law, the young woman's father, detained him. And he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank and lodged there. Then it came to pass on the fourth day that they arose early in the morning.
And he stood to depart, but the young woman's father said to his son-in-law, refresh your heart with a morsel of bread and afterward go your way. So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the young woman's father said to the man, please be content to stay all night and let your heart be merry. When the man stood to depart, his father-in-law urged him, so he lodged there again.
Then he rose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart, but the young woman's father said, please refresh your heart. So they delayed until afternoon, and both of them ate. And when the man stood to depart, he and his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the young woman's father, said to him, look, the day is now drawing toward evening. Please spend the night.
See, the day is coming to an end. Lodge here that your heart may be merry. Tomorrow, go your way early so that you may get home. However, the man was not willing to spend that night.
So he rose and departed and came opposite Jebus, that is, Jerusalem. With him were the two saddle donkeys. His concubine was also with him. They were near Jebus, and the day was far spent.
And the servant said to his master, come, please, and let us turn aside into the city of the Jebusites and lodge in it. But his master said to him, we will not turn aside here into a city of foreigners who are not of the children of Israel. We will go on to Gibeah. So he said to his servant, come, let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or in Ramah.
And they passed by and went their way. And the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. They turned aside there to go in to lodge in Gibeah. And when he went in, he sat down in the open square of the city, for no one would take them into his house to spend the night.
Just then, an old man came in from his work in the field at evening, who was also from the mountains of Ephraim. He was staying in Gibeah, whereas the men of the place were Benjamites. And when he raised his eyes, he 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?
So he said to him, we are passing from Bethlehem and Judah toward the remote mountains of Ephraim. I am from there. I went to Bethlehem and Judah. Now I am going to the house of the Lord.
There is no one who will take me into his house. Although we have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for myself, for your female servant, and for the young man who is with your servant, there is no lack of anything. And the old man said, peace be with you. However, let all your needs be my responsibility.
Only do not spend the night in the open square. So he brought him into his house and gave fodder to the donkeys. And they washed their feet and ate and drank. As they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door.
They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally. But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, no, my brethren, I beg you, do not act so wickedly. Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage. Look, here is my virgin daughter and the man's concubine.
Let me bring them out now. Humble them and do with them as you please. But to this man, do not do such a vile thing. But the men would not heed him.
So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until morning. And when the day began to break, they let her go. Then the woman came as the day was dawning and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was till it was light.
When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was his concubine, fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. And he said to her, get up and let us be going. There was no answer. So the man lifted her onto the donkey and the man got up and went to his place.
When he entered his house, he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and divided her into 12 pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. And so it was that all who saw it said, no such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, confer, and speak up. Amen.
Introduction and Context
Well, as I said last week, in chapters 17 to 21, what we have are two appendices, two stories or two accounts that are attached to the main body of the book that show us what life in Israel looked like prior to the judges. I said last week, 17 to 21, actually take place prior to the first Judge Othniel. We know that to be the case when we look at chapter 20, specifically verse 28, it indicates for us that Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days saying, shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease. So these are instances that took place prior to the time of the judges.
And as I said, it's a general outlook concerning the wickedness and the evil going on in Israel at this particular time. 17 and 18 primarily are concerned with religious apostasy, and that is illustrated by the tribe of Dan. 19 to 21 deal with moral degeneracy, and that is illustrated primarily by the tribe of Benjamin. So things are not well in Israel, not long after the death of Joshua. We see that a people left to themselves very quickly will plunge themselves into all manner of sin and evil and wickedness. So as we take up chapter 19 this evening, I want to look at two broad concerns.
First, the background to the situation in Gibeah, verses 1 to 9, and then the description of the crime in Gibeah in verses 10 to 30. Daniel Bloch says even more than in the previous unit, 17 and 18, and the story of Samson, particularly chapters 14 and 15, what looks at first like nothing more than a personal crisis in a private household. We have a Levite and his concubine who plays the harlot and goes back to her father's house. It's a private crisis or personal crisis in a private household.
