Huh? A Levite's Concubine 11-12-23
Overview
When Scripture Makes Us Say, "Huh?"
Some passages in Scripture are not light reading. The account of the Levite and his concubine in Judges 19 is one of those texts that stops us cold and forces the question: Why is this in God's Word? A Levite travels to retrieve his estranged concubine from her father's house in Bethlehem. On the return journey, they shelter for the night in Gibeah, a town belonging to Benjamin—an Israelite town the Levite trusted would be safer than a foreign city. Instead, wicked men of the town surround the house, and the Levite pushes his concubine out to them. She is brutalized through the night and left for dead at the door. The Levite then dismembers her body and sends the pieces throughout Israel as a call to action, prompting the civil war recorded in Judges 20.
The Backdrop: Everyone Did What Was Right in Their Own Eyes
Judges repeats a sobering refrain: in those days there was no king, and the people did what was right in their own eyes. This story is the fruit of that posture. A Levite—a member of the priestly tribe, who should have embodied Israel's holiness—shows callous disregard for the woman under his protection. A host offers up his daughter and a guest's wife to a violent mob. An entire town is given over to depravity. The prophet Hosea later looks back on this episode as a marker of how deep the corruption ran: "They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah" Hosea 10:9. When God's people turn from Him and serve themselves, the result is not neutrality—it is wickedness.
Why This Text Belongs in Scripture
There are at least three reasons this jarring passage is preserved for us. First, it is part of Israel's honest history; God does not sanitize the record of His people. Second, it exposes the true depth of human depravity apart from God's grace—a mirror we still need today, whether we look at this ancient atrocity or modern horrors like the Holocaust, human trafficking, and abuse. Third, even here God preserves a remnant. Though the tribe of Benjamin is nearly destroyed, Israel mourns the potential loss of a tribe and seeks to preserve it—because God's promise to the twelve tribes will not fail. Notably, Israel's first king, Saul, would come from this very tribe. God's mercy runs underneath even the worst chapters of the story.
The Gospel Hidden in the Horror
Every part of the Old Testament points us to Jesus, and this text is no exception. The wickedness on display is precisely the kind of sin that only God Himself could bear and forgive. Christ entered our humanity and took upon Himself the full weight of human evil—including evil this dark—so that sinners like us could be set free. Paul's promise stands firm: nothing in all creation "will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans 8:35-39.
Pastoral Application
Texts like this one are not given to entertain us but to open our eyes. They call us to grieve evil honestly, to recognize our own need for a Savior, and to pray and act on behalf of those who are abused, trafficked, and oppressed today. They remind us that doing "what is right in our own eyes" is never harmless—it is the road to ruin. And they drive us back to Christ, who alone can bear the weight of sin, who keeps His remnant, and who fills His people with the Holy Spirit so that we may serve our neighbors in love. The darkness of Judges 19 is real, but it is not the final word. The final word is the cross, the empty tomb, and the promise that Christ will come again.
Transcript
In this story from Judges, we encounter the starkest evil of human behavior. 4s
Surround us with your grace and compassion as we look at things we'd rather turn our 10s
eyes away from. 14s
Give us the courage to confront what we see, offer us the healing we need for our wounded 15s
spirits, and lead us by your grace to seek you and your will in our lives, and for the 20s
lives of those around us. 28s
Lord, we ask that you would bless this time of study together and speak to us through 30s
your word, your word of mercy, and grace and forgiveness. 34s
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. 38s
Amen. 41s
Okay. 42s
So I know, really good lead off, right? 42s
This is, we're going to study disturbing, but this is one of those texts. 45s
You know, like some of the texts that we read in Scripture that make us go, huh? 48s
You know, we can talk about the talking donkey, and that was, that's fun. 54s
To study that, and, but there are a lot of texts in Scripture that it's not a light, 57s
huh? 65s
It's a, huh? 65s
Like, what is this? 67s
Why is this in God's word? 68s
Why do we have this text? 70s
What is being told to us? 72s
And the text that we're going to study today is one of those. 74s
It's very disturbing. 79s
It's not a child-friendly text. 80s
It's the text in judges that we find in judges. 84s
And remember that in judges, we read time and again that, that at this time, the people 87s
were doing what was right in their own eyes. 94s
They were continually doing whatever they deemed okay, or that they deemed right for their 97s
own lives in their own time. 106s
So it's the story, are any of you familiar with the story of the Levite and his concubine? 110s
Okay, oh, we're, oh gosh, I'm sorry. 117s
Here. 121s
We could have just left this and you would never have the, huh? 123s
Okay, so it's a really disturbing story. 127s
We're not going to read everything of it, but y'all know the story in, or the text in Sodom 130s
and Gomorrah when all the men come and, and, and, and a lot turns out his daughter, right? 136s
So it's, it's along that same vein. 143s
So another text that makes us wonder why it's inscripture. 146s
