Well I finished the book of Judges this week and I came upon the most disturbing of accounts EVER! In Judges 19-21 we have an account of basically gang rape, dismemberment, and a bloody civil war within the tribes of Israel. This all takes place during a time where there was no king and the people did what was right in their own eyes. This is definatley not a Bible story to tell your children until they are much older. Here is the account of Judges 19-21 with commentary from me and some mixed in from an article I found written by Pastor Nathan Shepherd.
There was a Levite who lived in the remote area of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. Well this concubine became angry with the Levite so she got up and left and went to her home in Bethlehem. After four months, her husband set out after her to persuade her to come back, taking with him his servant and two donkeys. So, She took him inside her father's house, and the father welcomed him in, and insisted he stay with them. So he remained three days, and they ate, drank, and slept there. On the fourth day, they got up early and the Levite prepared to leave, but the father said, 'Have something to eat to strengthen you, and then you may go.' They sat down and ate and drank together, and the girl's father said to the man, 'Please spend the night here. Enjoy yourself. And when the man got up to leave, the girl's father insisted again, and so the man spent the night there. On the fifth day, the man got up early to depart, but the girl's father said to him, 'Have something to eat. So they ate a meal together. When the man got up to leave with his concubine and his servant, the girl's father said, 'Look, it is almost sunset. Stay here another night, enjoy yourself, and then get up early tomorrow to leave.' But refusing to stay the night, the man departed and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem) with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine. Daylight was fading as they approached Jebus, and the servant said to his master, 'Come on, let's stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night.' But his master said, 'We should not stop in a city of foreigners with people who are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.' So they traveled on to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin to spend the night. They sat down in the city square, but no one took them into his house for the night. But eventually an old man came by, returning from his work in the fields. He was also from the Ephraimite hills, though he was living in Gibeah. He said to them, 'I will take care of all your needs, just don't spend the night in the city square.' So he took them into his house and fed the donkeys. They washed their feet and ate and drank. They were enjoying themselves when some worthless men of the town surrounded the house and pounded on the door, saying, 'Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!' The owner of the house went outside and said to them, 'No, my brothers, do not be so wicked! This man is my guest, so do not do such a shameful thing!' 'Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Abuse them and do to them whatever you wish, but do not do such a disgraceful thing to this man!' - WAIT! Now doesn't this sound exaclty like what happened to Lot? But what I don't understand is why did they compromise? They should have slammed the door in their faces and not allowed them anything (well IMO) The men would not listen to him, so the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them. So all night long this poor woman was ganged raped and abused! At dawn they let her go, and the girl went back to the house where her master was staying, and she fell down and lay there until morning. When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house, preparing to to start on his journey, there was his concubine laying on the doorstep with her hand on the threshhold. 'Get up. Let's go,' he said to her, but there was no response. Because she was dead! So what does he do? he puts her on a donkey and heads home. When he reached his house, he took a knife and carved up his concubine into twelve pieces. So let's get this straight...he carries her dead body on his donkey all the way home and when he gets there he carves her up into 12 pieces! It sounds like a Stephen King story. And then he mails the pieces to all of Israel. It doesn't say but I am guessing since their are 12 pieces that he mails one piece to each of the 12 tribes.
Disturbing yes? Well, it gets worse...
