Judges 19

Judges 19 and we've got three more chapters and we'll be done with the book of Judges. Just out of curiosity, who in here's interested in continuing through another book of the Bible or more of a topical study?

Who what? Topical study? Book of the Bible? Okay. All right, let's read chapter 19. 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 and he took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem of Judah and by his concubine I'm sorry but his concubine played the harlot against him and she went away from her to her father's house back to Bethlehem in Judah and was there for a period of four months.

Then her husband arose and went after her to speak tenderly to her in order to bring her back and 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.

His father-in-law, the girl's father, detained him and he remained there for three days so that they ate drank and lodged there. 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 afterwards then you may go.

So both of them sat down they ate and drank and the girl's father said to the man please be willing to spend the night and let your heart be merry and then the men arose to go but his father-in-law urged him to stay another night again and 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 and when the man arose to go along with his concubine and his 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 and lo the day is coming to an end spend the night here that your heart may be merry then tomorrow you may arise early in the morning for your journey and you may go home but the man was not willing to spend the night again so he arose and he departed and came to a place opposite of Jabez that is Jerusalem and there were a pair of there with him with a pair saddle donkeys.

His concubine were also with him and when they were near Jabez the day was almost gone and the servant said to his master please come let us turn aside into the city of the Jebusites and spend the night there.

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 to Gibeah. And he said to his servant come let us approach one of these places and we will spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.

So they passed along and went their way and the Sun set on them near Gibeah which which belongs to Benjamin. They turned aside there in order to lodge at Gibeah. And when they entered they sat down in the open square and no one took them into their house to spend the night.

Then behold an old man was coming out of the field from his work in the evening now that man was from the hill country of Ephraim and he was staying in Gibeah but the men of the place were all from Benja were all Benjamins.

He lifted up his eyes and he saw the traveler in the open square. And the old man said where are you going and where do you come from. And he said to him we are passing from Bethlehem into Judah into 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 yet there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys and also bread and wine for me your maidservant and your young man that who is with your servants and there is no lack of anything.

And the old man said peace to you only let me take care of you and all of your needs however do not spend the night in the open square. So he took him into his house. He gave the donkeys fodder he washed their feet they ate and drank while they were celebrating behold the men of the city.

Certain worthless fellows surrounded the house pounding the door that they spoke to the owner of the house that is the old man. And he was saying to him bring out the men who came into your house that we may have relations with them.

And then the man the owner of the house went out to them and he said to him no my fellows do not act so wickedly since this is this man has come into my house and do not commit such acts of folly. Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine.

Please let me bring them out that you may ravish them and do whatever is right in your eyes but do not commit such an act of folly against this man. But the men would not listen. So the man seized his concubine he brought her out to them.

They raped and abused her all night until the morning then let her go as the dawn approached. As the day began to dawn the woman came and fell down on the door of the man's house where her master was until the full daylight.

And when her master arose the morning he opened the door of the house and went out to go and behold his concubine was laying on the doorway with her hands on the threshold and he said to her get up and let's go.

But there was no answer and he placed her on the donkey. And the man arose. He went his way. And when he entered his house he took a knife he laid hold of his concubine. He cut her into 12 pieces limb by limb.

And he centers throughout the territories of Israel and all who saw it nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from that day. And the sons of Israel had come up out of Egypt considerate I say and take counsel and speak up if we weren't teaching verse by verse through this this is not a passage that I would want to deal with.

Israel’s Moral Collapse and the Levite’s Failure

So here remember we had Sea of Galilee which would have been another name at the time you had the Jordan River and over here would have been the land of Benjamin. All this would have been the land of Judah.

Remember when I brought this up here one time before all this down here would have been Judah and this would have been Dan just to let you know I remember last time we talked about how Dan went up to the up part and they took over that land.

They never this was the lot of land and this would have been the Mediterranean. But this was the land given to them. They never they never went and conquered their land. They went to another land and made a city of their own.