It escalates into a citywide problem, then becomes a crisis for an entire tribe and ultimately jeopardizes the integrity of the entire nation of Israel itself. So just like in 17 and 18 we go from Micah's household to the Levitical priesthood to the very tribe of Dan itself. Well the same thing is true here. We have this Levite and his concubine We have the crime at Gibeah.
We have the problem with the Benjamites. And in chapter 20, specifically, what we'll see is war against the Benjamites. So this is a big deal and a big issue. And as I said, it illustrates the depravity of man.
Background: Verses 1–9
So let's look first at the background to the situation in verses 1 to 9. We are reminded, 19.1, it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel. This is something common in this section. 17.6, 18.1, and then again in 21.25. The statement, doing what was right in their own eyes, is precisely what it means to do evil in the sight of the Lord that we see in the section of the book that is concerned with the judges specifically.
As well, the statement is the opposite of that which is enjoined in the Pentateuch, where the people of God are told, you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you. So what we find is that the people were living as if there was no God in heaven, they were living as if there was no moral restraint, they were doing those things which were right in their own eyes. They were autonomous, they were self-governed, they only did those things which were fleshly and carnal and pleasing to themselves. And while, as we saw last time, 17 and 18 focused on the apostasy and Dan, and while we see the illustration in 19 to 21 is with Benjamin, I think the author would have us to understand that this is an Israel-wide problem.
Israel as a whole is growing increasingly canonized and this is the symptom of that reality. With reference to the dating, as I mentioned, Phineas is the priest. He is the grandson of Aaron, which means that the events transpiring in this chapter occurred within 100 years of the death of Moses and probably within just decades after the death of Joshua. So the people declined very rapidly.
And as we see in the major part of the book of Judges, it isn't long when one of those judges dies that the people then begin to spiral out of control. They revert and act even more corruptly. We see the absolute necessity of restraint. We see the absolute necessity of God's moral law to hedge us in, to keep us in, and to hopefully keep us from engaging in all manner of lawlessness.
Now note the situation in verses 1B to 9. We're introduced to a particular couple, a married couple. There was a certain Levite staying in the remote mountains of Ephraim. It's interesting.
He stays in the mountains of Ephraim. He goes to Bethlehem, Judah. In the Micah chapter, in chapter 17, there's a priest from Bethlehem, Judah who goes to the mountains of Ephraim. Well this particular Levite took for himself a concubine.
Soon as we read concubine we're probably led to believe that he has a wife. A concubine was an additional wife and as we move on we see that he took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah but his concubine played the harlot against him and went away from him to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah and was there for whole months. Now, when it speaks of her having committed harlotry, that is a legitimate way to take this. There is a variant reading in the Septuagint that says that she was angry with him.
Gill mentions that this was in the Targum and that some of the rabbis actually preferred this particular interpretation. In fact the ESV has the marginal reading, she became angry with him. The New English translation actually renders it this way and in many respects it seems to make better sense of the scenario. If she's a concubine Perhaps she's not happy with the sort of treatment that she is facing.
It seems more logical that someone would leave their husband and then engage in spiritual adultery or harlotry. As well, it seems odd that this man wants her back. He could, under the law, have her put to death if she actually engaged in the physical act of harlotry. But rather, he wants to go and appeal to her heart and win her back to himself after these four months.
So I don't know specifically one way or the other. I'm simply suggesting that the non-harlot interpretation does make sense in this particular situation. He could have had her put to death for harlotry. He did actually seek reconciliation with her, and it speaks specifically to him speaking kindly to her and bringing her back.
This seems odd, again, if she was engaged in the sorts of things that are conjured up with reference to this reference. statement of harlotry. But either way, what we find is that this happily married couple did not remain in this condition. She plays the harlot or she despises her and is angry with him, so she goes to her father's house and she's there for four long months. Now notice what he does in verse 3.
