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In the Days of the Judges (Part 3)
Part 3: Gross Immorality
The last five chapters of Judges provide snapshots of the perverse thinking that was common during Israel’s early days in Canaan. Chapters 17 and 18 showed us that many people had flippant attitudes toward worship and divine authority. In chapter 19, a disgusting episode reveals that some of them also had total disregard for God’s standard of morality.
The story is about a Levite from the hill country of Ephraim. He had taken a concubine (basically a wife of secondary status) from Bethlehem in Judah, but she deserted him and returned to her father’s house. After some time the Levite took one of his servants and went to Bethlehem to win the girl back. He “spoke tenderly” to her and persuaded her to return with him. After several days of celebration, the Levite, his concubine, and his servant started for home.
It was after sunset when the trio reached the town of Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. No one there seemed willing to offer them lodging, so they prepared to spend the night in the public square. But finally they were approached by an old man who was coming in from the fields. He urged them not to spend the night in the open, insisting that they be guests in his home instead.
Soon the reason for the old man’s warning became clear. As they were dining together in his house, the place was surrounded by a bunch of the town’s “worthless fellows” (literally, “sons of Belial”). They pounded on the door, demanding that the Levite be brought out so they could have sex with him. The old man pleaded with them not to do such a shameful thing. It was a flashback to Lot’s days in Sodom (Genesis 19). And, like Lot, the old man offered these degenerates his own virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine instead! “But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and brought her out to them; and they raped her and abused her all night until morning” (verse 25). What is unclear from the text is who pushed the Levite’s concubine out the door: the old man or the Levite himself? At any rate, it looks like the Levite at least agreed to this “solution.” Do we dare picture him and his host listening to her screams all through the night?
In the morning the Levite found his concubine lying dead outside the door. Rather matter-of-factly, the text describes how he carried her body home, cut it into twelve pieces, and sent them throughout the tribes of Israel. This gruesome message served to broadcast the crime of Gibeah to the whole country. The reaction was utter shock; the people saw it as the worst crime in the nation’s history (verse 30). Even centuries later, the prophet Hosea called to mind “the days of Gibeah” as a standard by which to measure Israel’s wicked deeds (Hosea 9:9; 10:9).
How do we begin to assess the evil in this episode? A bunch of men pursue a homosexual orgy with a visiting Levite. Another man offers to appease them by sacrificing the honor and safety of his own daughter and the spouse of his guest. (And the picture is even worse if the Levite gave his consent.) A woman is violated, brutalized, and left to die. And all this happens, not in the slums of some pagan city, but in a town of people who are supposed to be the children of God!
The book of Judges describes a time when “every man did what was right in his own eyes” (17:6). To many Israelites, it made no difference how one worshiped or even which god he worshiped. It made no difference whether the Lord’s instructions were followed devoutly, half-heartedly, or not at all. That mindset is what made possible the vile crime of Gibeah. When people stop listening to God with regard to worship, when they stop letting His word direct their conduct in daily life, it shouldn’t be surprising if sooner or later they start tolerating some pretty horrible things.
In Romans 1, Paul explains that this is what happened in the Gentile world. People refused to acknowledge God and turned to idols. As a result, God “gave them over” to the depraved, perverted thinking that naturally comes from rejecting Him, leading to all kinds of evil behavior and to the widespread approval of such evil (verses 18-32). We are willfully blind if we don’t see the same trend in our own society. Let’s work and pray to make sure it isn’t repeated in our own lives.
