Today's Readings and Stuff == Sunday, 26 April 2020

Last Sunday in April.  And, Lord willing, the last Sunday of this Chinese flu lock down.  I was advised that the plan and hoped-for act is to gather together on Sunday next for a time of fellowship, prayer, praise, and proclamation of the Lord's mercies.  May it be so.  This is a small congregation, much much smaller than several we've been blessed to find a home in, and therefore not having access to the nice eletronic equipment and arrangements that others have.  At least one of our former ones had an outdoor gathering in the parking area with big screen and loudspeaker or other means of streaming the message onto car radios, etc. or even putting the lessons and sermons onto youtube.com or other platforms.  The facebook live channel is fine, and a nice option, but it's just not the same.  So we prayerfully hope for a return to a physical gathering.  May it be so!

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Today, chapters 19 and 20 in the Judges.  This does the job of showing the extent to which the nation of Israel had cast off their recognition of the Lord.  As it begins, notice that this comes about as a result of a Levite's taking of a concubine.  A Levite!  A member of the priestly tribe, engaging in a wrongful relationship with a woman not his wife.  This is a member of the priestly tribe?  That being so, can we imagine that the members of the other tribes were behaving any better?  They weren't, of course:  concubines (and other, even less formal situations) were to be found around Abraham, David, Solomon, and many others.  This was not, and is not, in accordance with the Lord's plan of one man =- one woman.  There would be, and still are, consequences for this.  Most of us can think of specific examples of such in our own time.

Judges 19

Outrage in Benjamin

1In those days, when there was no king in Israel,  a Levite living in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim acquired a woman from Bethlehem in Judah as his concubine. 2But she was unfaithful to  him and left him for her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. She was there for a period of four months. 3Then her husband got up and went after her to speak kindly to her   and bring her back. He had his servant with him and a pair of donkeys. So she brought him to her father’s house, and when the girl’s father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. 4His father-in-law, the girl’s father, detained him, and he stayed with him for three days. They ate, drank, and spent the nights there.

5On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning and prepared to go, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Have something to eat to keep up your strength  and then you can go.” 6So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and enjoy yourself.”  7The man got up to go, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed and spent the night there again. 8He got up early in the morning of the fifth day to leave, but the girl’s father said to him, “Please keep up your strength.” So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate. 9The man got up to go with his concubine and his servant, when his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, night is coming. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, enjoy yourself, then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey and go home.”

10But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up, departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem ). The man had his two saddled donkeys and his concubine with him. 11When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant  said to his master, “Please, why not  let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here? ”

12But his master replied to him, “We will not stop at a foreign city where there are no Israelites. Let’s move on to Gibeah.”  13“Come on,” he said,  “let’s try to reach one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.” 14So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. 15They stopped  to go in and spend the night in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one took them into their home to spend the night.

16In the evening, an old man came in from his work in the field. He was from the hill country of Ephraim  but was residing in Gibeah, and the men of that place were Benjaminites. 17When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going, and where do you come from? ”

18He answered him, “We’re traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I’m going to the house of the Lord.  No one has taken me into his home, 19although we have both straw and feed for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me, your female servant, and the young man with your servant.  There is nothing we lack.”

20“Peace to you,” said the old man. “I’ll take care of everything you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” 21So he brought him to his house and fed the donkeys. Then they washed their feet and ate and drank.  22While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, perverted men of the city  surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man who was the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him! ”

23The owner of the house went out and said to them, “No, don’t do this evil, my brothers. After all, this man has come into my house. Don’t do this horrible thing.  24Here, let me bring out my virgin daughter  and the man’s concubine now. Use them  and do whatever you want  to them. But don’t do this horrible thing to this man.”

25But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and took her outside to them. They raped  her and abused her all night until morning. At daybreak they let her go. 26Early that morning, the woman made her way back, and as it was getting light, she collapsed at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was.

27When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went out to leave on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, collapsed near the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. 28“Get up,” he told her. “Let’s go.” But there was no response.  So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

29When he entered his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her into 12 pieces, limb by limb, and then sent her throughout the territory of Israel. 30Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has ever happened or has been seen since the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt to this day.  Think it over, discuss it, and speak up! ”

Judges 20

War against Benjamin

1All the Israelites from Dan to Beer-sheba  and from the land of Gilead came out, and the community assembled as one body before the Lord at Mizpah.  2The leaders  of all the people and of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 armed foot soldiers. 3The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.