Then her husband arose and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back, having his servant and a couple of donkeys with him. Now, basically, as I said, 1 to 9 sets forth the background. If we didn't have 1 to 9, the rest of the section wouldn't make sense. We're not going to spend a lot of time developing the background, because what we find when the father-in-law seeks to detain the son-in-law, it isn't anything other than him exercising genuine hospitality.
In fact, there's a great contrast set up between the father-in-law and the men of Gibeah. What happens in Gibeah? They go to the very city square and in Gibeah there is no hospitality, there is no kindness, there is no overture whatsoever for any of the bare necessities that would be required in a society where the people of God are in communion with one another. It is a man from Ephraim that happens to be living in Gibeah that actually exercises any degree of hospitality towards this particular man, his servant, and his God-given.
And we see that his hospitality only goes so far. He certainly doesn't care one bit, ultimately, for the Levite's concubine, which we'll get to in just a moment. Anyways, jilted lover, Levite man, goes, according to verse 3, and then we see that he comes to her house and she brought him into her father's house. So whatever their situation was, this four months did serve as a bit of a cooling period.
The one who departed to go be in her father's house, wanting to get away from this scoundrel of a Levite, now opens the door, sees her man, and invites him into her father's house. And then notice, and when the father of the young woman saw him, he was glad to meet him. So she didn't spend every day of those four months telling her father what a rotten guy this Levite was. He was glad to meet him.
Maybe the father was ready for his little girl to go back home. Maybe he valued his emptiness. Whatever the case is, the whole situation is one of reconciliation. It is one of amicability, it is one of goodness, and it is one of hearty reception.
Verse 4, now his father-in-law, the young woman's father, detained him. And he stayed with him three days, so they ate and drank and lodged there. And this is what will go on for the next couple of days. He's a very hospitable man.
That's all we're supposed to take away from this, but it sets up the time frame. It sets the context for their arrival in Gibeah. I don't want to go back and forth on each of these days. Suffice it to say, the Levite wanted to go, the father-in-law wanted to rejoice, finally the Levite goes.
Notice verse 9. The father-in-law says, look, the day is now drawing toward evening. Please spend the night. See, the day is coming to an end.
Lodge here that your heart may be merry. Tomorrow, go your way early so that you may get home. If he would have taken off in the morning, feasibly, he would have arrived where he wanted to be without having to spend the night in Gibeah. It's a question of timing.
It's an issue of providence. And in this particular instance, it is a dark providence. I'm not going to lie to you. What we find specifically in 22 to 26 is a very difficult passage.
Anyways, that's the background. You see the story. Levi, concubine, marital rupture. She goes back to Daddy.
He goes after her. They reunite. Daddy's happy. She's happy.
He's happy. And off they go.
The Crime in Gibeah: Verses 10–30
And that brings us to this description in 10 to 30. And there's two categories here that we need to appreciate. First, social disintegration. Social disintegration.
Israel, as the 12 tribes, was one people. It ought to be the case that travelers get looked after. This is why in the New Testament, hospitality and kindness and care for others is such a big issue. Why?
Because the covenant people of God really ought to get along together. They ought to give preference to one another. They ought to make sure that their brethren have alleviation from the needs that they have, or have help from the needs that they have. Notice what we find in verse 10.
Social Disintegration in Gibeah
However, the man was not willing to spend the night, so he rose and departed and came opposite Jebus, that is, Jerusalem. At that time it wasn't occupied by Israelites. At that time it was occupied by the Jebusites. With him were the two saddled donkeys.
His concubine was also with him. They were near Jebus, and the day was far spent. And the servant said to his master, come, please, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and lodge in it. Now note the irony of verse 12.
Note the response of the master to the servant. His master said to him, we will not turn aside here into a city of foreigners. What's the implication? We won't be treated well at the hands of the foreigners, will we?
If we turn aside here to this city of foreigners, bad things might happen to us. They might attack me, the Levite. They might attack you, my servant. They might attack my concubine.
