A sermon on one of the most unpleasant stories of the Bible. Judges 19 tells about a certain unnamed Levite and his concubine. Why is this disturbing story in the Bible at all? What redemptive message can be found here?
It’s crazy to think this was posted 5 years ago and still speaks so much truth. The allusion of the concubine and Jesus is amazing, thank you for doing what you do.
I am reading this in November 2019. Going through the entire OT . I came to a screeching halt in judges 19. I began looking for teachings to shed light. Thankyou for covering this and what a beautiful and meaningful reason to why it is in the bible. Without Jesus, nothing. We dont stand a chance
Thank you. I really don't understand what is the lesson to this story no matter how many times I read it. After watching this, I realized what God wants to say to me through this story. Thank you God, and thanks to you too.
Thanks for your clear explanation about this particular topic.In my our Youth group this particular topic was asked by one of our Youths but our leaders couldn't find any tangible answers to it .We give Lord Jesus Christ all the Glory for the inspiration of the Holy spirit in teaching us through reflective knowledge of our dear Brother.It was though humbly,lovely and very enlightening!! Sometimes,it's much better to listen to other preachers from different bible believing churches. My the Holy spirit increase your knowledge and bring you into his glorious kingdom in JESUS Christ Name Amen
Just came across this chapter for the first time in my life, I’m sure a lot of believers have no idea about this chapter. I was just telling my mom last night that i didn’t understand why this random horror story was in the Bible. God bless you for your teaching, so clear and well said.
Wow! What an amazing interpretation. As someone who is really just reading the bible through for the first time am up to this story. I had to look online to see if anyone had more to say. I did not on my own get all that you have. Thank you so much for sharing your understanding and wisdom.
You have wisdom and understanding beyond your years! God bless you my friend. You have helped me more perfectly understand a passage I have struggled with for sixty years.
From Judges 17-21 we get a left turn. I designate this portion of the Old Testament probably the most disturbing thing I've read. This part of the book highlights Israel's internal religious and moral failure. Religious failure in Judges 17-18 as a Levite ministers for an idol, which is then stolen by the Danites and erected for worship, then moral failure in Judges 19-21 as the story of the concubine shows. The story doesn't stop there though as the people are shocked by this and take the Benjamites into account, who fail to act against the crime. From there the Israelites take up arms against the Benjamites, and nearly wipe out the tribe for their zeal, after which they are remorseful, but produce even more violence against Jabesh Gilead to overcome their "marriage" oath through another pretty shallow oath and steal off some wives to make up the deficit. "In those days, there was no king. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes". That's pretty much the story of Judges, where depravity is seemingly increased the further we move in the book. The enemy was always within, even though much of Judges was about fending off the Canaanite oppressors. When one turns away from God, this will happen. Thankfully God did not allow Israel to destroy themselves completely in their folly.
WHY THIS POST DOES NOT HAVE A MILLION VIEWS?? Excellent breakdown of the verse, particularly the parallel between Genesis 19, Judges 19, Jesus and the concubine.
That’s why I’m watching you now. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The old man first offers his maiden daughter! Then the Levite gives up his cocubine. Why not just tell the evil wicked men who knocked on the door to just go away or else. Then no one seems even concerned when she was found outside as she lay there dying on the thresh hold. Brutal. No King no law and order no morals. No respect for life? Thanks for the explanation. They had stooped very low at that point. Very low. He would have been better off if he had stayed with his father in law or some other town. They were Godless. People, humans are possible of horrid things. We need God more than ever.
Hey just wanted to say you did an awesome job explaining this and when you stated how the Concubine is the allusion to Christ my mind was blown, though reading this multiple times the message didn't click until now, thanks man!
+TheAuburntigers360 thank you for saying so! Good to hear the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. I believe the entire Old Testament points ahead to Christ, though some parts are more difficult, such as this story. Much appreciated!
@Ambika Vijay human greed is responsible for slavery both then and now, not the Bible. Slavery has existed all over the world and throughout history independently of the Bible.
