Judges 19:22 – 30 “While they were enjoying themselves, suddenly the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they said to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have relations with him!” The owner of the house went out and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Do not commit this outrage. Look, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine, and you can use them and do with them as you wish. But do not do such a vile thing to this man.”
But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. Early that morning, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, collapsed at the doorway, and lay there until it was light. In the morning, when her master got up and opened the doors of the house to go out on his journey, there was his concubine, collapsed in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. “Get up,” he told her. “Let us go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.
When he reached his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel. And everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has been seen or done from the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until this day. Think it over, take counsel, and speak up!”
This story describes unimaginable depravity. First, the people of Gibeah have refused to harbor strangers in total rejection of their own culture. Now the men of Gibeah are thronging at the door, demanding that the young Levite be given to them so that they can rape him. Instead of a stranger needing shelter and protection, all these men can see is fresh meat for their lusts! The old man from Ephraim feels so strongly about protecting the young Levite that he offers his own virgin daughter as well as the Levite’s concubine for these men to rape instead. When the men refuse to listen, the Levite thrusts his concubine out the door, abandoning her to be raped all night until she dies at the doorstep of the house where the Levite is safely ensconced.
This story teaches on many different levels. One constant theme is the duty of right – thinking men in those days to strangers. Travelers were to be welcomed, sheltered, fed, and cared for. Even today, this tradition holds true in many parts of the world. In Ghana, we have had friends who have given us their beds, fed us the best food they had and heated bath water for us – all as a matter of course because we were travelers whom they were welcoming into their homes.
What has happened to the men of Gibeah that they have become obsessed with homosexual liaisons? The only possible answer is that these men have completely forgotten the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Successive generations of parents have failed to teach their children the things of God and this depravity is the final result.
Women and girls reading this story might be outraged at the outcome for the poor concubine. Why didn’t the Levite let his concubine remain indoors where she would be safe, rather than abandoning her to the mob? This young man might be from the tribe of Levi; however, his actions are not those of a holy man who knows the ways of God. In the first place, the Levite could have married this girl; however, he had gotten away with making her a concubine, paying a far cheaper price and automatically giving this girl far less status than that of a wife. The girl’s father probably thought that having his daughter allied with the tribe of Levi would give his whole family a boost in status, not realizing that he was giving his daughter to a man who would sacrifice her to save his own skin. But even had this girl been a wife, the reality was that women counted for far less than men on the social scale. (One other minor detail: there is no record to indicate that the Levite was sorry for having so poorly planned their travels that they wound up in Gibeah in the first place.)
The Levite returned home where he would be safe and then cut the girl into pieces, sending each piece throughout Israel. This terrible action was to wake up the rest of Israel to the moral mess into which Gibeah of the tribe of Benjamin had sunk.
APPLICATION; We read this story and feel morally superior. After all, WE would NEVER consider such horrible things…. Oh? How many of us or our children are addicted to violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto? Several years ago, in a small town in Georgia, a teenager who had been repeatedly playing that video game murdered a local police officer who had previously befriended him. The only explanation that could be found was that this young man had practiced murder and mayhem in a video game to the point that he was acting out the things he had been practicing.
St. Paul warned the Philippians, “ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things..”(NIV)
People training to become airline pilots spend long hours in flight simulators, practicing maneuvers until they can perform flawlessly and automatically. This practice is necessary so that in an emergency, pilots will be able to save their planes and the lives of all traveling with them.
What kind of things do you find entertaining? How about your kids? What videos are they watching online? What kind of online gaming are they involved in? The general trend with games has been to become more violent and increasingly perverted. You become what you watch and what occupies your mind. The process happens gradually. We should be striving to become more noble and more loving, not more depraved.
PRAYER: Father God, help all of us to check those things that entertain us and to turn away from anything that does not please You. Help us to know You and to love You more each day than we did the day before. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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