They might strip our donkeys of all our goods that we have here. Very ironic, isn't it? What is the author saying? He passes through a Canaanite city and comes to a Canaanite city.
Only this one happens to be occupied by Israelites. But they're acting like Canaanites. He says, who are not of the children of Israel, we will go on to Gibeah. As if this somehow is their remedy.
As if this is somehow their answer. As if this will somehow bring them a particular bit of relief. Verses 14 and 15 highlight the callousness of Gibeah. I mean, they are just the opposite of the father-in-law of this particular Levi.
Notice in verse 14, they passed by and went their way, and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. They turned aside there to go in to lodge in Gibeah. And when he went in, he sat down in the open square of the city, for no one would take them into his house to spend the night." Now this is highlighted later when the Levite says, we don't even need an evening meal. We have fodder and we have straw for our donkeys.
We have food and wine. They weren't looking to be brought in for food and donkeys getting food and the whole spiel. They had everything they needed. They just needed a cot.
They needed a place to lay their head. They needed to come out from the elements. So there is a stark contrast between the father-in-law and the men of Gibeah. The father-in-law can't do enough for this Levite.
He can't give him enough. He wants him there for five days of drinking and eating and rejoicing, and he wants him to stay so he can eat and drink and rejoice. Some more, not so with the men of Gibeah. Now enters this old man, this traveler, verses 16 to 21.
His identity is given to us in verse 16.
The Ephraimite's Hospitality
Just then an old man came in from his work in the field at evening, who was also from the mountains of Ephraim. He was staying in Gibeah, whereas the men of the place were Benjamites. This is important. Benjamin's been mentioned twice.
Why? Because in chapter 20, there's going to be civil war. All of the other tribes are going to go against Benjamin, the author setting the stage. This is masterful writing.
The way that everything connects together, absolutely beautiful in terms of literary compilation. And then notice in verse 17, when he raised his eyes, he 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? So he gives this particular question.
The Levite, as I mentioned, answers in 18 to 19. And then he invites them, in verse 20, to come and to stay. The old man said, peace be with you. However, let all your needs be my responsibility.
Only do not spend the night in the open square. That's foreboding, isn't it? That's a bit of an omen as to what is going to follow. Bloch says he insists that whatever they do, these travelers must not spend the night in the city square.
Now, I'm sure that it's not great to spend a lot of nights out in the city square, but out of necessity, you could pull it off. I mean, if something happened, Your basement flooded, and your house was flooded, and nobody answered their phone. If you had to sleep under the bridge or downtown Chilliwack for one night, you could probably pull that off. This old man, however, tells them.
He warns them in a very earnest way. Only do not stay in the city square. The old man does not say why, Block continues. Since this is a walled city, they should be safe from outsiders.
But as a resident alien, he has learned that the problem is inside. This old man knew what was going on in the city. He knows the ways of the children of Gibeah all too well. And then look at verse 21.
So he brought him into his house. Another thing that the author wants us to get is that women don't fare well in a canonized society. The woman is absent. The woman is background.
The woman isn't even referenced in verse 21. He brought him into his house. And then when we get to verse 23, saying, this man has come into my house. I think the emphasis here is that when you live in a barbarized society, women typically are not in a good place.
It is much better to live in a society ruled and regulated by the word of the living God There is a war on women in Canaan. There is a war on women in Canaanite-ish societies, and such is the case in a passage like this. So we see that the man exercises his hospitality. Again, he's not a Gibeah.
He's not a man of Gibeah. He's not a Benjamite. He is from Ephraim, and he is simply traveling, or he is simply living there, working in this particular city. So he brought him into his house and gave fodder to the donkeys, and they washed their feet and ate and drank.
So that's the social disintegration. That does set the stage for what follows here in the remainder of the chapter, which is the moral outrage, verses 22 to 30.
The Sodom Connection
The first thing we ought to notice before we get into the text is its similarity to another text. Does anybody know what that other text is? What is it? Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 19.
Guess what the author is saying? You thought you were in Israel? You're in Sodom. That's what's going on in this particular passage.
