Today I read a story in the Bible that is not very popular, but pretty crucial to everyday life. This nameless man, known as a Levite man, had a concubine. This was a common practice, but not intended for God's chosen people. Already this man was slightly adapted to world's way of thinking instead of God's. Anyway, the concubine was also a well-known harlot, and therefore not a devoted concubine, if you will. She left her husband and dwelt with her father four months. I thought the next steps of the man were valiant in effort. He gets up, goes after the woman, and intends to fetch her from her father's house. He obviously loved her as his own, even though she gave herself to others. This man (other than disregarding God's plan for marriage in the first place) seemed to be an man of respect. He met his wife there, rejoiced to see her, and they had a mutual feast. The father-in-law begged the man to continue lodging there for days. After every effort to leave for home, the father-in-law again requested for the man to continue lodging, with reasons such he can't leave on an empty stomach so stay for lunch, and then it's getting too late so please stay the night again. This man accepted several offers of hospitality, therefore seemed to be a great son-in-law and respectful to the efforts of taking his wife back peacefully. One night the man, his servant, and his wife left the house and was determined to go home. This time it was dark and the trio needed a place to sleep and rest their donkeys. The servant suggested resting in a near-by town, but the man refused to associate with the town since it was not one of God's chosen tribes. (Another good intention.) So they finally dwelt in Gibeah which belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. An elder stopped them and after hearing the story of their travels, invited them to stay with him. This is where a seemingly successful story turns tragic!
Some mischievous men knock on the elder's door and request to "meet" with the traveling man, in order to mock and kill this stranger. Obviously the man would not expect this from a thought-to-be godly tribe. The elder had already befriended and empathized with the man, therefore pleaded with the bullies to leave him alone. After relentless teasing and prying, the elder and the man did not want to die... so they made a selfish decision! After all the hard work of being respectable, this man chickened out when his very life was on the line! He offered up his concubine to these men in his stead. Now, what good were his intentions, if it ended in this disaster?
After a brutal night of rape and abuse, the harlot met her fate. With her last breaths, she crawled to the threshold of the very house her husband slept peacefully in that night. With stretched-out arms, she laid there to die. The sun shined the next day, the man woke up from his restful slumber, opened the door to continue his journey home, and there his wife laid motionless before him. He beckoned to her, and then realized what his actions had become. So, he took her upon his donkey, finished his journey home, and cut her up into twelve pieces to represent the twelve tribes, and divided her parts among all of Israel. He did this with the intentions to show how a supposedly united children of God had divided their loyalty through murder of their own people. What this man failed to recognize is that his very own actions contributed to this murder!
I retell this story to lay down this message... how often!!!...do we give one inch to the devil, and he takes a mile from us! How often!!!...do we try to justify our wrong actions to correct our mistakes! This man had mainly good intentions, but honestly erred from the start. He disregarded God's law of marriage, then tried to be loyal within his sin. His loyalty did not excuse his disobedience. When he intended to be a good son-in-law, he resulted in sneaking away in the night to avoid the father's request to stay the next day. He may have seemed to be a leader, but he did so sneakily. Therefore, he needed a place to lodge again, which resulted in chaos. He seemed to be a good guest by not bringing harm to the elder or the home, but his compromise resulted in death anyway! Then he blamed the men for the murder in which he actually contributed in!
This man spoke out to Israel when they asked him about the results of his journey. When the man blamed the murderers, Israel attacked the tribe of Benjamin. When Benjamin would not give up the murderers to be killed, God's two tribes fought and thousands died, and the tribe of Benjamin nearly became extinct! In a haste, Israel vowed not to let any of God's children marry to the tribe of Benjamin. But they soon realized that this vow would erase one of the tribes. Then since the remaining men of Benjamin needed wives so not to totally wipe out their existence, Israel killed the men and wives of one city who failed to help them fight. They compromised on their vow to put a higher priority on the people. After all of these deaths, the virgins from that helpless city contributed in the continuation of Benjamin. They were basically back to square-one, but with thousands killed and the sin still alive and present.
ALL of these actions resulted from a man's "good intentions" to pursue his concubine. None of these extreme consequences could have possibly been known by the man, but they did result from the initial sin of not failing to seek God's Will. Our sins DO have consequences, and possibly a whole chain-reaction of events as well. We affect several with our ONE sin!! And most of the time, we think, "Oh this one sin is harmless!" But remember that every sin is nothing but harm in the eyes of our Living God. No sin goes undetected by Him, and we may someday see the results of them when standing before God Himself. Scary thought! So, let us pay more attention to living a sanctified life, and repenting those un-confessed, "swept under the rug" sins, that we commit most daily. May we also apply the messages we read in God's Word to our daily lives, to live in a way that pleases our Master! Remember that any ground given to satan is less ground surrendered to God!
This Bible story is told in Judges 19-21.
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