Judges 19-21 Bible Study / Podcast

Judges 19 as a Picture of National and Spiritual Decline

So, let's turn to the book of Judges chapter 19. There's three chapters remaining in the book. Judges 19, 20, and 21. Here's the story in a nutshell. Just give it to you, then I'll go back and go through the chapter verse by verse.

But here's the story in a nutshell. Judges 19 through 21. It's very similar to what happened in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. There is a Levite man who has a concubine.

He's traveling.

And the place where he lodges for the night, there are evil, and the Bible says perverted men there who show up and demand, just like Sodom and Gomorrah with Lot and the angels, they demand that he come out so that they can know him carnally.

Well, to make a long story short, he doesn't come out. Instead, he sends out his concubine, who's like a wife, but not really, and they end up abusing her and killing her. So a horrible, horrible story.

And enraged, the Levite, in seeking revenge, he takes her body, her dead body, and he cuts it up into 12 pieces and sends the parts throughout Israel and demands that the nation take action. That this thing cannot stand in Israel.

That we have to act. Which the tribes are willing to do, at least at first, because such a thing, it's so horrible that people would do this. Yeah, it happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, but that's Sodom and Gomorrah.

This can't stand in Israel. So the men who committed the atrocity, here's the thing, they lived in the territory controlled by the tribe of Benjamin. So Israel comes out against the tribe of Benjamin.

They demand that Benjamin turn over the criminals to face justice, but the Benjamites refuse. So instead they, for whatever reason, they choose to harbor and protect these violent evil men. So now the tribes of Israel are faced with a dilemma.

What do we do?

Because Benjamin isn't giving up the criminals. So they seek counsel from God of what to do. And I think they're probably reluctant to start a civil war over this because nobody.

Wants that.

But God tells them, rise up and go against Benjamin. So the Benjamites are attacked by their fellow Israelites and you know, really for good cause. And Benjamin is defeated. But afterwards, after Benjamin, the tribe is decimated.

Now there's a new problem. The tribe of Benjamin is at risk of dying out since so many of their women had been killed. Unless they find wives for the remaining Benjamite men, there's only going to be 11 tribes in Israel instead of 12.

So now the Israelites have to find, and really the story is just, it's a complete mess. This is a low point in Israel's history. And what it teaches us, because we're reading about these horrific things, I mean, really, this is a pretty, you know, gnarly, disturbing, whatever you want to call it.

This chapter is troubling, but this is what happens when a nation turns away from God. And there's obviously things that are troubling and disturbing and going on in our country. We had last week, the so-called transgender person went into a Christian school and murdered little children.

And, you know, there's things going on in our nation that are so evil, so disturbing. There's too many to talk about. But that's what happens when a nation turns away from God. So you think you can just, well, we don't need God anymore.

We don't need the church. We don't need Christianity. We're just going to do our own thing. Yeah, well, there's consequences. And that's really what this chapter shows us. This is what happens when a people, when a nation turn away from the Lord.

No King in Israel and Everyone Did What Was Right in His Own Eyes

So let's begin reading. Chapter 19 begins with those familiar words. And it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel. That's how chapter 19 begins. And that's how chapter 21 ends, by the way.

That's how the book of Judges ends. In those days, there was no king in Israel. And everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Doesn't that describe the time period we're living in right now? There's no godly leadership.

So this is what happens. So when a nation lacks godly leadership, this is what takes place. And there was no king in Israel. Verse 1 says, then there was a certain Levite staying in the remote mountains of Ephraim, and he took for himself a concubine.

This could be Jonathan from the previous chapter. We're not sure. Last time, if you didn't listen to it, you can go on our YouTube channel and listen to the previous studies. But last time we covered, remember the story of Micah and his idolatry, how he ordained this Levite man, Jonathan, to be his priest until the tribe of Dan showed up at his house with a small army and stole his idols and took Jonathan, the Levite, to be the priest for their whole tribe.

So he goes from being a priest, he's a false priest, by the way. He's not one of Aaron's sons. He's just a Levite. And a Levite, just because you're a Levite doesn't mean you can become a priest. So he's a false priest, but he goes from being a priest in the house of Micah to becoming the priest for an entire tribe.

So the tribe of Dan is now completely apostate and idolatrous. And they have founded this, this new religion, really. But this is just another piece of the puzzle, right? Idolatry, false priesthood, there's threats of murder, there's theft, and all of this is going unpunished from the previous chapters, and now it's just going to get worse in this.

Chapter.

Why?

Because there's no godly structure of leadership. The book of Judges is sort of like the Wild West in Israel. The Wild East, or Wild Middle East, maybe. But people are just doing whatever they want, and nobody is holding them accountable.