Davis calls this section the resurrection of Sodom. He says, different outcomes to be sure, but the similarity between Genesis 19 1-11 and Judges 19 22-26 is unmistakable and deliberate. The writer wants you to view Judges 19 this way. Yes, that's right, he says.
It sounds exactly like Genesis 19. It's the Sodom connection. Only here you have Sodom in the land of Benjamin. Gibeah is new Sodom.
This is the writer's way of accusing the people of God. He shows us that even in Israel some have plunged into the moral abyss of Sodom and eagerly wallowed in its twisted depravity. When you compare these two passages, it is uncanny. When we read through Genesis 19, there's not always the narrator's commentary saying, and this was wicked, and this was evil, and this was bad, which shakes some readers.
We look at this and we say the narrator ought to clobber these people. He is clobbering them. By highlighting the reality that what we have in Benjamin is Sodom, he is telling us that things are very bad in Israel at this particular time. Now let's notice the specific incident in verses 22 to 30.
Intention of the Perverted Men
Note first the intention of the men. As they were enjoying themselves, so we see them sitting drinking wine, eating bread, talking to their new friend. He hails from the same place that they know of. They're perhaps swapping stories.
They're enjoying a bit of light revelry. They're safe for the night. They'll head up in the morning and move out to their destination. But they're enjoying themselves.
They've washed their feet. They're eating and they're drinking. Suddenly, certain men of the city, perverted men, Marginal read, sons of Belial. You see these sons of Belial throughout. the Old Testament.
It's even picked up on in the New Testament. It's applied to murderers, rapists, false witnesses, corrupt priests, drunks, boors, ungrateful and selfish people, rebels, those who lead others into idolatry, and those who do not know Yahweh. So here's who is in the city of Gibeah, and here is the welcoming committee that comes to the house of this old man. So the Levite, his concubine, his servant, and the old man are enjoying themselves.
Suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, bring out the man who came to your house that we may know him carnally. The supplier, the new King James supplies carnally and it's legit. The knowing here has to do with sexually.
It has to do with homosexual rape. That's what's in view in this particular passage. And it's interesting the language that is employed when they beat on the door. Davis says, then comes hollering in the racket, the thumps of bodies throwing themselves against the door, and at last the cries become discernible.
The man have sex with him. Now the reader realizes how very dark it is in Gibeah. Footnote says, the Hebrew participle suggests more than mere knocking or pounding on the door. The New English Bible has hurling themselves against the door.
This is a mob of perverts. that want the Levite. Now do they know he's a Levite? We don't know. Does the old man know he's a Levite?
We don't know. But at this particular juncture, coming out of 17 and 18, this gives us another glimpse into the religious character of Israel at the time. Levites were leaders in Israel. They were priests.
They were teachers of the law. Here these perverted men come to the house and they want him. They don't want the servant. They don't want the old man.
They want the Levite. They want to engage in homosexual relations with this particular man.
The Old Man's Futile Appeal
Now note secondly the appeal by the old man in verses 23 to 24. But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, know my brethren, Just like we find with Lot and the Sodomites. He calls them brethren. The old man in Gibeah calls them brethren.
He's trying to appeal to them. What do we learn as we move through this passage? You can't appeal to dogs. You cannot throw your pearls before swine.
You should not cast what is holy before dogs. Rather, he should have secured the place and made sure that no threat came to them. But note the emphasis with reference to this particular man. I beg you, do not act so wickedly.
Seeing this man has come into my house Do not commit this outrage. Look, here is my virgin daughter and the man's concubine. Let me bring them out now. Nobody does well in this chapter.
No one, no one comes out of this chapter looking good at all. We feel sorry for the concubine, and well we should at the treatment that she received. But even she, according to the very beginning of the chapter, either A, played the harlot against her husband or was despised him and was angry and left him to go to her father's house. There's no one innocent in this particular situation.