So all the Israelites assembled at Mizpah and said, 'Explain how this wicked crime was committed. The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, 'The men of Gibeah surrounded the house where I was staying, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine to death. I cut her up and sent her throughout the land of Israel.' He forgets to tell them that he GAVE her to them. Then he says, 'Now, all of you Israelites, discuss this and decide what to do!' The people all spoke as one and said, 'This is what we will do to Gibeah: we will attack, punishing them for this disgraceful act committed in Israel.' The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, 'Hand over the worthless men of Gibeah so we can put them to death and purge this evil from Israel.' But the Benjaminites would not listen to their Israelite brothers, and they mustered at Gibeah to fight the Israelites. There were 26,000 swordsmen. The Israelites, not including Benjamin, mustered 400,000 swordsmen. They went up to Bethel and asked God, 'Who should be the first to attack the Benjaminites?' And Yahweh said, 'Judah should go first.' The next morning the Israelites went out to fight the Benjaminites, but that day the Benjaminites killed 22,000 Israelites. The second day the Benjaminites killed another 18,000 Israelites. Then the Israelites went to Bethel and asked Yahweh, 'Should we attack our brothers the Benjaminites again, or should we stop?' Yahweh said, 'Attack! Tomorrow I will hand them over to you.' The next day the Israelites attacked the Benjaminites, and the Israelites killed 25,100 Benjaminite swordsmen, and the Benjaminites saw that they were defeated.
The LORD is about reconciliation and He will handle the vengeance. God could have rained hail down on the Benjaminites. He could have had the earth open up and swallow the bad guys who did the crime. You know, the last miracle the Jesus performed during His earthly ministry was to re-attach the ear of the servant of the Chief Priest. That would be the ear that Peter cut off when he took matters into his own hands. Hmmm.
“How many times do Christians today go off-road when they think they see something or someone who needs to be corrected? And, we strongly believe that we are the ones to do the correcting. Wow. Gang, we need to tune into the ultimate truth that God can take care of things Himself. There is always a self-aggrandizing element – remember Gideon, Abimelech, Samson, and those guys? – in our rising up and taking things into our own hands and not truly and deeply seeking God’s counsel on those matters. Hey, He can take care of it!
So this horrible civil war takes place and thousands die. In fact only 600 men from the Benjamin tribe survive and they run off into the desert an hide for four months. Meanwhile the Israelites kill all the women, children, and livestock from the Benjamin tribe and set all their towns on fire. But then in chapter 21 we find the Israelites mourning over the loss of the Benjamin tribe and they ask God why should they be missing one tribe from Israel? Wait now. Are these nut jobs blaming God for this? Holy mackerel! Now we’re talking clueless. But look at how we blame God for bad things today. Hmmm. And watch it continue. They have a problem they are going to take to God. So they build an altar right there and offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. They do God things, but they never talk to the LORD. They have an agenda and they follow it. But in verses 7 and 8 they take matters into their own hands.
They started feeling bad for what happened and wanted to give the 600 men left from the Benjamin tribe wives so they could re-populate. But they had sworn an oath before God that they would not let any of their women be their wives. Then they asked, 'Of all the tribes of Israel, who did not assemble before Yahweh at Mizpah?' When the people were counted, they found that none of the people of Jabesh-Gilead were there. So what is their brillant idea??? They go and kill all the men, women, and children at Jabesh-Gilead but save 400 virgin women. Uh...can they count???? There are 600 men who need wives! When we walk away from God and try to accomplish things by our own wisdom and strength, we ALWAYS come up short!
So, they go to make a peace offering with the Benjamin tribe but realize they are 200 women short. But they say, what can we do? We swore an oath that none of our daughters would be given lest we be cursed. 'However,' they said, 'there is an annual festival to Yahweh in Shiloh, north of Bethel.'. So now we add kidnapping to the mix!! They tell the 200 men to hide in the bushes and grab one of the girls dancing. How messed up is this!!! “Did you catch the hitch? The men of Israel then would not be GIVING their daughters to the boys of Benji – which would violate their stupid oath – the men of Ben would be TAKING the daughters. Ahh, we come to another indicator of a nation that has turned its back on God: re-interpreting rules, laws, and contracts. How much of that do we see across the American church and the American government today? God doesn’t renegotiate the contract of scripture. Think about it.
“When they had ‘solved’ the Benjamin crisis, the people of Israel smugly went back home and, in the words of verse 25, ‘In those days there was no king in Israel America; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.’