So we're going to go ahead and open up to the book of judges, chapter 19. 151s
And we are going to read through a lot of it, a lot of 19 and into 20, but we'll be in 157s
judges. 163s
And really the, there is a purpose to doing this. 164s
There is a purpose to reading through this. 169s
There is a purpose for it to be inscripture. 171s
And there is a purpose for us to read it today. 173s
So we're going to go ahead. 176s
Judges is after the, the pentatook and then you'll find so it's the five, first five 178s
books of the Bible and then we've got Joshua and then we've got judges. 185s
Okay. 188s
So we're in judges, the 19th chapter. 188s
It says in those days when there was no king in Israel, remember this is before they 192s
had any kings, God would appoint a person to, to come to the rescue of Israel. 197s
Israel would stray from the Lord and they would cry to him for help and, and the Lord 205s
would appoint someone. 210s
We had, Samson was a judge, Deborah was a judge. 212s
I almost said to Lila, no, she was not a judge. 215s
So we had various judges, Gideon. 220s
So here in these days there was, there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite residing 224s
in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem 230s
in Judah. 235s
So a concubine was not, was not a bad thing. 236s
A concubine was actually, we don't exactly have the written law of what a concubine was, 241s
but it was, it was a person who was legally married to the groom, but a second class wife. 249s
Okay. 256s
So remember, remember Jude, Jacob had, had, Lila and Rachel and then he had their servants 257s
as his concubines. 264s
So they were his wives, Zilpa and, build that, build that in Zilpa, I think it is. 265s
They were his wives, but they were of less standing than Lila and Rachel. 273s
So, so a concubine was legally bound and under the authority of her husband. 280s
And so here we have this Levite who has this concubine. 286s
So she is under his authority. 290s
So he took, he took a concubine, his concubine became angry with him and she went away from him 294s
to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah. 301s
And there was some four months. 304s
There's a lot of debate, theologically, in the theological world of what was the concubines? 306s
Was she angry at something the Levite had done or was this just a way to say that she had committed 315s
adultery and she left there, there are various questions around why she left, but we know 321s
that she went to her father's house. 328s
We know that her father took her back in. 329s
So it was four months later than her husband set out after her to speak tenderly to her and 333s
to bring her back. 339s
He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys. 340s
When he reached her father's house, the girl's father saw him and came with joy to meet him. 344s
His father-in-law, the girl's father, made him stay and he remained with him three days. 348s
So the father-in-law welcomes this Levite with open arms, invites him into his home. 354s
They have a great time. 360s
They're eating and drinking and being merry, sharing in conversation. 362s
Remember, this concubine is now, we don't know anything about what she's doing, what she's 367s
done or what she's doing. 371s
But we know that the Levite has come to take her back to bring her back home with him. 372s
Every time he says, okay, I really have to go. 380s
The father-in-law says, no, no, no, no, no, no, stay one more day, stay one more day. 384s
And he continually tells this man, just stay a little bit longer, stay a little bit longer. 387s
So now we're going to go down to verse eight. 392s
On the fifth day, he got up early in the morning to leave and the girl's father said, 395s
fortify yourself. 399s
So they lingered until the day declined and when the two of them ate and drank, 401s
when the man with his concubine and his servant got up to leave his father-in-law, 406s
the girl's father said to him, look, the day has worn on until it's almost evening, 410s
spend the night. 415s
See, the day has drawn to a close, spend the night here and enjoy yourself. 416s
Tomorrow, you can get up early in the morning for your journey and go home. 420s
This has happened more than once where he talks this man into staying. 424s
And so this time, the man says, no, he, the man would not spend the night, 429s
he got up and departed and arrived opposite Jebus, that is Jerusalem. 434s
He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys and his concubine was with him. 439s
When they were near Jebus, the day was far spent and the servant said to his master, 443s
come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it. 448s
But his master said to him, we will not turn aside into a city of foreigners 453s
who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will continue on to Gibiath. 458s
So his servant is saying, it's dark, it's not safe when you, when, you know, to travel in this day 463s
and, or not in this wealth, maybe in this day and age, but in this, in the ancient Near East, 470s
it was not a safe time to travel, certainly not when it was dark. 474s
And so the servant is saying, let turn in here, let's turn in here, but it was a canony 478s
city. And the canonites were absolutely an abomination to, they were, they were abysmal 483s
to the Israelite people. They were not to comingle at all. And so, so the Levite says, no, 491s
we're going to keep on going to Gibiath. That would be within the tribe of Benjamin, 499s
because he knows that they need to be in, in one of the Israelite lands. 503s
So thinking that he's going to be safe within, his own people, within Israel. 512s