But what this man and what the Levite do are absolute wickedness. The old man offers his virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine to the men of the city so that they may humble them and do with them as you please. What does it mean, do with them as you please? It means do with them as is right in your own eyes.
The old man wants to protect only the Levite at the cost of his virgin daughter. What's happened in Israel at the cost of this man's Levi? He should try to protect them all or die trying. Don't offer up these perverts to women that they can do with whatever it is that they choose to do in this particular instance.
The old man parallels Lot in Genesis chapter 19 verses 6 and 7. But unfortunately for the concubine of the Levite, there were no delivering angels in Gibeah. Just because this man does what he does, there is not deliverance coming from the hand of God as it was the case in Sodom. Bloch says a host's honor is at stake, not justice or morality.
That is why, to him, heterosexual rape is preferable to homosexual rape. The host cannot betray his obligation to his male guests. And I know all this talk of rape and gang rape is very offensive, but the Word of God records that for us so that we'll understand just how very offensive sin actually is. And we'll see how absolutely necessary the Redeemer King is, and how much we need the Lord Jesus Christ.
And while we may not be the perverts of Gibeah, we nevertheless pursue those things which are right in our own eyes. And if our sins do not look the same as their sins, our sins are still enough to land us into a Christless eternity forever and ever, world without end. Amen. The perverts of Gibeah need a Redeemer like the sinners in the New Covenant era.
This is offensive stuff. He says, humble them, do with them as you please, but to this man do not do such a vile thing. You see, women are expendable in a society like this. Women are like property.
Women are shadow. Women don't matter. What's the author saying? The author is saying that in a covenant community, women are afforded protection, and stability, and life, and joy, and peace, and happiness, and all the things that God gives to His image bearers, be they man or woman.
This man doesn't care one bit about the women that are in his house, that have sought refuge there, that are under his care and protection. Now notice, verse 25.
The Rape and Murder of the Concubine
But the men would not heed him. You really get the picture of a mob. I remember, I think it was one of the cities in the state several years ago, there was a church that was meeting together. And some homosexuals surrounded the place and were saying, we want your children.
We want your children. And it looked like a scene right out of Gibeah in Judges 19. Or it looked like the scene out of Sodom in Genesis 19. I mean, these men are bent on gratifying their own wicked lusts.
They will not be deterred. They will not be detained. They will not be stopped. The man would not heed him.
So the man, the text is a bit ambiguous, but I think the man here is the Levite man. It's not the old man. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. I mean, I don't even know what to say in a situation like this.
What has happened? He's a Levite. He's a priest of the living God. He is a servant of God Most High of Israel.
And he takes his wife and he throws her out to the dogs as if she's garbage or scraps or something that has no value. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And then notice what the men of Gibeah do at this particular instance. And they knew her and abused her all night until morning.
And when the day began to break, they let her go. Let's just look at some of the sins and some of the crimes that these men have perpetrated. First, the intention to commit homosexual sin. That was their primary desire.
That's what they were after. They wanted the Levite man to be released out of the house so that they could rape him. That's what they wanted. They actually rape a woman.
And they do so all night long. I mean, how do you read this passage and not see the vileness of sexual sin? How do you read this passage and not see the wickedness of violating the seventh commandment? Which they did that additionally because she was married.
And they also murder the woman. They raped her to death, is what the text says. absolutely ghastly.
The Levite's Callousness
Now note the journey home in verses 27 to 28. This Levite is, I mean, who's worse, the perverts of Gibeah or the Levite? I mean, there's a statement or a saying, when wicked men do their thing and good men stand idly by and do nothing to stop it, they're just as culpable. You may not be a pervert in Gibeah, but if you don't stand up and resist them and seek to stop them, then you are accomplices with them in their particular crime.
What does he do in verse 27? When her master arose in the morning. Note the language there as well. on her master, not her husband, but her master. She's property.
She's expendable. This is what happens in a Canaanite society. Ladies, you don't fare well when Canaanites are the order of the day. When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way.
