1/6/13. Judges 19:1-30. SUCH A THING SHOULD NOT BE DONE- my devotional

Key Verse: 19:30                                                                                        Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

“Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!”

    Dear God…good morning. Thanks for the good night’s sleep and a clear mind and heart to worship you. Open our family’s heart and mind to hear, understand and accept the word of God. Please bless the Pastor to preach powerfully.  Lord, thank you that I have more than just a lot of newspaper stories in the morning. News is good, but too much of it and having news as the only info flowing into our hearts is not good. We must meditate on your word, daily. Thank you for providing the deep and satisfying word. May your word enliven my heart this morning. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: The Depraved Condition of Israel (1-26).

Verses 1-26, “In those days Israel had no king.Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah….(For the rest of the verses please see the end of this devotional)

The story of the Levite and his concubine gives us a vignette about the times. The Levites were the religious leaders. They could get married and sometimes they even had a concubine. I guess that was the custom of the time. I remember that Abraham had four concubines. This concubine was unfaithful to him and she left their home.

As the story begins, he went to great lengths to get his unfaithful concubine back. He cared enough about her to go persuade her to go home, personally. Returning home, they stopped overnight in the square of the Benjamite city of Gibeah. It was a very selfish and wicked town. Nobody would give them any place to stay. At least in our town, Wal-Mart allows travelers to spend the night parked in their parking lot.

But there was one person, an old man, who had a heart and offered them shelter. It was not easy to open one’s home to someone to stay in. Nowadays if you don’t know someone, there is a danger you may be hurt, robbed or even worse. But this old man opened his home. I pray that I may be able to open our home to people and reveal the love of Jesus to them.

But then a tragedy happened. That night vile men of the town surrounded the house intending to violate the Levite. This is when the old man and the Levite began to show their true colors. They should have stood up for the truth and protected the women of the house, even if it cost them their lives. But they were very self preserving. They tried to save their own lives. Out of fear, the old man tried to reason with them and proffered his virgin daughter and the concubine. But the Levite pushed his concubine into the wicked crowd; they raped and abused her until she died. They were fearful and selfish and afraid to suffer and die. Their willingness to allow women, whom God entrusted to their care, to suffer and die, showed their own depravity. The Levite’s depravity was no better than the men surrounding the house. There was no one righteous, not even one.

I can see here that it is easy to appear righteous until the crucial moment. Then we show our true colors. I pray that God may help me to protect and serve those entrusted to my care and I may stand up to protect them if need be, not shrinking back because of selfishness and fear.

Part 2: Such A Thing Should Not Be Done (27-30).

Verses 27-30, “When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. ²⁸ He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.²⁹ When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. ³⁰ Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!”

The Levite did not weep nor bury his concubine. He omitted any responsibility and stirred up the whole nation with the morbid remains of her body chopped and delivered to the 12 tribes. The rest of the nation was incensed by the horror of the crime and proclaimed that such a thing should not be done. Without any central law or justice system, a vindictive spirit prevailed. Without any shepherd, the Israelites were emotional and directionless.

Why does it have to be our response after an incident happens? Why were the wicked men of that city allowed to have such power and control in the first place? We need to be proactive and not reactionary.

I can see how deprave society can get without Jesus and the Gospel. This society became like an episode of a SAW movie. Do we think that America can avert such a disaster if we ignore God and the word of God? There is already so much suffering and needless violence around us.

How far can things go?…We ask ourselves. Things can go very far when we take Jesus out of the equation. We desperately need Jesus and the Gospel. To think we don’t is very foolish.

Prayer: Lord, forgive our depravity and raise up shepherds pray and serve and give the word of God to the people. Lead us back to you.

One Word: Such a thing should not be done

Verses 1-26, “In those days Israel had no king.Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. ² But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, ³ her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her parents’ home, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. ⁴ His father-in-law, the woman’s father, prevailed on him to stay; so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping there. ⁵ On the fourth day they got up early and he prepared to leave, but the woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself with something to eat; then you can go.” ⁶ So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterward the woman’s father said, “Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself.” ⁷ And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. ⁸ On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the woman’s father said, “Refresh yourself. Wait till afternoon!” So the two of them ate together. ⁹ Then when the man, with his concubine and his servant, got up to leave, his father-in-law, the woman’s father, said, “Now look, it’s almost evening. Spend the night here; the day is nearly over. Stay and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning you can get up and be on your way home.” ¹⁰ But, unwilling to stay another night, the man left and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine. ¹¹ When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Come, let’s stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night.” ¹² His master replied, “No. We won’t go into any city whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.” ¹³ He added, “Come, let’s try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places.” ¹⁴ So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. ¹⁵ There they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no one took them in for the night. ¹⁶ That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was living in Gibeah (the inhabitants of the place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the fields. ¹⁷ When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?” ¹⁸ He answered, “We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord. No one has taken me in for the night. ¹⁹ We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves your servants—me, the woman and the young man with us. We don’t need anything.” ²⁰ “You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” ²¹ So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink. ²² While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.” ²³ The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. ²⁴ Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.” ²⁵ But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. ²⁶ At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.”