After a lifetime of attending church I had never heard about this story. I am horrified. A asked five friends in a Bible study group if they knew the story and none of them did. I have so many questions. Why have we been taught about Sodom since an early age but no mention of this similar story? Why didn’t God destroy the city? Is heterosexual sin just fine with God? Why have the ministers in the churches I’ve attended not mentioned this story?🤔
@rob1978 well I can't answer why the churches and circles of people you have frequented failed to teach this story. One significant difference is that in the story of Lot and the visitors in Sodom, there are clear protagonists. There is Lot and then there are the visitors from heaven. Judges 19 has no clear protagonists. Nobody is even named at all. Judges 19 is much more difficult to find uplifting value, which is why many avoid the story. There's a reason why the story is not told in Sunday School. Why didn't God destroy the city? The city actually was destroyed along with almost all of the tribe of Benjamin if you read the next two chapters. Heterosexual sin just fine with God? Absolutely not. This story probes the depths of what it means to have no king and each to do whatever they see fit. The result is one of the most repulsive stories in the whole Bible.
Great message. The part about the concubine and comparing what happened to her to what happened to Christ was eye-opening for myself. Your comparison of Israel in this chapter to Sodom was made so clear only a fool would deny such truth.
Q. I noticed in 1Sam 11:6-11 that an oxen was cut into pieces and distributed throughout Israel. Is this the way they notified people to gather for war? Is this also what happened to the concubine?😢😢 Are these the only 2 scenarios where this actually happened in scripture? No wonder women were the first at the tomb of Jesus and announced His resurrection. Hallelujah!!!!😅😅
Yes those are the only two instances in Scripture where chopping up something and sending it to various places was a call to arms. Judges 19 is a very dark story.
Thanks for the explanation !!! immediately after reading about Samson and other judges I was expecting another Judge to be raised by God at this point... Probably the reason for us people to get shocked is no judge is introduced and things get worse in this chapter... I understand 2 things after your sermon 1. Israel had reached lowest level of ignorance (No hospitality but were ready and gutsy to slaughter thousands of people.. wow lol !!! previous chapters speak of disobedience only in terms of going behind false gods... but here it is worse. no doubt god didn't raise a judge) 2. These latter chapters are important to know how there was transition from Judges to kings. In Kings 1&2 each King chosen by Israelites(few by God himself) became responsible for the raise and fall of kingdoms not people.
Yes! You recognized the literary progression of events in the greater biblical narrative. Judges is a downward spiral of the people until the end when they are like Sodom. (The story has striking parallels to Genesis 19.) This leads to the recognized need for a king to lead them. I hope you also recognized that in the grand narrative of the Bible, it is Jesus Christ who is the needed king. Thanks for your comment!
I’m really trying to get an understanding of what just happened din Judges 19.... I’m studying and I’m appalled. I hope this video helps me In better understanding.
@Adrian there are three books of Enoch, all in different languages. The one most commonly utilized today is the Ethiopic version, 1 Enoch. There were some early church theologians who spoke highly of it. Jude quotes from it in vv.14-15. But there are some things that make the book problematic. One is that it was written over 3-4 centuries, from the third century BC to the first century AD. This means it is not a whole but a composite of different texts by various writers. This wouldn't be so bad, except that the book is supposedly written by Enoch who lived before the flood, many thousands of years prior. They call this kind of literature pseudepigrapha, meaning "false title" because it was falsely claimed to be written by someone else. Additionally, the content of Enoch assumes that the Enoch of Noah's time ascended to heaven and was taught heavenly secrets by angels. This is speculative since Genesis does not say as much. The best we could hope for in this case is that Enoch told Noah about what he learned and all of it was passed on by oral tradition over many thousands of years until it was written down. Much more likely is that people were intrigued by this man in Genesis 5 who sounds extraordinary because he walked with God and sounds like he was taken up to heaven like Elijah, but only gets 4 verses of description. Similar to Melchizedek, legends formed about Enoch and took on a life of their own over the years until people documented them. Enoch wasn't the only one who had pseudepigrapha written about him between 250BC and 200AD. There are also the Testament Of Solomon, Testament of Moses, Psalms of Solomon, Jubilees (claiming Moses authorship), and others. Jude quoting from Enoch does not by itself give Enoch credibility. Paul, when preaching to Athens in Acts, quotes from pagan poets talking about pagan gods. Paul also cited a pagan source in Titus 1:12. Certainly the church does not consider those writings about Zeus to be canonical. I would consider Enoch fun and interesting to read, but not part of the Bible or having authority.
@@ThePrairieChronicles I'm thankful for your unquenchable hunger and thirst for God's Word. I love to dive into a passage and notice what I haven't noticed before.