All of that in unbelief. They had their land they just never conquered. And this right here would have been Ephraim just so you know where this take place would have been Gibeah would have been right here where this nightmare in Gibeah takes place this is where that would have taken place this old dude.

But it came from the hill country somewhere in here. This is where all the fertile land and Ephraim was. So you have an idea what's going on now. He travels from here to here to pick up his concubine.

And we'll talk about that in just a second. So my attempt is to cover all of those verses. If not I will move quickly to get to the end so that we don't drag this one out another another week. So it says now it came about in those days there was no king in Israel.

That's the constant reframing in judges. There was no king in Israel. There was no king in Israel. And they remember what the other constant reframe you hear through the book of Judges was they did what was right in their own eyes.

So here it is. There was no king in Israel. But you think there's a glimmer of hope. Just like the last narrative we did. Hey there's a Levite staying in the remote part of the hill country. What was the Levites responsibility to do two weeks ago.

What was. Remember teach the law and to God and direct God's people. That was their job. They were the priests. That was the priestly tribe. So it says here a certain Levite staying there motor he took for himself a concubine.

That immediately should be a problem under the Mosaic legislation they were supposed to have a wife and they were supposed to produce an offspring of continual priest. Does anybody know what a concubine was.

Who. But but attached by a marriage ceremony. Yeah their purposes for them were for sexual gratification only. I mean that was really the purpose of it that maybe raise up some offspring. So we know right here that this Levite is not doing his responsibility as a Levite to not have a concubine.

So he has a concubine for himself. But here it is the concubine played the harlot I want. I think there's a couple of translations that may say she became angry with him. Does anybody say that. Anybody's anybody.

Anybody. It's got. Yeah. Well it's kind of ambiguous. But because the word harlotry is not there so it is actually he she for whatever reason she took off and either became unfaithful whatever the reason she became unfaithful.

So he takes off to Bethlehem to her father's house to get her. So we're gonna move down to where it says in verse four it says. So she brought him into her father's house. So he shows up the girls. Obviously this young concubines happy to see him.

She brings him in the father-in-law obviously enjoyed having the empty nest and like this is great. He's coming to get her out of here. It's coming to pick her up and take her away. But he says hey why don't you stick around and eat.

Hospitality was absolutely a necessity to treat the Israel the Israelite Brotherhood the absolute necessary under the Mosaic law. It says when foreigners or your brothers come through your land you're to provide them food shelter and sustenance for their travel.

So it's not like me and civil gonna go to some other city. We show up in this particular time. I've got my donkeys and my wife. I can't just go to the Motel 6 throw down to $69 .99. And they've left the light on for me.

That's not what's gonna happen here. They actually have to trust. And as they go to these cities that somebody's gonna bring them into their home and show hospitality. So that's what this man is doing.

He says come on stick around I'll make you some food. They party for four days. That's basically what they do. He says let your heart be made merry. And then we get to verse 9. And when the man arose after many times he's trying to get out of there.

He says in verse 9 that when the man arose to go along with his concubine servant the father again says hey behold the day is closing. Please stay one more night though the day is coming to an end. Please stay another night.

Then tomorrow get up and leave and head on your way. In verse 10 but the man was not willing to spend the night. So he arose and departed. And he came to a place opposite of Jabez which is Jerusalem. The problem with leaving in any time in the evening under Middle Eastern culture.

And in that time is the highways and the byways were absolutely dangerous. They were marauders. There were robbers there were thieves. So if you were traveling on your way at night you were a prime target.

Just think about the parable of of the the Good Samaritan. What happened to that man. He was. He was robbed and he was beaten on the byway because he was a target. And look there was no no policeman patrolling so and these people leave at a time that's dangerous already.

So they leave. It says that they. And there he saddled up his pair of donkeys his concubine and they set out. And when they got to Jabez the day was almost gone. And the servant said to his master please come let us turn inside of the city the Jebusites and spend the night there.

The Jebusites were not Jewish people. That's why they decided not to stay. And that's what he says when he goes on down we won't turn or turn aside to foreigners. But let us go to the sons of Israel. And because here this is Benjamin's these were all the sons of Benjamin the tribe of Benjamin.

