Text: JUDGES 19:1-21:25
THEME: CAST DOWN BUT NOT DESTROYED
(The wickedness of a city)
By: Adeoye, Emmanuel (Evang.)
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This unnamed Levite was an absolute scoundrel of the basest sort. He spent most of his time partying (19:4,6,8,22); he walked in darkness and jeopardized his life and the lives of those with him (vv. 9-14); he treated his concubine in the most shocking manner, while she was alive and after she was dead; and what he did to her precipitated a civil war in Israel.
This particular concubine was unfaithful to her husband and fled to her father’s house in Bethlehem for protection (Lev 20:10). The longer she was gone, the more her husband missed her; so he traveled to Bethlehem, forgave her, and was reconciled. He and his father-in-law discovered they enjoyed each other’s company and spent five days eating, drinking, and making merry.
Little did the Levite realize that he really had nothing to be happy about because tragedy was stalking his marriage. To me, this Levite illustrates the careless attitude of many believers today. They are children of the day, but they act like children of the night (1 Thess 5:1-8). Judgment is around the corner, but these people think of nothing but enjoying life. When his nation was so far from God, how could this Levite waste his time eating, drinking, and making merry?
“Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness” (James 4:9).
Nobody appreciates laughter and good humor more than I do, but I fear the church is losing its sense of awe and needs to learn how to weep. Had this laughing Levite been walking in the light, praying and seeking God’s will.
HOSPITALITY IN GIBEAH (vv. 10-21). During the period of the Judges, it was dangerous to travel in the daytime (5:6) and even more so at night. The Levite didn’t want to stay in Jerusalem because it was in the hands of the pagan Jebusites. Thus he pressed on four miles to Gibeah so he could be with his own people. But the men of Gibeah turned out to be as wicked as the heathen around them!
To begin with, nobody in Gibeah welcomed the visitors and opened their home to care for them. Since the Levite had plenty of provisions for his party and his animals, he wouldn’t have been a burden to anybody; but nobody took them in. Hospitality is one of the sacred laws of the East, and no stranger was to be neglected; but only one man in the city showed any concern, and he was an Ephraimite. He not only took them into his home but also used his own provisions to feed them and their animals.
INIQUITY IN GIBEAH (vv. 22-28). Gibeah had become like Sodom, a city so wicked that God wiped it off the face of the earth (Gen 19). The men of the city were indulging in immoral practices that were contrary to nature (Rom 1:24-27) and the laws of God (Lev 18:22; 20:13; see 1 Cor 6:9-10). The word “know” in Judges 19:22 means “to have sexual experience with.” These sinners were excited because a new man was in town, and they wanted to enjoy him. The host courageously and correctly described their desires as wickedness and folly (v. 23) and a vile thing (v. 24), and he tried to prevent them from raping his guest. Like Lot in Sodom, the host offered them his daughter, which shows the low estimate some men in that day had of women and of sexual purity. How a father could offer his own daughter as a sacrifice to the lusts of a mob is difficult to understand.
Yet many parents today allow their sons’ and daughters’ minds and hearts to be violated by what they see and hear in movies, on television, and at rock concerts. Since the Levite was afraid the mob would kill him (20:5) he pacified them by giving them his concubine; and she had to endure gang rape the whole night (v. 25). Our hearts revolt at the thought of a man so insensitive to the feelings of a human being made in the image of God, so indifferent to the sanctity of sex and the responsibility of marriage, and so unconcerned about the laws of God, that he would sacrifice his wife to save his own skin.
Finding her dead on the doorstep, but not feeling guilty about it, he put her corpse on one of the donkeys and made his way home. Then he did a despicable thing: He desecrated and mutilated her corpse by cutting it into twelve parts and sending one part to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Of course, he wanted to mobilize the support of the tribes and punish the men of Gibeah who had killed his wife, but in fact, he was the one who had let them kill her! Surely there were other ways to call attention to Gibeah’s crime.
LESSONS
- THE ABSENCE OF ACCOUNTABILTY LEADS TO CHAOS (JUDGES 19:1)
- WITHOUT LEADERSHIP, PEOPLE ACT ACCORDING TO THEIR DESIRES WHICH LEADS TO DESTRUCTIVE CHOICES
- EVERY PERSON IS CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD AND DESERVE DIGNITY. WE MUST TREAT EVERYONE WITH THE RESPECT THEY DESERVES AS IMAGE BEARER OF GOD – GENESIS 1:27
- DISTANCE FROM GOD INCREASES OUR VULNERABILTIY TO SIN (THE BOOK JUDGES ILLUSTRATE HOW FAR A SOCIETY CAN STRAY FROM; WHEN IT TURNS AWAY FROM GOD)
- OUR CHOICES HAS CONSEQUENCE’S; WHILE WE CHOOSE OUR ACTIONS, WE CAN’T CHOOSE THE OUTCOME
(The decision we make (Levite, Israel, and The tribe of Benjamin has far reaching effect that causes suffering for many God Grace is presence even amid’s human failure). Despite The Catastrophe Event, God Allow the Tribe of Benjamin to Recover and Rebuild (Rom 5:20).
His Grace Can Reach Us Even After Poor Decision
The Story Conclude With Sobering Statement Judges 21:25 In Those Days_______
Let This Serve As A Reminder of the importance of Aligning Our Live’s With Gods Truth And Seeking His Guidance In All Things.
May We Learn from it and strive to Make Choices That Honor God And Bring Peace To Those Around Us.
CONCLUSION
HYMN 637
BY CHARLES ALBERT TINDLEY
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