Difficult Old Testament Passages : Judges 19:1-21:25 The Levite and His Concubine

The moral condition of Israel has gone down to the same level of the moral depravity  the Canaanites. Compare Joshua  24:30 with Judges  2:10. Apostasy from God and  rejection of the truth is  always followed by moral corruption.[1]  The time is similar to that  of  the  days of  Noah and Lot. In fact, Jesus  makes reference  to this in Lk. 17:28-30  and draws a parallel  between these days  and  the times  which are to precede the coming of the Son of Man.  Evidences  of  such moral corruption and violence exist today in abundance.

THE TEXT  EXAMINED

19:1  In those days when there was no king in Israel…  This section relates one of the most shocking episodes of Israel's history. It  is truly tragic.  It all begins  with a wrong relationship  between a Levite  and his  concubine. [2]

19:2 The concubine leaves  her husband.  Their  relationship enters into its inevitable difficulties. No woman  plays the second fiddle well, and so she  becomes unfaithful and leaves him and moves back to her father's house in Bethlehem.

19:3 After four months, the Levite decides that he wants her back. They  appeared to reconcile  and her father was happy to  receive  him. But, it’s time to  get back.  

19:4-10 The girl's father really wanted him to stay  and tried to delay their departure.  This happened again and again until  the Levite  finally said, "I'm leaving." They leave and  end up at  Jebus  (Jerusalem), which,  at this time was not yet in Israelite hand.

19:11-14  Unwilling to stay among the foreigners, the Levite felt it would be safer  to be among the people of Israel. He was very  wrong. He landed up in  Gibeah (the birthplace of Saul)  belonging to the tribe of Benjamin.

19:15  The people of Gibeah showed no  customary hospitality - this is the first indication that this city  is  evil.

19:16-21 An old man takes them in. This old man was not a Benjamite, but  he was living in Gibeah.   He inquired about their situation. The Levite explained that even though they had enough provisions, no one had offered them a place to stay. Knowing that this was not a safe city, the old man said, "Don't spend the night in the town square, come to my house."

19:22-25 The sin of the  men of Gibeah:  The  men of Gibeah  are a morally perverse bunch.  They demanded that the old man give them the Levite for their sexual satisfaction.   With a similar response  to  Lot  in Genesis 19, the old man offers them the women from the household, rather than the men.  Gibeah has become the new Sodom.     All this is written as a matter of fact and without any  attempt to  make it sound less harsh. Everything written here  is meant  to shock us.

19:26-30 The result of this was one of the worst and shocking  things recorded in all of Scripture - the gang rape of a woman, resulting in her death. The Levite calls for justice from the tribes of Israel by cutting  her up into 12 parts, sending a shockwave throughout Israel : “Such a thing has never happened…”.

20:1-7 400,000 Israelites  gather at Mizpah,  in outrage  to punish  the people of Gibeah  for this  deed  (20:8-11)

20:12-14 Investigating the crime :  Instead of agreeing that the crime was awful and that the men should be killed, the Benjamites defended the men, and armed themselves to fight against the rest of Israel. They  would rather  defend Gibeah than practise justice.  Perversity is pervasive[3].  

20:15-17 Benjamin  was a powerful opponent. 26 000 Benjamites came to the aid of the 700 Benjamite warriors  in Gibeah.   You would think that this is going to be a short battle. But  not so. Benjamin was  a  very powerful  and skilled warrior tribe.

20:18-28 :  Why did  God not give the Benjamites  immediately into the hands of Israel?  The most likely answer is that the rest  of  Israel itself was not guiltless. They needed learn  humility.

20:29-48: Victory over Benjamin.   Almost every one of Benjamin's warriors was wiped out. Only 600  men survived.

21:1 ..."No one of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin in marriage."  Now that most of Benjamin’s tribe  was  dead,  it looked like the entire tribe might become extinct.

21:4- 24   Mercy prevails:  Wives  are found for the remnant of  Benjamin.  400  virgins were found from Jabesh Gilead , and more  were found  by  kidnapping  from  among the daughters of Shiloh.

21:25  “In those days  there was no king in Israel. Everyone  did  what was right  in his own eyes”.   This is a good summary of the entire book. When God is only given lip service, when religious service  replaces  a vital relationship with God, and when wickedness is allowed to prevail, this is the situation we find ourselves in.  

Does this not have a contemporary ring about it ?

SUMMARY :

• The Bible does not  attempt to  avoid  sin  or gloss over the great shortcomings of God’s people in history. This  report is meant to shock us.