Okay. And it said. And they turned aside. Verse 15. They're in order to get lodged at Gibeah. And when they entered they sat down in the open square for no one took them into their house. The open square would have been a place when people would have gathered they would have the people passing through would have come there to sit see if any of their countrymen would have bring them in.

So that's what they're doing. Hey somebody will see that we're here and they'll let us in. Well this should be a clear sign that something's wrong with this city. There's no one showing them hospitality.

This is their countrymen. And it says in verse 16. And then behold an old man was coming up out of the field from his work at evening. Now we don't know how old the oldest man was old enough to have a still a virgin daughter living in the home.

But he had been working in the evening. I said he was from the hill country of Ephraim so most likely he had come here. He was working in the field. This is probably the harvest time. People didn't travel in the winter because of the cold.

So it's probably at the harvest time. Knowing it says that it was. He was had been working in the field and he was staying in Gibeah. But the men of the place were all Benjamites. Verse 17. He lifted up his eyes and he saw the traveler in the open square of the city.

And the old man said where are you going. Where do you come from. So now he's trying to engage with this man this traveler to see what's going on. Well then when he finds out hey this guy's from the same place I'm from.

He's from Ephraim. It's like well man I'm gonna bring this guy in. So he begins to show how he's going to show hospitality to him he says. But now I'm going to to my house and no one will take me into his house yet he said in verse 19.

Yet there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys also have bread and wine for me and for your servant and that your young man and your servants. And there will be nothing lacking. He's saying look there's enough at my house to take care of you till morning or whatever you need to do I will take care of you 20.

The old man said peace be to you only take care of your need and your needs. However do not spend the night in the open square. So he took them into his house. He gave the donkeys fodder. He washed their feet and they ate and drank.

The washing of the feet was like you and us taking a shower all right. They didn't have boots. They had open toed sandals and feet probably look like a bear claw. Okay. So verse 22 while they were celebrating behold the men of the city certain of those men worthless fellows.

And they surrounded the house and they pounded the door and they spoke to the owner to the old man saying bring out the man who came into our into your house that we may have relations with him. From verse 22 to verse 20 the end of verse 24 is 25 of the same language used concerning this is the same thing that's used in the the event that takes place in Sodom and Gomorrah with lot.

Now the problem with this situation is these perverts are beaten on his door trying to come into his house to drag this man out to have homosexual rape. You understand. That's what's trying to take place here.

The good thing with lot is who did he have with him. He had two angels that could that you remember what he did. He. They shut the door and they blinded the men and they didn't know where they were at.

In this case there's no angelic beings there. There's no messengers of God here. This Levites in big trouble. So these men beat on the house. It says in verse 33 that the man the owner of the house went out to them and said to them.

So he goes out. He tries to diffuse the situation. He says look not but not this fellow. Please don't do this wicked act since this man hasn't come into my house. Do not commit this act of folly. Now listen to how retarded this man is he says.

But I'll give you my virgin daughter. What in the world is wrong with the moral compass of these men. He says okay you know what. Don't don't homosexually rape this guy. But I'm gonna that I don't even know.

But I will give you my virgin daughter. You can do with her as you want. And you can take her concubine. He says. Please bring them out that you may. I will bring them out to you that you may ravish them and do what is ever right in your eyes.

There it is in the middle of the narrative. Do what was right in their own eyes. In the beginning of this narrative it was what there was no king in Israel. He says in verse 25. But the men would not listen to him.

So the man seized his concubine. The man meaning the Levite seized his concubine and brought her to them. And they raped and abused her all night until morning and let her go at the approach of dawn. So you have got the old dude all right.

You got the Levite. We we haven't heard anything else yet more. But he had a male servant with him as well. I helped him saddle the donkeys dude. Every one of those men cowards every one of them this guy's gonna throw his virgin daughter out there.

This guy he throws to save his own skin throws his wife call her concubine. Whatever it's his wife he's supposed to take under the Mosaic legislation. If you did take a had to be taken care of just like she was the first wife in every area she had to be taken care of.

