The events of Judges 19-21 probably represent the worst of the worst of the history of Israel. They happened, surprisingly, not long after Joshua passed away signaling, I think, the fact that shortly after conquering the Promised Land, the people fell away quickly into idolatry which then infected them with a disease. This disease spread into a cancer that invaded all parts of their lives, their values, and their actions - until this was the result. This story, by the way, will remind you of another ungodly city: Sodom.
We see in these chapters:
Sexual immorality in its "accepted" form (sex outside of the marriage between one man and one woman), then sexual immorality at its apex in the aggressive, violent homosexuality demonstrated in Gibeah of Benjamin.
The cruelty of a husband to his "wife" both in terms of emotional abuse that is not seen but hinted at, to physical abuse in giving her to the mob, and disregard for life when the husband just about steps over her body as he leaves his father in law’s house.
We see the fear that comes about in a world not governed by Yahweh (fear of what the Jebusites might do) and the folly of not fearing when everyone does what is right in their own eyes rather than follow God (Gibeah).
We see the kind of mixed up priorities in dealing with society. The husband disregards his concubine, but then when she is killed it causes an entire tribe to be practically destroyed and all sorts of summersaults to get around rash oaths that are taken in the heat of the moment.
They are hard chapters to read, and so I want to deal with all of them - it’s one continuous story, then make some conclusions about the flesh, which inspired the people to do the things they did, at the end.
Chapter 19
19:1 - 4
The woman was a "second wife." Apparently not happy with this Levite (not the same man as in the previous chapters) she leaves and goes back home. The man wants her back and goes to her father’s house and "speaks kindly" to her. She should have known better. This guy is a loser as we’ll see later, he sends her out to get abused by the crowd when they travel to Gibeah, and almost doesn’t even see her as he steps out of the house to go on his way days later. Oddly, the father of the girl seems happier to see him than the woman herself.
5 - 9
The laws of hospitality play a major role in the story - as we’ll see later as well. But the girl herself is pretty much ignored here. Notice it is "the two of them" (vs 6) and "both of them" (vs 8) not "the three of them" who ate and drank. There is no direct indication that the woman even wanted to rejoin her husband.
10 - 15
It was six miles to Jerusalem from Bethlehem. They would pass just to the west of Jebus (the fortress later captured by David) and home to the Jebusites. The man feared danger staying there. If he only knew the real danger was with his own nation. Gibeah lay four miles beyond Jebus. It was logical for them to wait in the open square, but was odd that no one came to offer them lodging. Lack of hospitality was no where near the most serious problem going on in Gibeah.
16 - 21
The House of the Lord was either at Bethel or Shiloh to the north.
22 - 26
The people of Gibeah were very similar in their behavior to the residents of Sodom. This horrible scene is reminiscent of when the angels came to Lot. There are so many sins here they are hard to count. I think it is enough to say that what we see here is the result of years of continual, purposeful running away from God and headlong into sin. This is what happens when humans live without God. We don’t get better, we get worse and worse.
Romans 1:18-22 is a great example of what happens when we are on our own and what God thinks about it.
27 - 30
What a guy, huh? I’m not sure what he is really upset about - the loss of his wife or the loss of his property. Never the less, God uses it as an opportunity to get people thinking about what is really going on in their midst and gets the rest of Israel fired up to stop it!
Chapter 20
1 - 7
Notice that the Levite identifies that it was not just the outcasts and bad guys in Gibeah but the leaders who did this. Woe to the people when the leaders are examples of ungodliness.
8 - 17
So Israel raises a huge army but wants to punish those responsible for the crime, not all of Benjamin. Benjamin would not listen. It was a tragic and terrible mistake. It is always better to let God harm part of you so evil can be purged out, rather than face the full consequences of His judgment.
18
Finally - someone in this book of Judges asks God what to do!
19 - 28
Perhaps one of the reasons Israel has to keep going back to the Lord is to put them into a state of true repentance and draw them back to the Lord.
(28) Since Aaron’s grandson Phinehas is apparently instrumental in finding the will of the Lord, it seems this whole scene happens not long after Joshua’s death.
29 - 48 The Battle
47 - 48 Nearly every Benjamite was killed, except the 600 men. The tribe had been effectively put "under the ban" for complete annihilation.
Chapter 21
1 - 7
Notice the weeping rather than rejoicing. When sin must be dealt with sharply there is often mourning for what had to be done. They realize Benjamin was almost wiped out, so they come up with a plan.
8 - 15
(13) The "peace" (Shalom) was an offer for them to rejoin the Israelite community.
16 - 22
This is was a loophole in their vow not to "give" their women to Benjamin. If the men "take" a wife then they are not "giving" them.
23 - 24
Notice how far they had to go in order to undo a rash vow? How far do we sometimes have to go in order to undo statements made in anger, or actions made in haste? That’s why the Bible says (James 1:19-21) Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. NIV
25
Again the restatement of the state of Israel in those days: "everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Judges started out with Israel asking what was right in God’s eyes and ended up just doing what was right in their own, for the most part leaving God totally out of the picture.
Conclusions
Hosea 9:9, 10:9 recall this event
Hosea 9:9 They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins. ESV
Hosea 10:9-10 From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel; there they have continued. Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?
10 When I please, I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for their double iniquity. ESV
This story is the result of what happens when someone is not just flirting with sin and the flesh but has made friends with and gone to bed with them. This is "deep corruption" (Hosea 9:9). The Hebrew word for "corruption" means "to decay" or "ruin." Make no mistake, when you repeatedly give into the flesh, you are causing decay in your life.
The flesh is never satisfied. Ephesians 4:17-19 I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. NIV
Even though we are (and even Israel was) incensed at the actions against the Levite’s concubine, it was not a sudden random failure that caused it, but a continual purposeful descent from righteousness to unbelievable cruelty and immorality.
The depths of unrighteousness by humanity are unplumbed. There are always worse things we are capable of. Man is not good by nature, he is evil. The problem with setting standards on our own is that they will always tend towards the middle and as the middle sinks, so will the standards. What was not spoken of but not dealt with becomes something tolerated. Soon it is accepted behavior, then normative, then expected and then demanded, then taken by force.
Notice in Hosea that God says he will not leave it unpunished. There is a due from the flesh and from sin (which is doing anything outside the character of God). Romans 6: says "the wages of sin is death." And Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption.
There is a price to be paid, both here and eternally. If you don’t find someone else to pay the price you will have to pay it yourself. Fortunately we have found someone to pay it: Jesus Christ, who voluntarily gave up His life so you wouldn’t have to. And so then instead of giving into the flesh we kill it!
Paul goes on in Ephesians 4 to say this:
Ephesians 4:20-24 0 But that is not the way you learned Christ!- 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. ESV
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