• The overall intention is to depict the depravity of  God’s people at this time,  and this is an extreme example. This is the point of 19:29,30.  The  depth of this depravity is also mentioned by Hosea  in 9:9, 10:9. The peak  of  this sexual perversity  is manifested  supremely in the sin  of homosexuality.

•  Everyone and everything in these chapters  displays  this sinful twistedness, whether it is the concubine  who was unfaithful (19:2)  or the Levite who practises self preservation (19:25),  the  slaughter of  the entire  tribe of Benjamin  (20:1-48) ; the slaughter  of the town  of Jabesh Gilead  who did not come up to the LORD at Mizpah (21:8-12)  and the kidnapping  of the girls at  Shiloh (21:19-24).

•  The writer  of the Judges   brief and matter of fact summary is contained in  19:1 and 21: 25. The root of  it all is each man  doing whatever  was right in his own eyes.  Each man here   refers to those that were part of the OT covenant church. This is not the world out there. It is the church of the OT  which displays such unspeakable wickedness.  Much of the  modern church  has become the greatest exporter and promoter of sin. 

•  Grand lesson: Woe to those that  trivialize God and do not take Him seriously. They shall be handed over. Romans 1:18 – 32  shows us  what happens  when God hands  a people over. The visible result of  that is sexual promiscuity, of which homosexuality  is  the peak!

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[1] Rom. 1:26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32

[2] A concubine was a lawful wife who was guaranteed only food, clothing, and marital privileges (Ex. 21:7-11; Dt. 21:10-14). Any children she bore would be considered legitimate; but because of her second-class status, they wouldn't necessarily share in the family inheritance (Gen.25:1-6). If a man's wife was barren, he sometimes took a concubine so he could establish a family. Though the law controlled  such a relationship,   it was never  a part of God’s original design.  Several of the patriarchs had children with concubines including Abraham with Hagar (Gen. 16); Jacob with Bilhah and Zilpah (Gen. 30:4-13) Several other OT men had concubines, including Gideon, Saul, David, and Solomon. It should be noted however that although a concubine was, in a sense, a legal mistress, we never see such a family life blessed by God!

[3] D.R. Davies :  Christian  Focus Publications ; Judges , p.215

DIFFICULT PASSAGES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT - JOSHUA 7 : "Why did Achan's Family have to die for his sin?"

There is always somebody in the church who does not think  that God’s commands are  serious.  There are always people in the church who think that they can sin, and they think  that this is their private problem- and not the church’s problem. In this study we want  to  do some serious reflection upon the  effects  of our  sin upon others. We will learn that our private sins always have public effects. It is true  that some  of our sins will have less visible impact than others - but they  will always  have  an impact to a greater or lesser degree.

UNDERSTANDING THE BACKGROUND

Chapter  7:1  starts on a solemn and disturbing note. “Achan took some of the devoted things. And the Lord’s anger burned against the people of Israel“. This is the central verse  and concern of this chapter. There is  an individual  sin … and there is God’s wrath on a nation.

What happened? The story is described in terms of  (i) A Cause  (ii) A Cure (iii) A Consequence

(i)  THE CAUSE  (7:1-9)

One of the men  of Israel, Achan, did not take  God’s commandments  seriously. He disobeyed  the explicit  order  of  6:17 – 19 . The order could not have been clearer. But, there  is always someone  who  thinks that “no!”  means,  “try your luck”.

Well, what happened?  As Israel  was poised to take the next city  in the promised land, Ai,  they  not only encountered stiff resistance, not only  were thirty six of their men killed  in the battle  for that town, but they were decisively beaten, “and their hearts melted  and became  as water“ (7:5).  Joshua’s  reaction  in  7: 6 – 9  shows that he  is utterly grieved and perplexed.   You and I  have already been given a ‘sneak preview’  in 7:1 as to  why this happened.  But   Joshua  has, as yet, no clue as  to what had caused this setback.  As far as he was concerned nothing could go wrong right now. The God of Israel had   assured them of His presence [see Chapter 1: 3,5,6,9,11,13,15].  He had already caused the waters of the  Jordan to dry up, so that they could walk into the promised land on dry foot.  God  had already  given  Jericho into their hands. But notice too,  that  the gift of the land is connected to  their obedience- see 1:7b - 8,17.

So, this  defeat  at Ai  is devastating!  What on earth is God doing?  Can you appreciate Joshua’s despair in v.7? Joshua feels humiliated and mocked  (7:9).  “What will the Canaanites think of us?  What will the Canaanites think of  Israel’s God?“ The glory of God is at stake. Will God now  be humiliated  before  the Amorites?