The lesson for us in Judges 20 is to always seek the LORD in all things. As a country, America must turn back to our Father and seek his guidance, power, purpose, perseverance, and peace. Until we make that leap, we are a country where everybody is doing what is right in their own eyes. And history tells us that is not an advantageous place to be.”
There was a Levite who lived in the remote area of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. Well this concubine became angry with the Levite so she got up and left and went to her home in Bethlehem. After four months, her husband set out after her to persuade her to come back, taking with him his servant and two donkeys. So, She took him inside her father's house, and the father welcomed him in, and insisted he stay with them. So he remained three days, and they ate, drank, and slept there. On the fourth day, they got up early and the Levite prepared to leave, but the father said, 'Have something to eat to strengthen you, and then you may go.' They sat down and ate and drank together, and the girl's father said to the man, 'Please spend the night here. Enjoy yourself. And when the man got up to leave, the girl's father insisted again, and so the man spent the night there. On the fifth day, the man got up early to depart, but the girl's father said to him, 'Have something to eat. So they ate a meal together. When the man got up to leave with his concubine and his servant, the girl's father said, 'Look, it is almost sunset. Stay here another night, enjoy yourself, and then get up early tomorrow to leave.' But refusing to stay the night, the man departed and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem) with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine. Daylight was fading as they approached Jebus, and the servant said to his master, 'Come on, let's stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night.' But his master said, 'We should not stop in a city of foreigners with people who are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.' So they traveled on to Gibeah in the land of Benjamin to spend the night. They sat down in the city square, but no one took them into his house for the night. But eventually an old man came by, returning from his work in the fields. He was also from the Ephraimite hills, though he was living in Gibeah. He said to them, 'I will take care of all your needs, just don't spend the night in the city square.' So he took them into his house and fed the donkeys. They washed their feet and ate and drank. They were enjoying themselves when some worthless men of the town surrounded the house and pounded on the door, saying, 'Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!' The owner of the house went outside and said to them, 'No, my brothers, do not be so wicked! This man is my guest, so do not do such a shameful thing!' 'Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Abuse them and do to them whatever you wish, but do not do such a disgraceful thing to this man!' - WAIT! Now doesn't this sound exaclty like what happened to Lot? But what I don't understand is why did they compromise? They should have slammed the door in their faces and not allowed them anything (well IMO) The men would not listen to him, so the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them. So all night long this poor woman was ganged raped and abused! At dawn they let her go, and the girl went back to the house where her master was staying, and she fell down and lay there until morning. When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house, preparing to to start on his journey, there was his concubine laying on the doorstep with her hand on the threshhold. 'Get up. Let's go,' he said to her, but there was no response. Because she was dead! So what does he do? he puts her on a donkey and heads home. When he reached his house, he took a knife and carved up his concubine into twelve pieces. So let's get this straight...he carries her dead body on his donkey all the way home and when he gets there he carves her up into 12 pieces! It sounds like a Stephen King story. And then he mails the pieces to all of Israel. It doesn't say but I am guessing since their are 12 pieces that he mails one piece to each of the 12 tribes.
Disturbing yes? Well, it gets worse...
So all the Israelites assembled at Mizpah and said, 'Explain how this wicked crime was committed. The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, 'The men of Gibeah surrounded the house where I was staying, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine to death. I cut her up and sent her throughout the land of Israel.' He forgets to tell them that he GAVE her to them. Then he says, 'Now, all of you Israelites, discuss this and decide what to do!' The people all spoke as one and said, 'This is what we will do to Gibeah: we will attack, punishing them for this disgraceful act committed in Israel.' The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, 'Hand over the worthless men of Gibeah so we can put them to death and purge this evil from Israel.' But the Benjaminites would not listen to their Israelite brothers, and they mustered at Gibeah to fight the Israelites. There were 26,000 swordsmen. The Israelites, not including Benjamin, mustered 400,000 swordsmen. They went up to Bethel and asked God, 'Who should be the first to attack the Benjaminites?' And Yahweh said, 'Judah should go first.' The next morning the Israelites went out to fight the Benjaminites, but that day the Benjaminites killed 22,000 Israelites. The second day the Benjaminites killed another 18,000 Israelites. Then the Israelites went to Bethel and asked Yahweh, 'Should we attack our brothers the Benjaminites again, or should we stop?' Yahweh said, 'Attack! Tomorrow I will hand them over to you.' The next day the Israelites attacked the Benjaminites, and the Israelites killed 25,100 Benjaminite swordsmen, and the Benjaminites saw that they were defeated.
