‘In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah’ (Judges 19:1).
When my brother had trained for the ministry and was looking for a church, he worked at Co-op depot in Preston. He’d been witnessing to one of the lorry drivers, so he gave him a Bible. By the time the man had reached the end of Genesis, he was shocked by some of what he had read. The danger is we can be so familiar with the Bible we forget how shocking it can be! But be warned! What comes next in Judges registers as some of the most shocking incidents in scripture!
At was start of chapter 19, we’re introduced to another wandering Levite. That should raise eyebrows as the Levites were required to do certain jobs connected with religious worship. But we then get the now familiar words: ‘In those days, when there was no king in Israel’ (v1). So the picture is that, even early in their history, Israel was in a bad way and lacking leadership. This kicks off a disturbing story that will take us to the end of the book!Verse 1 is supposed to make us feel uneasy. The best definition of: ‘a concubine’ would be a second class wife! She wouldn’t have the full rights of a married woman and children from such a union wouldn’t have any inheritance. So, to misquote Shakespeare’s Hamlet ‘there is something rotten in the state of Israel.’ Our unease increases when the text informs us that she’s unfaithful to him (how is not specified). Four months pass and he decides it’s time for a reconciliation. So he goes to her father’s house to reclaim her and the whole event seems to turn into a party lasting a few days! The conclusion, this Levite seems to have a lot of time on his hands for someone with a specified job to do (vs2-9).
If these events illustrate a breakdown in what God intended for the family, what happens next illustrates a breakdown in society. After deciding not to stay at Jebus (eventually to become known as Jerusalem) the man decides to stay among his kin in Gibeah. Waiting in the town square might seem strange, but that was where you would have gone if you were looking for hospitality as in Arab culture, then and now, to refuse hospitality would be unthinkable! Once again, there should be a feeling of unease when none is forthcoming but it’s an old man, not originally local to the area, who offers them hospitality (vs10-21).
But if all this wasn’t bad enough, we now get a complete breakdown in morality. What happens next (vs22-26) reminds us of events of Genesis 19 when God deemed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to be so wicked that they were fit for judgement. But we should be doubly shocked as this is among God’s people! There’s an ambiguity in the way that the old man reacts to the threat of homosexual rape being committed on his guest as he protests: “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing” (v23). So, what would happen if the Levite wasn’t his guest? It also gives the impression that this wasn’t an uncommon occurrence! The Levite reaction is also ambiguous as he does nothing when the old man offers his young daughter to be abused and violated. Then he shows no hesitation in forcing his concubine to go out to the mob to be violently abused for hours!
Now let’s think about this. A Levite is someone who’s supposed to be acquainted with the law and spend his time teaching it, not someone who acts in a thoroughly callous and immoral way. It’s a sad thing when Christian leaders don’t set a moral example, but sadly it’s nothing new!
The Levite’s wicked and callous behavior continues as he: ‘rose up in the morning’ and we realized that he had slept through the whole thing! His disgraceful behavior continues when he’s surprised when he gets no answer from his dead concubine after she’s been exposed to a vicious gang rape, but puts her on his donkey and goes home (vs27-28).
When we think it couldn’t get any worse we get a breakdown in leadership! The Levite’s grizzly delivery of body parts to the twelve tribes not surprisingly gets a reaction (v29). When a disturbing murder been committed, analysts theorize why it’s happened. Was it the perpetrators background, a disturbing influence in the home or peer pressure? We see the same kind of thing here with everyone trying to analyze what’s happened. ‘And all who saw it said, “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak” (v30). Quite rightly, everyone’s terribly shocked. But, rather than look to the Lord, Israel is basically saying “if anyone can help us understand this, tell us what to do?” No one’s prepared to take charge. It’s really a case of ‘leadership needed, apply here!’