There could not be good. Show any partiality in every way. Consider conjugal food. All of them coward coward and whatever this guy's doing he's probably scurrying for his life. We don't know yet. So all of them no moral compass in to preserve life save their own life.

Let's cast someone else out there and let them take the brunt. And it says that the concubine that they so the men seized her and they raped her all night. Can you imagine man imagine hearing your wife's screams in the open square of being repeatedly raped by men.

Just it's it's unfathomable. It's like remember we had over here this constant worry. Or I mean what. What's going on what. And then in verse 26 it says. And they when the beginning when dawn had began the woman came.

She fell down at the way of the man's house in the doorway where her master was. And then when it was full daylight it is hard for me to believe that they didn't hear her scuffling at that door. But these men being the cowards that they were would not even open the door till it was light.

When her master arose in the morning he opened the door of the house and went out to go his way. And there she was. The concubine was laying at the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold and listen to the heartless incompassionate jerk he is.

He said to her get up let's go. I mean she is probably just a bloody pile of flesh and clothes. He tells her to get up. And there was no answer. Why was there. No answer. She's dead. I just seen her little hands on the threshold trying to pull herself up where she can try to get to the doorknob to try to get in the house and she dies at the doorway.

So he placed her on the donkey and a man arose went his way on his way home. Now here's the weird part. So he he leaves from here but we know how far it was from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. That's six miles.

So if you were to use a scale ruler which I did because I'm trying to figure out how far it was to the hill country. It's about anywhere between six and ten miles is from here to the hill country of Gideon's.

Here's where he was at. So he's gonna go somewhere in this fertile area where he was living. So he throws this dead body on a donkey and heads out in the heat with a corpse on this donkey till he gets to where he's at gets to his house.

And he takes a knife and he cuts her into 12 pieces limb by limb. And he sent her out for the territory of Israel. Why'd he cut her up in 12 pieces. 12 tribes. It's gonna be very important when Andy does chapter 20 next week.

Very important. So he cut her up into 12 pieces. You know there's only one other time when we see something or someone cut up into 12 pieces to send them out to the land to the nation of Israel. And it was when King Saul was he was made king by Samuel and they were going to go to war.

And these men didn't want to go to war. And the Holy Spirit came upon King Saul and he was empowered. He goes out he drags in a bullet he chops him up in 12 pieces and he sends those 12 pieces out and he says if you don't show up for war this is what we're gonna do to you.

That's basically what this man say. You'll know we'll you'll see the reason why next week. So they they cut him up cut her up in it or he cuts her up into 12 pieces sends her out limb to limb. And all saw it.

Meaning all the the nation the tribes of the nation. Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from that day. Even from the sons of Israel had come up from the land of Egypt unto this day. There's two things that had taken place there that had never taken place from the time they had come out of Egypt.

One. The sons of Israel had never homosexually tried to rape their own people. Nick yep it more. It's more expected from a heathen than your countrymen. Yeah that's right. So when we see what's taken place here we go.

Wow man the nation of Israel at this particular time in history in the time of the judges. Remember this actually took place back between chapter 3 verse 6 and chapter 3 verse 7. That's when the time frame would have taken place long before the judges came on.

Okay that the real judges off the hill on to Samson. And they were no different than the pagans. They were doing the same idolatry. They were doing the same immorality. They were bowing down to the same gods.

They were bowing down to the bales the asteros and all that they were no different. Remember once Joshua and Caleb got something and Caleb died. Once Joshua and Caleb died. What happened. The nation spiraled out of control.

And the spiritual chaos they did. What was right in their own eyes. Why. Well based on this narrative and the one previous is the Levites weren't doing their job. The Levites weren't training the people in the way of the Lord.

The Levites weren't continually bringing back to the place. Where look. They had a place to worship God. And it was in Shiloh. And it was in well and at one particular time it was in Gilgal. They had a place to worship God.

