I had to push on and get this over with! It’s some of the worst stuff you’ll read in
the Bible!
A Levite – someone who was supposed to be set aside by God
for Temple service – took a slave woman as a concubine. She was unfaithful to him and ran home to
daddy for protection. The Levite went
after her, reconciled, and after 5 or so days partying with her father, he
insisted on leaving way too late in the day, which resulted in hazardous
travel.
Arriving in Gibeah, no one extended typical Middle Eastern
hospitality by offering them a place to stay.
Only late at night did an older man take them to his home. By this time, though, the men of Gibeah, in a
scene which reminds us of Lot’s story, had surrounded the house, demanding the
Levite be turned over to them for sex!
Our Western ways hardly prepare us for what happened next. The host turned over his daughter to them,
and the Levite’s concubine was tossed out the door as well to save his own
skin! The Levite actually went to sleep while his concubine was
being gang-raped! To top it off, the
next morning he opened the door and saw her lying there. He said, “Get up!” She couldn’t hear him because she’d
died. He loaded her body on his animal,
traveled home, then dismembered her body and shipped it to the leaders of the tribes
of Israel. This caused a national stir
and a cry for war against Benjamin if the offenders weren’t delivered for
trial. Yet the leaders of Benjamin dug
in their heels, and battles ensued. The
other eleven tribes lost 40,000 men before wiping out all but 600 remaining men
of Benjamin, having also destroyed all the women and children of the tribe as
well.
It was then that it hit them – one of the 12 tribes of
Israel was about to become extinct! They
had to walk a tightrope around all of their rash pledges in order to prevent
that from happening. They’d sworn not to give their daughters to
men of that tribe. But being the
connivers they were, they discovered one tribe had a city whose men did not
make the meeting. Claiming failure to
defend the nation, they destroyed those men and their wives and found 400 young
girls to solve 2/3 of the problem.
They then hatched a final plot, wherein their own daughters would be “kidnapped” at a
festival by the remaining 200 men to be taken as wives. Since they weren’t giving them, they wouldn’t
be guilty of breaking their oath. They
were so concerned about “doing things right” and not at all concerned with “doing
the right things”.
“All this carnage and destruction happened because one
Levite didn’t have the courage to stand up for what was right and treat his
concubine honorably. … the problem started
in the home. As goes the home, so goes the nation,”
my commentary said.
Father, we’ve all faced struggles at home as well. I want Your
wisdom and guidance, and I need Your intervention on my behalf. Lead me to lead them. Help us to remove our blinders, see where Satan attacks, and defend our
families. I don’t want to be doing
nothing if my family is crumbling.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Posts