So anything goes. The tribe of Dan is now practicing idolatry, blended with the worship of Jehovah, and that's what we have today. We have perversity blended with the worship of God, all done in the name of Jesus and in the name of love.

But it's absolutely abhorrent to the Lord. So they're being led, the tribe of Dan, by a false priest named Jonathan. And the Levite in chapter 19, this Levite might be Jonathan, I tend to think it is, but we don't know that for sure.

But either way, he has a concubine, which is a whole other problem, because a Levite, and this man is acting as a priest, he doesn't have a wife. He's not married, but he has a concubine, so it's like a common law situation.

Sort of like having a live-in girlfriend, basically. Just to put it in a way people can understand. So you have a Levite involved in the work of ministry, and he has a concubine. That's how Judges 19 starts.

You say, well, what's the problem? Well, that would be like today, in a local church, if a deacon in your church moved in with his girlfriend, and nobody really seemed to think much of it. Of course, I'm sure that's happening in some places, but the point is, this was a time in Israel where standards were not being upheld.

People were just doing whatever they wanted. So to make matters worse, the concubine commits adultery. And instead of her being punished, like the Law of Moses said, remember, there's no standards being upheld, so the Levite and his concubine, they separate for a few months.

She goes back to live with her father, and then the Levite starts to miss her, so he travels back to her father's house to try to get her back. Well, the Levite and his father-in-law, it's not technically his father-in-law, but close enough, they actually seem to get along.

So the Levite stays with his father-in-law for several days, and the father doesn't really want him to go, it seems. So he's delaying, he's delaying. And finally, the Levite says, hey, I need to leave, me and my concubine, your daughter, we need to go, but it's late in the day, so they start out on their journey, but it's soon getting dark, so now they have to find lodging in the city, and the closest city is Jerusalem.

Of course, it's not called Jerusalem at this point, because it's still under the control of the Jebusites, which is why in verse 10, Jerusalem is called Jebus. Verse 12 says, 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 they could have gone and stayed at Jerusalem or Jebus, but, you know, they weren't Israelites who lived there at the time, so we don't want to stay among foreigners, let's go to Gibeah, because at least that's an Israeli city.

We'll be safe there, right? That's the assumption. We will be among our fellow countrymen, therefore, we will be safe. And the sad part about it is that was not true. So here's the sad thing. The men of Gibeah, although they were Israelites, didn't mean that they were godly people.

And this is one thing that we learned. Just as they're not all Israel who are of Israel, here's the thing. Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is of Christ. You know, just because somebody says I'm a Christian or just because somebody is part of your church, let's say, and we don't want to distrust people, we don't want to assume the worst of people.

I say assume the best, you know, it's like trust but verify, right? But just because somebody goes to church, it doesn't really mean that you can trust.

Them.

You need to kind of be on guard, especially if you're seeing red flags. But here you have these Israelites, and within the city of Gibeah, I mean, there were some very evil men there. And there are going to be some evil men in the church today.

Now, may, God forbid, it's in your local church. Maybe it's not. But Jesus, remember, Jesus told the parable of the mustard seed, where he said the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. When it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes like a tree.

And Jesus says the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. So the birds of the air, that is likely a reference to the devil. The King James Version in verse 22 calls these wicked Israelites sons of Belial, which the New Testament refers to Satan as Belial.

So these are children of the devil. You see, the church is going to grow and grow. And the church, let's face it, there are Christian churches all over the world, in every country, in every continent.

And one of the ways the devil seeks to corrupt the church is to infiltrate. So the birds of the air come and they nest in the branches. So Satan is an infiltrator. Evil people will, just like they were in Israel, evil people are going to creep into the churches.

So that's the application. But here in ancient Israel, there are these evil men in the city of Gibeah living among the Benjamites. Now, the Benjamites should have done something about it. The Benjamites should have gotten rid of these people, but no, they didn't.

So these are children of the devil living within the territory of Benjamin. So the Levite, his concubine, his servant, they stay for the night in the city of Gibeah. And this is a huge mistake. There are other terms for these people.

So they're called sons of Belial. The New King James Version calls them worthless men. There's other terms the Bible uses, sodomites is another term, lewd fellows of the baser.

Sort.

I kind of like that one. Lewd fellows of the baser sort. Yeah, well, that's what they were, perverted men, evil men. And what do they do? They are like the men of Sodom and Gomorrah. They basically want to rape the Levite.

So men wanting this other man to come out so that they can know him carnally. So that tells you. So this, there's violence, there's homosexuality, and it's all happening in this Israelite city. So whether it's in Israel or even today, we have to be careful because evil men like this have always existed.

They existed then, they exist today. So the Levite, he shows up in Gibeah with his servant and with his live-in girlfriend or his concubine, and nobody will take them in for the night. So this is another thing.