Stop for just a moment. He went out to go his way? He didn't go out to find this woman? He didn't go out to seek his wife?
He didn't go out like he went to her father-in-law's house to reconcile, to renew, to get back into her good graces? Now these perverted men have had her all night long, and he opens the door to go his way? He doesn't care about her. I mean, the text almost seems to suggest that he went to sleep while all of this was happening.
Maybe he did it, maybe he stood there chewing his fingernails. We don't know for sure, but there is a callousness and there is this attitude of non-concern whatsoever for his concubine. When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was his concubine fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. Block paints the picture this way.
The image is concretized by the reference to the hands, reaching out for the door, reaching for the protection of her husband, reaching for the security of their host's house, reaching, but all she could grasp was death. Obviously, she had been too weak to open the door or even to knock. This is what it looks like in a society when everyone does what is right in their own eyes. This is why it ought to concern us as we see what is becoming an increasingly more hostile war upon Christianity and absolutes and moral objectivity.
We ought to be fearful, not in terms of we go hide in the corner, concerned at the stripping away of those things which protect people. Because when we get to the place where Christianity is abolished and Bibles are removed and the law of God is obliterated, this is what it looks like. You want to get a look at what society is going to be if the humanists continue to get their way? Judges 19 is a very ample description of the sorts of things that happens when there is no king in Israel and everyone does what is right in his own eyes.
So he makes the journey home and then according to verses 29 to 30, he does something that can be described as a call to arms. It says, when he entered his house, he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and divided her into 12 pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. You know, it's intriguing, because as I was reading through this, specifically in verses 26 to 28, it doesn't actually say she's dead. That's what you assume.
And then he gets home and he carves her up. You suspect that perhaps he's carving up the corpse. But what if she wasn't dead? What if it was he that actually finished the particular job?
I think the emphasis does lie on the fact that she's already dead, and he gets to his house, and he carves her up into these 12 pieces. But the text does not specify specifically in that regard. At any rate,
A Call to Arms: Verses 29–30
he takes her, he cuts her up into 12 pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. We ask the question, why does he do this? Kyle and Dalich answer, sending the dissected pieces of the corpse to the tribes was a symbolical act by which the crime committed upon the murdered woman was placed before the eyes of the whole nation to summon it to punish the crime and was naturally associated with a verbal explanation of the matter by the bearer of the pieces. So when he sends the pieces, he does so with a messenger.
The messenger then relays the specifics of the crime. As we move into chapter 20, this is the explanation that makes sense because all of Israel gathers together at Mizpah to hear again from the Levite or to hear amplification from the Levite as to what has occurred in Gibeah of Benjamin. And it's at that particular time that the tribes then take military action against Benjamin. And so we see there's an analogous proceeding, Kyle and Dalich continue, on the part of Saul in 1 Samuel chapter 11.
There he doesn't do it with a human being, however. So that's a call to arms. And then in verse 30 it says, so it was that all who saw it said, no such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, confer, excuse me, and speak up.
And as I said, that is exactly what happens in chapter 20. They gather together. They then strategize how they are going to deal with this particular situation in Benjamin.
Application and Lessons
So what are some lessons that we can learn from a passage like this? The first is we need to identify the root of the problem. When we see what goes on in Gibeah, when we see what goes on in Sodom, when we see what goes on in the hearts of men, verse 1 is probably the best explanation. When there's no king in Israel, when there's no king in a man's heart, they do what is right in their own eyes.
And I think the author is highlighting the reality that the installation of a godly king would help suppress the type of lawlessness that was rampant in Israel. Many suggest that Judges is a pro-monarchy book. In other words, one of the points, one of the purposes, one of the themes of the Book of Judges is to support Israel's monarchy. When you read, there was no king in Israel, and people conduct themselves the way they do in Gibeah, how do you end the chapter?
