“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah” (Psalm 62:5-8 ESV, continued next week)
Santuario Madonna della Lacrime
(Our Lady of Tears Sanctuary)
Syracuse, Italy
(Our Lady of Tears Sanctuary)
Syracuse, Italy
Judges 19
The Runaway Concubine
˜So, what exactly is happening here?
˜The players: A Levite, his concubine, the concubine’s father, a foreigner in the land of Gibeah, and the evil men of Gibeah.
˜A Levite has a concubine that runs away from him and goes back to her father. After 4 months the Levite goes so he can bring her back.
˜The Levite stays there for 3 nights with the woman and her father and then every day after that the concubine’s father tries to convince the Levite to stay another night until the Levite announces that they are not going to stay any longer and they leave at dusk on the 5th night.
˜The reason the father stalls is because he doesn’t want to lose his daughter again.
˜So, what exactly is happening here?
˜The players: A Levite, his concubine, the concubine’s father, a foreigner in the land of Gibeah, and the evil men of Gibeah.
˜A Levite has a concubine that runs away from him and goes back to her father. After 4 months the Levite goes so he can bring her back.
˜The Levite stays there for 3 nights with the woman and her father and then every day after that the concubine’s father tries to convince the Levite to stay another night until the Levite announces that they are not going to stay any longer and they leave at dusk on the 5th night.
˜The reason the father stalls is because he doesn’t want to lose his daughter again.
The Runaway Concubine Continued
Before nightfall they get near Jerusalem (which was not held by Israelites, it was called the city of Jebus because it was held by the Jebusites) but decide that they will travel on to an Israelite city and they stop in Gibeah.
After arriving in Gibeah the people are so unwelcoming that no one from the city offers the 2 strangers a place to stay.
This is where it might start sounding like a story that we’ve heard before.
As the Levite and his concubine are setting up in the town square another foreigner to the city offers them to stay the night with him because he didn’t want them to stay the night in the town square.
While they are inside the man’s house all of the evil men of Gibeah come to the door and demand to have sex with the Levite. While the old man is trying to protect the Levite they end up sending the concubine outside.
The evil men of Gibeah rape the concubine to death. When she was laying by the door in the morning and the Levite called to her to get up the reason there was no answer from her is because she was dead already.
For pure shock value the Levite takes the concubine back to his house, chops her into 12 pieces, and mails her out to all the tribes of Israel so that they can be appalled at the dismembered body.
Before nightfall they get near Jerusalem (which was not held by Israelites, it was called the city of Jebus because it was held by the Jebusites) but decide that they will travel on to an Israelite city and they stop in Gibeah.
After arriving in Gibeah the people are so unwelcoming that no one from the city offers the 2 strangers a place to stay.
This is where it might start sounding like a story that we’ve heard before.
As the Levite and his concubine are setting up in the town square another foreigner to the city offers them to stay the night with him because he didn’t want them to stay the night in the town square.
While they are inside the man’s house all of the evil men of Gibeah come to the door and demand to have sex with the Levite. While the old man is trying to protect the Levite they end up sending the concubine outside.
The evil men of Gibeah rape the concubine to death. When she was laying by the door in the morning and the Levite called to her to get up the reason there was no answer from her is because she was dead already.
For pure shock value the Levite takes the concubine back to his house, chops her into 12 pieces, and mails her out to all the tribes of Israel so that they can be appalled at the dismembered body.
Think Back
What did we learn about in Gibeah?
So far, any time we’ve talked about multiple wives or concubines it has always ended badly.
Think back to Sodom, Lot, his 2 daughters, and the 2 angels back in Genesis. Lot knew the city of Sodom was wicked but he enjoyed his position of power there and it cost him his entire family.
That is partially what happened here to the Levite and his concubine; the terrible sin that the evil men of Gibeah
wanted to commit was sodomy.
Does it make it any better that the foreigner took the 2 females and let the concubine get raped to death?
So far, any time we’ve talked about multiple wives or concubines it has always ended badly.