The city of Gibeah, they're not showing hospitality. Somebody you would have thought would have welcomed them into their home, but no. Back then, hospitality was very important. Today we have highways, we have cars, we have hotels, but back then, you know, if you're traveling, you had to depend on hospitality.

So because no one will take them in, they have to spend the night in the open square. So if you know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, you're starting to see the similarities. Now you have to ask, because here's another way this applies to the modern day.

Why did the people not want to put them up for the night? Well, imagine, let's say somebody shows up at your door. Now again, we have hotels and people are not dependent on us opening our homes to them, but you'd be reluctant to allow a stranger to stay in your house, especially if you have a wife and kids.

So why did the people of Gibeah not want to put up the Levite and his concubine and servant up for the night? Because they probably didn't trust them. And this is one of the effects that evil has. And when evil is not really punished, when evil is not dealt with, when it's not dealt with swiftly, the more people are likely to get involved in evil and evil spreads.

And once it spreads and once evil is everywhere, then good people have to take precautions. So instead of helping out strangers, which ideally they should have done, now everyone is too afraid to open up their home.

We get this, right? You probably don't want your wife or daughter picking up hitchhikers. Why not? Because we've heard the horror stories. We figure it's not worth the risk. Even if a person isn't a criminal, they're walking on the side of the road and they may in fact be in need, but people are reluctant to help.

Why?

Because you never know. On top of that, when people do commit crimes, even violent crimes, the so-called justice system lets sons of Belial out of prison to walk the streets. So while it might seem shameful for Israelites not to open their home to fellow Israelites, we see that these evil men are roaming the streets.

So it's kind of hard to blame the people of the city for not putting the Levite and his concubine up for the night, given the situation. Now there is a solution. Say, okay, that that's a problem, but what's the solution?

Well, the solution, right? What's the whole problem with the book of judges? There's no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Evil is flourishing because there's no godly leadership.

So the solution is to put godly men in leadership who will clean up the streets and punish evil like the law of God demands. You know, rapists and murderers and pedophiles should not be walking the street.

You know, God's law tells you what should be done to them and putting them in a cage for a couple of years and letting them loose is not what God's law demands. But we don't, we don't listen to the word of God today.

We just, oh, we think we know better. We're enlightened and look around and see how it's working out. So that's the situation back then.

It's bad. It's bad.

The Levite, the Concubine, and the Men of Gibeah

So the Levite, his servant, his concubine, they have to spend the night in the open square out on the streets until verse 16 says, just then an old man came in from his work in the field that evening who was also from the mountains of Ephraim and 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 in Judah toward the remote mountains of Ephraim.

I am from there. I went to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord, but there is no one who will take me in to his house. Although we have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for myself and your female servant or for your female servant and for the young man who is with your servant, there is no lack of anything.

It's like we, you know, we're not asking for anything. We just need, we'll stay in your barn, you know, you don't need to feed us. We have everything we need, but nobody will take us in. And the old man, verse 20, he 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.

And as they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. And they spoke to the master of the house, the old man saying, bring out the man who came into 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. And of course this is abhorrent to that he would do this. But again, this is, there's really nothing good about this story. And we're going to see that there's really no good guy and bad guy.

There's bad guys. And then there's worse people. So he's this again, this is just what happened and Sodom and Gomorrah lot didn't want to let the angels out for the men of the city to abuse. So he offered his daughters.

It's just really unthinkable for us, but that's what happens. So he offered his daughters and the man's concubine says, let me bring them out, 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.

The Concubine's Death and the Levite's Call for Justice

Okay.

So to call this a disgraceful would be an understatement. What the men of Gibeah did was absolutely horrific since the concubine ends up dying. But even with the Levite did again, it's, it's wicked. I mean, everybody is just acting wickedly.

And I've heard explanations of why this happened and people try to explain it, but really there's no way to make this okay. There's no justification for this at all. This is just a story of how one sin leads to another, to another, to another.

And when men act in an evil manner and it just continues on and at some point it just seems to snowball. They've really entered into the downward spiral. I think the only thing we can say about this is when people turn away from God and righteousness is not valued at some point, human life is no longer valued.

So this story is certainly disturbing. It's probably one of the most disturbing stories in all of the scripture. I would say two, the two of the most troubling stories in all of the Bible are found in the book of judges.

So you know, sometimes if you're doing a Bible study and you get to this chapter, you might be tempted to kind of skip over it. Let's, let's not talk about this, but you know, ignoring evil, just pretending it doesn't exist.

That doesn't help. Pretending it's not there. Doesn't make it any better because similar things are happening right now. There are plenty of abhorrent things going on right now in our society. Won't get into too much of it, but one thing that doesn't get a lot of attention, just something similar to this story in judges 19.