We want a king in Israel, right? It is very pro-monarchical. But as well, the installation of an ungodly king, which Israel had its share of, would encourage the type of lawlessness that was rampant in Israel. So it's not just a king to fill a particular spot, but we want a godly king, we want a righteous king, we want a Deuteronomy 17 king, whose first order of business when he takes the throne is to write for himself the law of the Lord.
That was the first function of the king in Israel, was to write out the law of God in his own hand for his own personal use. If man would have done that, perhaps things would have been different in Israel. Secondly, we need to observe the subjects of this particular wickedness. Davis says, who in this context is each man?
He is Israelite man, covenant man. It is precisely those who have been called to be a people for Yahweh's own possession who are refusing to be subject to his covenant law. They will not have this God to rule over them. Is this not a word for the church?
Are there not people in our pews who would voice outrage over the scandal of Gibeah, people who find religion congenial, morality proper, charity commendable, and God, if he is not sovereign, unobjectionable, and yet share a stubborn and wicked heart with the sexual perverts of Gibeah." Again, the way that certain persons flesh out sin may not be the way the perverts did it in Gibeah, but it's still fleshing out sin. It is still lawlessness. It is still autonomy. It is still an independence that one asserts from God.
Bloch says the Levite had preferred Gibeah over Jebus to avoid the dangers of Canaanism, only to discover that Canaan had invaded his own world. And then as we see in the passage, I think all too clearly is the depravity of man. And the depravity of man on two counts, the perverts of Gibeah and the cowards in Gibeah. those men who sought sexual gratification, and the men who gave them their wishes. We cannot be these sorts of cowards.
We cannot be these sorts of men. If good men do not oppose evil, the sense is that good men then participate in that evil. We cannot sit idly by while the nation runs headlong into hell and never say anything contrary. We need to speak out against homosexuality.
I saw in the news today, in the UK paper, the Telegraph, there's some conference talking about how it's natural for men to want to engage in pedophilia. We open the door to same-sex marriage or sodomite marriage. It isn't going to be long before all bets are off. We need to close the doors, we need to pray that God will stop the tide of wickedness and the evil that is overtaking society.
We cannot be complicit in it, we must be prayerful to the Lord our God, and in the circles that we travel in, the spheres of influence that we exercise, We ought to speak up. We ought to resist. We ought to say, no, you ought not to do such wickedness. So the types of sin that is going on here, gross sexual sin and murder on the part of the sons of Belial, cowardice and wickedness on the part of men who certainly should have known better and should have done better.
When the old man does what he does, we want to smack him. When the Levite does what he does, we're speechless. How does a man take a woman he just went after to reconcile with and throw her to a pack of perverted dogs that end up raping her all night to the point of death? This Levi has big, big problems.
Shows us that religious leadership is not immune to the same sorts of depravity and sin that so many engage in as well. There's a lady I follow on Twitter. Her name is Janet Mefford. She's a radio talk show host.
She's the one that actually outed Mark Bristol in terms of his plagiarism scandal. And every day, several times a day, she has in her Twitter feed links to news stories of pastors engaged in sexual sin. This isn't a Roman Catholic problem anymore. This is a Protestant problem.
This is happening in epidemic ways. It is absolutely terrible and abominable, and it gives cause to the enemies of the Lord to bring reproach to the name of our God and Savior. So hopefully those are some lessons that we can take away from this passage, and hopefully the Lord our God will keep us from seeing such things in our lifetime.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us close in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for your word. And as difficult a passage as this is, God help us to see in it not only depravity, but to see redemption, to see grace, to see mercy. We see even as this book will end, there is hope for the tribe of Benjamin.
Certainly this encourages our hearts, there's hope for sinners, and we know ultimately it's not in an earthly judge, it is in the judge, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would bless the preaching of the gospel throughout this earth. We pray that you would stem the tide of wickedness that just seems to be growing and growing. We pray that your church would know the truth of scripture and would seek to be faithful in applying it.
And we ask that you would go with us now and watch over us. Again, bless our brothers and sisters that are struggling physically. Bless all of us struggling spiritually. Help us to persevere and to do so for your glory.
And we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.