That's where the tabernacle was at. But people didn't want to worship there. They want to worship God their own way. They made their own idols. They bowed down and talked to them like they were Yahweh if you remember correctly.

What did they even called their idols Yahweh. It was syncretism. So the the Levites are this narrative and let in the last narrative the the destruction of the people the spiritual decline is all at the feet of the of the Levites.

These men were supposed to lead their people. So he chops her up he sends her out and he says these are the last words before we get into verse 20. I mean chapter 20. Consider it. Take counsel and speak up.

Judges, Relativism, and the Failure of Spiritual Leadership

So I've talked for 30 minutes. Take counsel speak up. Questions comments. They're very disturbing passage. How many people have read that passage before. Remember. Do you. Yeah I heard you know as a kid you know maybe a guy chopped up his concubine one I didn't know what a concubine as a kid was.

You know and I like. Why do you do that. Well didn't know. Well I mean it was he cut her up to send her out to say they're fixing to go to war against their own people. And he's saying if you don't go to war and help us wipe out these people.

This is what.

God's going to do to you where we have a standard of law but yet we have gone so far away from it that the wall has actually been changed to where now it's okay to do X Y Z X Y Z. We almost have gotten to the point where we are okay with this stuff because you do it you know you keep you I do what I do I keep me and it's it's a.

It's just more relativism is what it is. And the fact that just as Isaiah stood before the Kings and his time and says woe to them who say evil is good and good is evil we like to say that all man. We say it's bad.

For for those that say evil is good and good evil. No no no. Woe was an oracle of destruction from God every time he used that in the Old Testament. And that destruction was company was coming. You remember the last things that Jesus said to the Pharisees right before the week that he was crucified.

He said woe to you fruit of vipers woe to you scribes and Pharisees. Woe to you who go out and try to train them in your own way. And then you make them twice the sons of hell than yourself. Hey that's what the Lord Jesus said to those people.

So what. Was a oracle of destruction. And destructions coming. And it's going to be like a new member I wrote on the board number weeks ago all these things that are going to take place. We're fixing to see genocide take place next week.

You're fixing to see this tribe right here the whole tribe. All but 600 males are gonna be left. That's it. Not to get too much in the next chapter. But that's always.

Interesting to me is how the whole the whole tribe came together to defend their actions instead of you know taking care of them. Hey it is interesting that.

They come together and I don't want to get too far cuz I don't know what Andy's gonna say. But it is interesting that they come together to kill their own countrymen. But the whole book of judges they couldn't come together and fight the Philistines.

The whole book. I mean look who went and helped Samson. Nobody matter of fact. His own people sold him into their hands. I'm talking about the dial apart. But you remember went through. He burned up all the city and he slaughtered him with the with a he killed a thousand of them with the jawbone.

And they like that's how he got put into their hands. They turned him over to him. They says hey we're not gonna kill you. We're gonna let them do it. You know. What about Gideon. He should have had the whole nation go with him.

But there were some of them were cowardly and he said hey don't take them with you. You know the whole books that way. But now you come to the time to hey we've got to extinguish these perverts and all this immorality.

And what has taken place for what they did to our countrymen. That's all that's going to be left. That's it. We got ten minutes. It's not gonna stop. Perversions begin in the heart. Out of the heart comes fornication adultery homosexuality drunkenness all of that not something that the hands or the feet do.

It comes out of the heart. It begins in the heart. That's why we need a heart transplant. That's why God needs to take out the heart of stone. Pull out a heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh that causes us to walk and obey a statute and love this law.

And at this particular time in the nation of Israel they did not love God's law. They did not love God. And that's why they did what was right.

In their own eyes yes sir. Yeah. We've seen it in the Catholic Church we've seen it now throughout the Southern Baptist Church where we're more comfortable to protect these people than we are. And it just shows even though we come together as Christians or we think people are Christians and all they're really they're not.

You know there are people within us even back in Jesus time you know when he went in the synagogue people think the devil's not in the church but he's very prevalent because he told one of the you know demons stood up says what do we have to be with each other you know.