The Israelites asked, “Tell us, how did this outrage occur? ”

4The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered: “I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night. 5Citizens of Gibeah ganged up on me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, but they raped my concubine, and she died. 6Then I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout Israel’s territory, because they committed a horrible shame  in Israel. 7Look, all of you are Israelites. Give your judgment and verdict here and now.”

8Then all the people stood united and said, “None of us will go to his tent or return to his house. 9Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go against it by lot. 10We will take 10 men out of every 100 from all the tribes of Israel, and 100 out of every 1,000, and 1,000 out of every 10,000 to get provisions for the people when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for all the horror they did in Israel.”

11So all the men of Israel  gathered united against the city. 12Then the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this outrage that has occurred among you? 13Hand over the perverted men  in Gibeah so we can put them to death and eradicate evil  from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not obey their fellow Israelites. 14Instead, the Benjaminites gathered together from their cities to Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites. 15On that day the Benjaminites rallied 26,000 armed men  from their cities, besides 700 choice men rallied by the inhabitants of Gibeah. 16There were 700 choice men who were left-handed among all these people; all could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

17The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, rallied 400,000 armed men, every one an experienced warrior. 18They set out, went to Bethel, and inquired of God.  The Israelites asked, “Who is to go first to fight for us against the Benjaminites? ”

And the Lord answered, “Judah will be first.”

19In the morning, the Israelites set out and camped near Gibeah. 20The men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took their battle positions against Gibeah. 21The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and slaughtered 22,000 men of Israel on the field that day. 22But the Israelite army rallied and again took their battle positions in the same place where they positioned themselves on the first day. 23They went up, wept  before the Lord until evening,  and inquired of Him: “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites? ”

And the Lord answered: “Fight against them.”

24On the second day the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites. 25That same day the Benjaminites came out from Gibeah to meet them and slaughtered an additional 18,000 Israelites on the field; all were armed men.

26The whole Israelite army went to Bethel where they wept and sat before the Lord.  They fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. 27Then the Israelites inquired of the Lord. In those days, the ark of the covenant  of God was there, 28and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron,  was serving before it. The Israelites asked: “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites or should we stop? ”

The Lord answered: “Fight, because I will hand them over to you tomorrow.”  29So Israel set up an ambush  around Gibeah. 30On the third day the Israelites fought against the Benjaminites and took their battle positions against Gibeah as before. 31Then the Benjaminites came out against the people and were drawn away from the city.  They began to attack the people as before, killing about 30 men of Israel on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah through the open country. 32The Benjaminites said, “We are defeating them as before.”

But the Israelites said, “Let’s flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” 33So all the men of Israel got up from their places and took their battle positions at Baal-tamar, while the Israelites in ambush charged out of their places west of  Geba.  34Then 10,000 choice men from all Israel made a frontal assault against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce, but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was about to strike them. 35The Lord defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 men of Benjamin; all were armed men. 36Then the Benjaminites realized they had been defeated.

The men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin, because they were confident in the ambush they had set against Gibeah. 37The men in ambush had rushed quickly against Gibeah; they advanced and put the whole city to the sword.  38The men of Israel had a prearranged signal with the men in ambush: when they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city, 39the men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin had begun to strike them down, killing about 30 men of Israel, they said, “They’re defeated before us, just as they were in the first battle.”  40But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, Benjamin looked behind them, and the whole city was going up in smoke.  41Then the men of Israel returned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had struck them. 42They retreated before the men of Israel toward the wilderness,  but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities  slaughtered those between them. 43They surrounded the Benjaminites, pursued them, and easily overtook them near Gibeah toward the east. 44There were 18,000 men who died from Benjamin; all were warriors. 45Then Benjamin turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon,  and Israel killed 5,000 men on the highways. They overtook them at Gidom and struck 2,000 more dead.

46All the Benjaminites who died that day were 25,000 armed men; all were warriors. 47But 600 men escaped into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and stayed there four months. 48The men of Israel turned back against the other Benjaminites and killed them with their swords — the entire city, the animals, and everything that remained. They also burned down all the cities that remained.