Rescue Havoc
Each morning when I read a passage from The Word and ponder what The Lord is saying, He speaks into my heart. This morning I read a passage in Judges that has really troubled me. The story starts out as a story of unfaithfulness and relentless pursuit. It just ends really badly without much explanation. The people of Israel have no king, and therefore no law. Check this out…
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 for 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. (Judges 19:1-4 NIV)
If the story ended with them returning home and happily ever after, it would be great. The story takes a bad turn. The Levite, his servant and his concubine return home. They make it to a city maybe a little over halfway to his home and stop for the night. A man of the city takes them into his home. Some of the wicked men of the town come to house where they are staying because they want to party with the man sexually. He sends out his concubine and they rape and abuse her. I am very disgusted with the evil men who are so brazen and bold to act this way. I’m also disgusted with the behavior of the man who would send his concubine into such an evil and despicable situation. The next morning she is on the doorstep of the house dead. He takes her home and divides her body into twelve parts and sends it to the twelve tribes of Israel. I think Israel needs a wake-up call, but this story really hurts my heart. My heart hurts for the victim and her dad.
I’m so thankful that we have law and order in our land. I can’t imagine living in this kind of fear constantly. I can’t imagine living in a culture that devalues other like they devalued this young girl. On one hand the Levite man loved her and went to rescue her from being unfaithful to him, but on the other hand he discarded her.
This is a dark place in the history of God’s people. They need a serious rescue. They need to purge the evil from among them. This story really disturbs me as I try to understand all the people involved. I’m going to just have to lay my head in God’s lap as I continue to read through this part of Israel’s story and get to the real rescue that God provide for all of us in His Son.
Pressing On!
Dwayne