For God's people and Satan people come together and it's just.

The Need for a Heart Transplant and True Repentance

Yeah we've masked our immorality a little better than this because men are smart they don't want to look as the perverted or the immoral. So what do they do. They mask it and do it in private and do all those things that.

Yes sir.

But you see it seems like when those who claim to worship the true God are so relaxed but those who will call on the name of the true God or worship him through their idolatry through their ethnicity through whatever their sexuality you see them rioting in the streets and you see them doing these things and and it's sad because we can we can sit here and say this.

But how often do do we just sit here and say this and not just to you know say to proclaim that there is a king and that there is a word and that there is morality. And I think if we don't shrink back if we keep shrinking back this stuff's only going to become more prevalent.

Yeah and as you were saying hey we don't we.

Don't have. In this case they didn't have a king. We just all should point to someone coming. And that's why I'm really considering doing them Samuel. Because you know judges leading up there was no king there was there was no king there was no priest and there was no prophet.

You know who comes on the. If you did in the book in the chronology. And if I would have taught this book complete by myself I would have taught it in chronological because if you do it chronologically it sets up right after Samson.

Samson took the Nazarite vow and failed. Right. The next person in history you know who arises who takes the Nazarite vow from birth. The mother Hannah puts Samuel under that. Samuel now comes into the scene.

He now becomes the the judge that leads the people into in the way of righteousness. He becomes the priest that intercedes for the people in righteousness. And he he sets up the beginning of the prophethood.

And that's why I mean I'm really considering doing that. I don't know for sure yet but yes.

But also we see in that God is who he is. Full authority to dictate what is right and what is evil. We all see evil and are all pointed out in this. You know one person might think this is right and another person might think that's right and we just go through it and that's the reason why God is absolute king, lord of lords, king of kings because his authority doesn't change.

No it doesn't. What's interesting is that the old man told them don't do this wicked thing. They knew what they were doing was wicked. So it wasn't like yes ma 'am. You did it all nice and quiet. I think he's speaking in both cases, the totality of it.

Oh hang on. He didn't go. Well in the next chapter like I said if I don't know what Andy's gonna say. Okay. But in the next chapter when he sends this concubine's pieces out he's be. He gives a very redacted version of what took place.

You know how you see the thing come out on TV and it's got all the black marks out of it. Yeah he gives a very redacted version of what took place. He doesn't say hey you know what. When they came and knocked on the door they were throwing their bodies against the door to come in and rape me.

Instead of raping me you know what I did. I threw my wife out. He doesn't say that great. Read ahead and you'll see he he he very redacted version to protect himself and correct his his character once again he's a liar.

Well who did they rape and murder the concubine. Wait yeah. But he didn't grab the virgin daughter. He grabbed his concubine put her out the door and kicked the door shut. And those men with violence and sexual aggression said you know what we're going to grab whatever throws out the door.

Okay I'm not quite understanding what you're you're saying. You're. Are you say are you saying that you're. You're. They're not giving an account that she was raped and murdered is that where you're. That's not what I said.

Okay that's not what I said. I think both of them both of them were wrong. Both of them both of them would have been wrong. Their sexual aggression for homosexuality and rape is wrong. But the only reason why they didn't rape the servant the man in the old man is because that's not who came out the door.

So they just took what came out the door or was thrown out the door and that had obviously I mean it says right here it never happened. This has never taken place in all of Israel.

Even though both is really wrong but you see that demands only protecting the man not the women even though both of them is memorial but they would have.

Certainly saw the woman is less social status. I'm agreeing with it. Okay I'm just saying. But under like I said even though even though she was looked as a social class look at. Okay that's how it was appeared in social status.

She was not under the mosaic legislation. She still had laws that protected her still had laws that protected her. She could not be mistreated. She could not if they decide to divorce. Or she had to get a dowry to go away with her.

And that's what we forget. We're that even God in his mercy knowing that men were going to conquer the lands and buy for themselves concubines and slaves he made a concession to make sure that they weren't mistreated and these men did not take care of that.