(ii) THE CURE (7:10-23)

Joshua’s desperate prayer  is heard by God (7:10-13). Mourning over the fact  will not do. “Get up!”  The problem is not with  God. It is within Israel!  “Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant… they  have taken some of the devoted things  (referring to  6:18,19)!   The  reason is given   why   they cannot stand against  their enemies.  God says, “get rid of that problem among you  by destroying  it.”  

God does not  give Joshua the name(s)  of  the offender(s).  He simply says: “Assemble the people. Then you take them one by one, and you question them. You’ll soon  find the guilty party”.  It doesn’t take long before the  matter is in the open (7:20).

The anatomy  and progression  of  Achan’s sin  is  powerfully  displayed in  7:20-21, "I saw – I coveted- I took”   (cf.  James 1:14,15).  Please note that  seeing is no sin, but coveting  and taking (stealing) are both forbidden in the 10 commandments.

(iii)     THE CONSEQUENCE (7: 23 -26)

Achan  was judged  guilty, and in consequence  his family and all his belongings were destroyed.  This is a very graphic illustration and  severe application of Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin  is death”. 

This judgement no doubt  comes as a great shock to a  21st century reader of the Bible. Why did Achan’s family have to die  with him?  It doesn’t sit easy, does it? But that is precisely what sine does. It produces pain, it produces grief because it produces death. Perhaps  your understanding  grows somewhat more   when you understand  what the selfish sin of Achan  had accomplished.  36 wives had perhaps lost their husbands and many children would have  lost  their fathers  at the battle of Ai.  But even more significantly, the honour and the Name  of God  were  assaulted by a man  who thought that God  did not mean what  He said.   

Private sins  have consequences!

The penalty is so severe because the sin is so serious!  

The problem is that we  have such a   poor understanding of  the nature of sin  and what it does to God and man. We think that it is a little thing  to sin against  God’s explicit commands! But it is no little thing  to sin against God. Perhaps  you will now appreciate Jesus’ strong words  in Matthew  5:29ff : “If your right eye causes you to sin,  tear it out… if your right hand causes you to sin , cut it off… it is better for you to lose one of your members  than that your whole body  go into hell.”  

We cannot treat  cancer  with plasters or vitamin pills  - it requires  radical surgery.  Sin is a spiritual cancer. It needs radical treatment.  

APPLICATION   

The primary lesson  from this text is that  private sin has  public consequences. Think through some biblical  examples and then through some everyday examples:

BIBLICAL EXAMPLES

• In Joshua   
• The effects of  Achan’s private sin   on  Israel:  (i) Loss of life (ii) Loss of blessing (iii) Loss of  courage  (iv) Loss of protection

•  In the rest of Scripture  

(i) Adam’s ‘private sin’   caused  the whole human race to  inherit the ‘sin virus’  and be cut off from God.   

(ii) David’s ‘private‘ sin  with Batsheba (2 Samuel 11)   caused the death of  her husband Uriah, and the death of the baby born  to  him and Batsheba. It also  ultimately cost him the kingdom.  

(iii) David’s  “private vanity”  in  2 Samuel 24, where he  calls for a headcount of all the fighting men, causes the Lord to burn with anger. It caused the death of 70 000 people from Dan to Beersheba.

(iv)  King Herod’s  private fears about the announcement  of a king  to be born in Israel causes a baby boy genocide  (Matt. 2:16).  Also, his  loose private words  and promises cause  the death of John the Baptist  (Matt. 14: 1-12)

(v)  The private  selfishness and man-centeredness of the Corinthian church causes great divisions in the church.   

(vi)  Supremely, your, mine and everyone else’s ‘private sin‘ took Christ to the cross.  The holy, sinless Son of God  and Son of man had to  be destroyed by death. He had  to  die  in our place, so that our  sin could be forgiven.

EVERYDAY EXAMPLES 

(i)        A husband cheats on his wife. Wife, children, family, friends suffer. If he is a church member, the church also suffers.

(ii)       The private  “sex life” of people  who pass on AIDS has  horrifying upon our country  (25-30 % infected?) Many  children born in such relationships  are affected. Families, employers,  health care systems  and economies  are affected.

Your sin is no private affair. 

Your sin does not happen in isolation, just as little  as cancer or Aids  manifests itself in isolation  to  the rest of the body. The nature of cancer,  AIDS  or flu for that matter is that it affects the whole body.  It eventually kills the body.  And the church is a body. And Israel is a body. 

Achan is part of Israel  and therefore Achan’s sin is her problem.  

The same is true  for sin in the church. 

Your  sin  becomes  the church’s problem. 

The Holy Spirit  is grieved.  It hurts everyone to varying degrees.  

The church  cannot advance with sin in her midst. 

Subsequent Church discipline is  always painful. Sometimes people have to be cut off.  It always leaves people grieving.   

Think about that!