The concubine's father is sure interesting. How he keeps trying to keep them there. Maybe he hopes the Levite will eventually decide to make her his real wife, or officially let her go so she can be married to a man who will? I didn't believe she was unfaithful either; probably went back home because she didn't like being a concubine
Does anybody else noticed that the levite person had some serious anger issues? I know of someone similar to this story and something tells me that both stories has some crazy similarities. This person kills his girlfriend because he caught her cheating with another person A while later weeks maybe or months they had an argument and she knew she was about to get killed. He killed her and then 10 mins late he kills himself. The similarities here are clearly the unfaithfulness, anger issues, unforgiveness and many more. I also know why this has to happen, the whole event, all throughout judges Israel were obedient for a short amount of time and then they seems to forget, and for a long time. Looks like God has to orquestrate something for Israelite realize that without God they and in our case nowadays we are nobody.
I have always thought of the Levite as terribly calloused and selfish to the extreme. I had not considered anger before. She didn't commit adultery as much as abandon him to return to her father's house. He travels a long way to find her and she lets him in the house. She returns with the Levite also, which gives me the impression that he was being kind and trying to persuade her to come back. Tossing her to the mob is a horrifying about face.
@Aaron Vriesman there's this kind of anger that is unseen and it gets more dangerous as time passes by. If you don't talk about the issue or have communicating -"the main reason silent treatment are a very bad idea" can lead you to this. Another reason why Jesus taught us how to forgive.. Thanks for the video, stay blessed
I'm studying this now. I find it interesting that God uses various terms to describe both the Levite and Concubine. Levite is described as a levite, man, husband and lord. Pointedly, lord is only used when he wakes up and sees her lying on the door. The concubine is described as a damsel in her fathers house, a word typically used to denote a maiden or young girl. Levites in Lev. 21:14 are commanded to only marry fellow Israelites. It seems he broke this law since concubine usually indicates a non Israelite wife that I can tell but perhaps I'm wrong.
Yes, you are noticing the small indicators of how the story is told. As you have keenly observed, "lord" is only after he finds her on the doorstep. At that point he is no longer worthy of the "husband" title. While she is with her father she is called "damsel" or "maiden" because that's what she is to her father.
@@AaronVriesman Thank you. I had that thought too, of how she was perceived. I also thought that the Levite who is supposed to make holy sacrifices to God, instead sacrificed his wife to the sons of Belial
@@heather602 I'm working on getting a book published from this sermon series "You Didn't Hear This One in Sunday School" and I just added your thought to the chapter of the Levite and concubine. Thanks much! Grace and peace to you
Just like a zoom conference call, when liars claim certain black women never respond and have poor connections when really someone muted the microphone .
These two texts Genesis. 19 and Judges. 19 are about mankind getting to a point of rebelliousness against God so great, they seek to test Him by forcefully defiling that which he loves. Essentially they no longer believe in God so much they do the one thing that will anger him, if he exists he must act. The people of Gomorrah wanted to rape [sodomize] angels while the Benjaminites wanted to do the same to a Levite. Understanding the message these passages carry lies in knowing who the Levites were in Israeli society. They were essentially God's angels on earth. They received no land allotment or portion in the promised land but instead received God's favor. They were the tribe of priests. Though without land on which to plough and earn a living God promises to provide for their every need. They are to take a share of what is God's, the sacrifices offered by all of Israel. The Israelites are also advised to treat them well affording them both board and a meal to those living in their cities. It was believed whoever was kind to them would receive a blessing from God. Essentially they were witches who could cause a curse of blessing to be bestowed upon another. At this time, households would even hire them to stay with them so they could cause God's blessing to fall upon the household. Hundreds of years having passed since the last miracle from God that could be observed and appreciated by all of Israel, many especially the young even begin to doubt His existence. They question the privileges' enjoyed by the Levites and decide they are going to prove that this god thing is a myth once and for all. RAPE a Levite and see what happens. Read with the Book of Romans where Paul speaks of sexual immorality and homosexuality one gets a good image of what homosexuality does to people. I am gay and have struggled understanding why the Bible would call me an abomination especially when I seek only to be allowed to exercise one of God's greatest qualities truthfully with the one I love. What I have learnt so far is that it is not just being gay that is the issue, but where you find yourself when you decide to do it. Knowing its wrong and doing it all the same, means you get to a point were you either renounce or curse GOD.
@@AaronVriesman What is your definition of a concubine? Sorry I was a little bit harsh. I should not have said blinding you to the truth. You did unpack very applicable truth. I just meant to say you may likely have missed that detail, since people in most western cultures do.
