This is a true story.
In 1982, Leslie Marie Gattas was a 15-year-old cheerleader when she was abducted by Ernest Stubbfield from her bedroom at night in Memphis, Tennessee. He transported her in her family car, drove her to a church in Memphis and drove the car back to her home. Then he kept her in the church’s attic for 119 days, that is, for 4 months. During that time, he stayed with her in the attic and brought her down to the church’s kitchen at night when nobody was around. There they ate and watched TV and went back to the attic before the church workers came in the morning. Meanwhile, the family was thrown into a turmoil, panic and confusion and the city was aghast at the strange situation in Memphis. This matter was reported to the police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Even though Leslie Gattas left several handwritten notes in the church’s bathroom, nobody paid attention to it. Eventually, the church workers noticed that someone was eating the food in their kitchen. So, with the help of the FBI agent, they set up a camera in the kitchen. Sure enough, when Leslie and Eric Stubbfield came downstairs from the attic to eat, they confronted them. Leslie was rescued that night, but Eric Stubbfield escaped and interestingly slipped into the attic of another church, also in Memphis! He was eventually arrested a few days later.
The story did not end there. Leslie Gattas later went to study Psychology at LSU and after attending University of Memphis Law School became a lawyer. She is now an attorney practicing law in Memphis!
People hiding illegally in the attic is nothing new, especially in the South.
So, we ask you today.
“What’s in your attic?”
Is there a Douglas, Alexander, Henry, Eugene or Stanley hiding in your attic? When was the last time you visited your attic? What secrets are hiding in your attic?
In the Bible, there are several examples of strange hiding places. Yes, there is nothing new under the sun. The Bible has seen it all before!
In the Book of Joshua, we find an account of how Rahab the prostitute hid the spies sent by Joshua to scope the land and find out about the people that lived there.
In Joshua 2:1-15:
“Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out from Shittim two men as spies: “Go. Look over the land. Check out Jericho.” They left and arrived at the house of a harlot named Rahab and stayed there. The king of Jericho was told, “We’ve just learned that men arrived tonight to spy out the land. They’re from the People of Israel.” The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you to stay the night in your house. They’re spies; they’ve come to spy out the whole country.” The woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, two men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they’d come from. At dark, when the gate was about to be shut, the men left. But I have no idea where they went. Hurry up! Chase them—you can still catch them!” (She had actually taken them up on the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that were spread out for her on the roof.) So the men gave chase down the Jordan road toward the fords. As soon as they were gone, the gate was shut. Before the spies were down for the night, the woman came up to them on the roof and said, “I know that God has given you the land. We’re all afraid. Everyone in the country feels hopeless. We heard how God dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt, and what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you put under a holy curse and destroyed. We heard it and our hearts sank. We all had the wind knocked out of us. And all because of you, you and God, your God, God of the heavens above and God of the earth below. “Now promise me by God. I showed you mercy; now show my family mercy. And give me some tangible proof, a guarantee of life for my father and mother, my brothers and sisters—everyone connected with my family. Save our souls from death!”
“Our lives for yours!” said the men. “But don’t tell anyone our business. When God turns this land over to us, we’ll do right by you in loyal mercy.” She lowered them down out a window with a rope because her house was on the city wall to the outside”. MSG
Also, in 2 Samuel 17:11-21, Absalom, King David’s son had rebelled against him and wanted to overthrow him as king. After King David had fled from him, his adviser, Ahitophel stayed behind to help Absalom against his father. When Absalom asked for the counsel of Ahitophel and another adviser, Hushai, he preferred the counsel of Hushai over Absalom.
Unknown to Absalom, Hushai was working for King David his father, and so, Hushai sent a message to King David to tell him of what had been planned.
Let’s read from 2 Samuel 17:11-21. This is the counsel of Hushai:
“Here’s what I’d advise: Muster the whole country, from Dan to Beersheba, an army like the sand of the sea, and you personally lead them. We’ll smoke him out wherever he is, fall on him like dew falls on the earth, and, believe me, there won’t be a single survivor. If he hides out in a city, then the whole army will bring ropes to that city and pull it down and into a gully—not so much as a pebble left of it!” Absalom and all his company agreed that the counsel of Hushai the Arkite was better than the counsel of Ahithophel. (God had determined to discredit the counsel of Ahithophel so as to bring ruin on Absalom.) Then Hushai told the priests Zadok and Abiathar, “Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel thus and thus, and I advised them thus and thus. Now send this message as quickly as possible to David: ‘Don’t spend the night on this side of the river; cross immediately or the king and everyone with him will be swallowed up alive.’” Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting around at En Rogel. A servant girl would come and give them messages and then they would go and tell King David, for it wasn’t safe to be seen coming into the city. But a soldier spotted them and told Absalom, so the two of them got out of there fast and went to a man’s house in Bahurim. He had a well in his yard and they climbed into it. The wife took a rug and covered the well, then spread grain on it so no one would notice anything out of the ordinary. Shortly, Absalom’s servants came to the woman’s house and asked her, “Have you seen Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said, “They were headed toward the river.” They looked but didn’t find them, and then went back to Jerusalem. When the coast was clear, Ahimaaz and Jonathan climbed out of the well and went on to make their report to King David, “Get up and cross the river quickly; Ahithophel has given counsel against you!” MSG
So, there you have two examples of strange hiding places in the Bible.
We end today with the words of the Preacher in the Book of Ecclesiastes 11:13-14:
“The last and final word is this: Fear God.Do what he tells you. And that’s it.”
Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil.” MSG