Think back to Sodom, Lot, his 2 daughters, and the 2 angels back in Genesis. Lot knew the city of Sodom was wicked but he enjoyed his position of power there and it cost him his entire family.
That is partially what happened here to the Levite and his concubine; the terrible sin that the evil men of Gibeah
wanted to commit was sodomy.
Does it make it any better that the foreigner took the 2 females and let the concubine get raped to death?
Judges 20
Time for War
The tribes of Israel are enraged at the heinous crime and assemble at Mizpah and the Levite gets to tell his story about the evil men of Gibeah and how they wanted to rape him but instead raped his concubine to death.
The entire nation of Israel gathers a force of 400,000 men.
At first the 400,000 man army calls out the evil men of Gibeah. They wanted to rid the tribe of those evil men only.
The tribe of Benjamin refuses to turn over the evil men and instead decides to go to war against the rest of the nation.
Against the 400,000 man army the tribe of Benjamin gathers a force of 26,700 of which 700 are left handed sling-shot sharpshooters.
The tribes of Israel are enraged at the heinous crime and assemble at Mizpah and the Levite gets to tell his story about the evil men of Gibeah and how they wanted to rape him but instead raped his concubine to death.
The entire nation of Israel gathers a force of 400,000 men.
At first the 400,000 man army calls out the evil men of Gibeah. They wanted to rid the tribe of those evil men only.
The tribe of Benjamin refuses to turn over the evil men and instead decides to go to war against the rest of the nation.
Against the 400,000 man army the tribe of Benjamin gathers a force of 26,700 of which 700 are left handed sling-shot sharpshooters.
Time for War Continued
The first day of fighting the Benjamites kill 22,000 men.
The Israelite army weeps and prays and then decides to go back out for a 2nd day.
The second day of fighting the Benjamites kill 18,000 men.
Once again the Israelite army weeps and prays and then goes out for a 3rd day.
The Israelite army then tries a bait-and-retreat tactic and when it looked like they were retreating 10,000 Israelites came out of nowhere, set the city on fire, and
killed many Benjamites.
Only 600 Benjamites escaped and got away.
This war happened early on in the book of Judges because it mentions Phineas as priest and doesn’t say that the Ark was at Shiloh (which it came to be before the Temple was built).
The first day of fighting the Benjamites kill 22,000 men.
The Israelite army weeps and prays and then decides to go back out for a 2nd day.
The second day of fighting the Benjamites kill 18,000 men.
Once again the Israelite army weeps and prays and then goes out for a 3rd day.
The Israelite army then tries a bait-and-retreat tactic and when it looked like they were retreating 10,000 Israelites came out of nowhere, set the city on fire, and
killed many Benjamites.
Only 600 Benjamites escaped and got away.
This war happened early on in the book of Judges because it mentions Phineas as priest and doesn’t say that the Ark was at Shiloh (which it came to be before the Temple was built).
Judges 21
There was Still no King
After the war with Benjamin, the rest of the nation mourns because they killed off an entire tribe of their brothers.
Because of how Benjamin acted the rest of the tribes vowed that none of their women would marry a Benjamite.
There was an entire town that did not contribute to the war and it was decided that from this town women would be taken and given to the Benjamites who had survived the war. These 400 virgins are not enough for the survivors from Benjamin, though.
The book of Judges ends with the remaining Benjamites having to steal virgins who danced at the yearly festival (probably booths) so that the vow of daughters being given to Benjamites wouldn’t be broken.
After the war with Benjamin, the rest of the nation mourns because they killed off an entire tribe of their brothers.
Because of how Benjamin acted the rest of the tribes vowed that none of their women would marry a Benjamite.
There was an entire town that did not contribute to the war and it was decided that from this town women would be taken and given to the Benjamites who had survived the war. These 400 virgins are not enough for the survivors from Benjamin, though.
The book of Judges ends with the remaining Benjamites having to steal virgins who danced at the yearly festival (probably booths) so that the vow of daughters being given to Benjamites wouldn’t be broken.