You realize sex trafficking is a huge issue in our country today in the world today, but even in our country, our, our civilized nation, do you realize how big an issue sex trafficking is? Well, you, you might not because it's just not talked about.

It's not reported on the news. You know, nobody seems all that interested in talking about it or fixing it. It's easier to turn a blind eye. How many young women are abused and killed every year? And yet men like Jeffrey Epstein hanging around with our nation's rich and powerful elites.

Why isn't this a bigger issue for, you know, the government wants to fix everything. You want to get involved in everything. Well, I don't know. Is this really a top issue that they're dealing with?

I don't know.

It doesn't, doesn't really look like it. Righteousness exalts a nation. The Bible says, but sin is a reproach to any people, Israel at this point in history, they are simply corrupt. The men of Gibeah commit this atrocity.

And then verse 26, the woman after a night of being abused, she came and she fell down.

At the door.

Verse 27 says her hands were on the threshold as if to make one final attempt to reach the Levite, her husband, the man who is supposed to be her protector. And what did he do? He threw her to the wolves.

Verse 27. And if this hasn't made you angry yet, verse 27 says, when her master arose in the morning, he opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way. And 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. But there was no answer.

Why?

Because she was dead.

Okay.

When I read that, because he's apparently, he was in the house fast asleep all night while that was going on. And he wakes up, he opens the door, he sees her lying there and his response is, hey,.

Get up.

We got to get going. Is not this Levite an evil man as well? You can talk about the wickedness of the men of Gibeah and that's true. But this Levite, you know, he seems pretty wicked himself. Now, if he is Jonathan, the false priest from the previous chapter, I mean, that would make sense because the Bible is clear about the character of false prophets, but either way, he takes her body home with him and he cuts the body up into 12 parts and he sends one, you know, he sends a leg to the tribe of Judah.

He sends an arm to the tribe of, you know, uh, Asher and he's just sending body parts to each of the tribes with a message that look at what happened. Look at what these men did. We need to seek justice, which is true.

Is this really the way to go about it though? So again, this is just a, a bizarre story, a really troubling story, but the Israelites, they knew they would have known history to some degree that this happened, this type of thing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, but now it's happening in Israel.

So at this point we need to do something about it. That's what the Levi is saying to the other tribes. We have to do something about this, but at this point there's really no good options in the next chapter.

What are we going to read about? Civil war, civil war comes upon Israel. God's blessing and his protection is lifted and the judgment came in the form of, well, everyone is doing evil and then it devolves into civil war.

So what's the takeaway after we read all this? Where do we draw from it? When people, here's the first thing. When people know God and they know his commandments and yet they willfully turn away from them, perilous times will come.

Number two, if there's no godly leadership and nobody deals with the problems that currently exist, the problems aren't going to go away. They're going to get worse and worse. Everything rises or falls on leadership.

And number three, perilous times. They did come for Israel again. There was civil war and the application for us, and we might be past the point, you know, of no return. I don't, I don't know. God knows.

But if we, as a people, this could be in your home, you know, there could be problems in the home. There could be problems in a church, problems in a community, evil in a nation. If you don't nip it in the bud, it's just going to get worse.

And as it gets worse and worse and worse, you feel like it's out of control and there's nothing you can do. And then it gets to the point, if you, if evil is not dealt with, it gets to a point where there just are no good options anymore.

And that's where Israel is. And I pray to God, that's not where we are, but it might be. So perilous times came for Israel, and it's hard not to notice, and we could look to what the Bible says, that in the latter times, perilous times will come also for the church of Christ.

Judges 19 verse one, it says, and it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel, who was supposed to be their king. God was supposed to be their king, but they followed him not. Instead, they worshipped idols.

They did what was right in their own eyes. They blended the worship of God with perversity. Does this not describe the state of professing Christianity today? I wish it wasn't like this, but at some point, there is only one right choice to make.

Just as the tribe of Benjamin should have separated themselves, this is getting into the next chapter, but just as the tribe of Benjamin should have separated themselves from the evil men of Gibeah, or else face the consequences, so should we.

As New Testament believers, we must separate ourselves from the ungodly in our ranks. Because the tribe of Benjamin turned a blind eye to evil, because the tribe of Benjamin protected and made excuses for evil men, they faced the judgment.

If we turn a blind eye to evil, if we make excuses for it, if we associate ourselves with wicked men, and we just were conformed to this world, and we're just like everyone else and we're making excuses for ungodliness, the judgment that comes upon the ungodly will come upon us as well.

So what's applicable for Israel, we'll close with this, what is applicable for Israel is usually applicable for the church. So if there's a problem, number one, nip it in the bud. Number two, if it's grown, hey, deal with it now before it gets worse.

And then number three, if it gets to the point where there's just not much you can do, you just need to separate yourself from the evil among us.