Judges Chapter 19 has been described as the most disturbing chapter in the Bible. God included it for a reason. Can we figure out why? As difficult as it may be, let’s hear the details.
A Levite (a religious leader) from Ephraim married a concubine (a secondary wife) from Bethlehem. She was unfaithful to him and returned home to her father’s house. The Levite wanted her back so he and a servant journeyed to retrieve her. Her father welcomed the Levite into his home and tried to prolong his stay. After several days, the Levite and concubine began heading back to Ephraim. Along the way, his servant suggested they stay in Jebus (a city of foreigners), but the Levite insisted they continue to Gibeah (a town of Israelites from Benjamin’s tribe). In Gibeah, no one welcomed them into his home until an old man offered to put them up to prevent them from having to stay in the public square.
Later that evening a mob of perverted neighborhood men arrived and demanded that the old man bring out the Levite so they could sexually assault him. The old man begged them not to do this, and instead offered them his own virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine. The Levite then forced his concubine to go with the men. They took turns abusing her the entire night. At dawn, the woman returned and collapsed at the door of the house. As the Levite set out to return home, he saw the unresponsive concubine at the door. He placed her lifeless body on a donkey and went home. Once home, he took a knife and dismembered her body into twelve pieces. He sent a piece to each tribe of Israel. All who saw these body parts said, “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.” (Judges 19:30)
The Levite Discovers His Concubine – Gustave Dore 1880
Is your reaction similar to mine? What is wrong with these people?! A religious leader taking a concubine? A concubine being unfaithful to her husband? An old man offering his virgin daughter to be abused by a mob? A husband forcing his wife to be assaulted by a gang? A mob of sadists in a Benjamite town? The mutilating of a corpse? Care packages of a woman’s remains being sent throughout the country as an object lesson? And all these things being done not by heathen Gentiles, but by those whom God had chosen to be His special people, those to whom the promise of the Savior was given!
How did God’s people get so far off track? Perhaps an answer is found in the last verse of Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)
I can’t help but think that God sees the same thing when he looks at our own society. He sees the breakdown of the family, sexual perversion, pornography, the sacrifice of the unborn, and the complacency. At what point will we come to the realization that this has gone too far? Who is going to speak up?
Just like the Israelites, we have been blessed with the truth of God’s Word in our midst. Yet like the Israelites, we take it for granted and often “go along to get along” with the society in which we live. Can people readily identify us as the people of God? Are we lights in a sin-darkened world? It is by God’s grace alone that He rescued the Israelites and us in spite of our rebellion. May His Holy Spirit cause us to rededicate our lives to Him and speak up against the evils of society!
is a professor at Immanuel Lutheran College in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.