@@samuellundin5328 sorry in return. I was equally forceful. I've done more research on concubines since giving this sermon. I'm open to learn more. The Hebrew is אִשָּׁ֣ה פִילֶ֔גֶשׁ (“woman/wife concubine”). A concubine (פִּילֶגֶשׁ) simply distinguishes “secondary wives from the primary wife who is the mother of the household” (Matthews & Benjamin p.14). The Jewish Study Bible describes the concubine as “a woman in a lower legal status than a wife.” However, their precise status is not entirely clear. In other ancient Near East cultures men were legally permitted to have sex with their slaves but freeborn concubines could also be acquired. (see Block, “Judges” p.168). In the Bible, concubines have some descriptors of wives and other descriptors of slaves (See Butler pp.415-16; Chisholm p.294n130). In the Old Testament they were subordinate to the primary wife (Genesis 16:2-3; 29:24-29), and were less costly to divorce (Genesis 21:10-14). They often began as slaves and were elevated to have proper child-bearing status, usually when the primary wife was barren. In Genesis 30:4, Bilnah began as Rachel’s servant (שִׁפְחָה) whom she gave to her husband, Jacob, as a “wife” (אִשָּׁה), but later is referred to as Jacob’s “concubine” (Genesis 35:22). See Block, “Marriage and Family in Ancient Israel,” p.78. In Judges 19, it is notable that the Levite is called "son-in-law" and the concubine's father is his "father-in-law". I'm interested in anything you would have to add.
@@AaronVriesman From my research a concubine is basically a wife. Particularly with limited rights just as you mentioned. It should not be regarded as a Mistress in the modern sense. It is actually a marriage. Abraham wife Keturah is also regretted to as his Concubine. In the story of this Levite, her man is called her husband. If a man lay with another man’s concubine it was regarded as adultery. A wife basically had 3 demands from a man in that world food, raiment and Conjugal rights(sex) and concubines were guaranteed these 3. Concubines were especially limited in the rights of inheritance. That a man will take a concubine after he has already allocated his inheritance to the children of his wife(s). As for the concubine she gets what she gets as gifts but no established contract was drawn up for her and her seed. This was still merciful because every woman needed a covering. Take note in this culture polygyny was not frown upon as in western societies. It was not a sin. In some cases it was the righteous thing to do.
You don't know that he didn't check to see if she was dead. I totally admit he was a horrible person but I think you're presuming a lot. I'm sure he was more than capable of checking to see if she was breathing or her heart was stopped, but to assume he cut her up without checking if she was dead is a huge assumption and not really fair. It's possible but there is nothing there that states that or suggest that. Other than that it was really great, just that one point I didn't like. No maybe to it, the Levite was definitely the worst one of all. The Levite was utterly depraved,horrible and cruel. This is one of my least favorite stories in the Bible, but it is unpleasantly true fact of scripture whether I like it or not! Without Jesus we are horrible and with out hope!
You are correct that the text does not specify that he didn't check to see if she was alive. Strictly speaking we don't know. I would argue however that the text is worded in such a way as to lead us the readers to conclude as much. He says, "Get up." Then it simply says there was no answer. The text never says she was dead. It simply says there was no answer. Yes the Levite is a cold, heartless and selfish man. Thanks for your comment.
"Oh the comcubine was an allusion to Christ" "Yeah the Israelites definetely wrote this around 1000 BCE thinking about a possibly fictious character who might have existed 1000 years later... this was written well before the New Testament! XD At most the Jesus story was an allusion to this one (which it isn't).
If you don't agree with me, that is fine. But even the most skeptical scholars would say the book of Judges was definitely written before the real person of Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth.
For those of you wondering why this is in the bible. Sometime after 2012 Satan managed to change 500 words throughout the bible, since that time we are finding dozens of perverted and obscene stories infecting the word of God. I pray for you, and your loved ones that they may be rescued from believing these lies. Amen
Pretty sure he’s talking about the Mandela effect, which is definitely a real issue. Maybe it’s the reason God wrote His word on our hearts? What’s your opinion?
I'm not sure what he is referring to would be a Mandela effect. He is talking about not a false memory but somehow changing every Bible in the world, both digital and in print, as well as the memories of everyone who has knowledge of the Bible. Does Satan have the power to do this when he is not omnipotent or omniscient? Would God allow Satan to do such a thing to his written word?
I'm glad it doesn't change your faith or biblical perspective. God has given Satan power over some matters but is always on God's leash (Job 1-2). By contrast, Jesus is the king and not even a sparrow falls without the will of God (Matthew 10:29).