The LORD is about reconciliation and He will handle the vengeance. God could have rained hail down on the Benjaminites. He could have had the earth open up and swallow the bad guys who did the crime. You know, the last miracle the Jesus performed during His earthly ministry was to re-attach the ear of the servant of the Chief Priest. That would be the ear that Peter cut off when he took matters into his own hands. Hmmm.
“How many times do Christians today go off-road when they think they see something or someone who needs to be corrected? And, we strongly believe that we are the ones to do the correcting. Wow. Gang, we need to tune into the ultimate truth that God can take care of things Himself. There is always a self-aggrandizing element – remember Gideon, Abimelech, Samson, and those guys? – in our rising up and taking things into our own hands and not truly and deeply seeking God’s counsel on those matters. Hey, He can take care of it!
So this horrible civil war takes place and thousands die. In fact only 600 men from the Benjamin tribe survive and they run off into the desert an hide for four months. Meanwhile the Israelites kill all the women, children, and livestock from the Benjamin tribe and set all their towns on fire. But then in chapter 21 we find the Israelites mourning over the loss of the Benjamin tribe and they ask God why should they be missing one tribe from Israel? Wait now. Are these nut jobs blaming God for this? Holy mackerel! Now we’re talking clueless. But look at how we blame God for bad things today. Hmmm. And watch it continue. They have a problem they are going to take to God. So they build an altar right there and offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. They do God things, but they never talk to the LORD. They have an agenda and they follow it. But in verses 7 and 8 they take matters into their own hands.
They started feeling bad for what happened and wanted to give the 600 men left from the Benjamin tribe wives so they could re-populate. But they had sworn an oath before God that they would not let any of their women be their wives. Then they asked, 'Of all the tribes of Israel, who did not assemble before Yahweh at Mizpah?' When the people were counted, they found that none of the people of Jabesh-Gilead were there. So what is their brillant idea??? They go and kill all the men, women, and children at Jabesh-Gilead but save 400 virgin women. Uh...can they count???? There are 600 men who need wives! When we walk away from God and try to accomplish things by our own wisdom and strength, we ALWAYS come up short!
So, they go to make a peace offering with the Benjamin tribe but realize they are 200 women short. But they say, what can we do? We swore an oath that none of our daughters would be given lest we be cursed. 'However,' they said, 'there is an annual festival to Yahweh in Shiloh, north of Bethel.'. So now we add kidnapping to the mix!! They tell the 200 men to hide in the bushes and grab one of the girls dancing. How messed up is this!!! “Did you catch the hitch? The men of Israel then would not be GIVING their daughters to the boys of Benji – which would violate their stupid oath – the men of Ben would be TAKING the daughters. Ahh, we come to another indicator of a nation that has turned its back on God: re-interpreting rules, laws, and contracts. How much of that do we see across the American church and the American government today? God doesn’t renegotiate the contract of scripture. Think about it.
“When they had ‘solved’ the Benjamin crisis, the people of Israel smugly went back home and, in the words of verse 25, ‘In those days there was no king in Israel America; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.’
The lesson for us in Judges 20 is to always seek the LORD in all things. As a country, America must turn back to our Father and seek his guidance, power, purpose, perseverance, and peace. Until we make that leap, we are a country where everybody is doing what is right in their own eyes. And history tells us that is not an advantageous place to be.”