So he said to his servant, come, let us try to reach one of these places and spend the night at 519s
Gibiath or at Rama, Rama. So they passed on and went their way and the sun went down on them 524s
near Gibiath, which belongs to Benjamin. They turned aside there to go in and spend the night 529s
at Gibiath. He went in and sat down in the open square of the city, but no one took them in to 534s
spend the night. Then at evening, there was an old man coming in from his work in the field. 539s
The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was residing in Gibiath. So this is a man 544s
who is in Israelite, but he is a foreigner amongst the Gibiannites. So he is, he is from Ephraim, 549s
he is a resident alien, but he is still of the tribe of Israel. When the old man looked up and saw 557s
the wayfarer in the open square of the city, he said, where are you going and where do you come from? 568s
He answered him, we are passing from Bethlehem and Judah to the remote parts of the hill country 573s
of Ephraim from which I come. I went to Bethlehem and Judah and I'm going to my home. Nobody has 577s
offered to take me in. So this man offers the invitation to come into his home. This makes me think 583s
of that of the angel in Sodom when Lot sees them and says, don't stay in the city square. 592s
Come into my home. Perhaps this man, this man from Ephraim, this stranger or the resident alien 601s
knows the danger that resides in Gibiath. So he invites the man, the Levite, the concubine, 609s
and his servant into his home. He brings them into the house feeds the donkeys washes their feet, 617s
their eating and drinking. In verse 22, while they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, 623s
a perverse lot surrounded the house and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, 630s
the master of the house, bring out the man who came into your house so that we may have intercourse 636s
with him. And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, no, do not act so 641s
wickedly since this man is my guest, do not do this vile thing. Here are my virgin daughter and his 648s
concubine. Let me bring them out to you now. Ravish them and do whatever you want to them, but 653s
against this man do not do such a vile thing. So the man sees his concubine put her out to them. 659s
She is literally abused all night, all night. You can read more details, but you can imagine the 667s
the depravity that is taking place, the horrific experience that she had. And then at day break, 678s
they let her go. In verse 26, it says, as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door 687s
of the man's house where her master was until it was light. In the morning, her master got up, 692s
opened the doors of the house. And when he went out to go on his way, there was his concubine lying 698s
at the door of his house with her hands on the threshold. Get up, he said to her, we're going, 703s
but there was no answer. We don't know if she's unconscious, we don't know if she has already 709s
died. We know that there is very little care or concern shown to her by this Levite. And do you 715s
remember who the Levites were? They were the priestly tribe. They were supposed to be the holy ones of 723s
Israel. And this man, I just picture him just kind of kicking at her saying, come on, gotta go, gotta 730s
go. So here, here we see this woman brutalized, not even able to respond, she may already be dead. 739s
And so he puts her on his donkey. He put her on his donkey and he set out for his house. When he 751s
entered the house, he took a knife, grasping the concubine, he cut her into 12 pieces, limbed by 759s
and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. Then he commanded the men whom he sent, 764s
saying, thus shall you say to all the Israelites, has such a thing ever happened since the day that 769s
the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt until this day, consider it, take counsel and speak 776s
out. Okay. So here he's had, huh? I know, yeah, he says thanks for sharing. 783s
I know, it's a terrible, terrible text. And every time I read it, you know, so if you read through 794s
the Bible, which this summer, you have a chance to read through the Bible in three months, 802s
when you read through the Bible and come across it, there is no question that it is jarring. 806s
Is anyone not affected when you hear this? It's horrific and jarring and this happened in what 812s
was supposed to be a safe place. This brutal act beyond anything that we could ever imagine 821s
experiencing, this horrific, horrific happening happened in Israel. And it shows the depravity, 830s
the depravity of what Israel had become, how far they had turned their backs on the Lord. 844s
We think about the Levite who says, oh, I don't want to turn into this Canaanite city because 854s
they're an abomination. And yet this same Levite is the one to just kind of kick at his concubine, 859s
kick at his lesser wife and say, we got to go. I turned you out and we need to go now. 871s
So yes, I know, thanks for sharing. I know, I told you, it's just terribly disturbing, 880s
terribly disturbing. But does anyone hear this and go, oh, yeah, that makes total sense why it's 885s
in Scripture? No, it makes us say, huh? What is happening? But what we see is, like I said, 890s
that clear depravity, how far God's people had turned from him, how corrupt they were. The prophet 899s
Hosea, he writes about, he writes about this, he says, they are deeply corrupted as in the days of 912s
Ghibbia, oh Israel, you have sinned from the days of Ghibbia. He's saying Israel, we are still wicked. 918s
We are still wicked. There is no good, no good in this lot. Everyone is guilty upon this. 930s
And so the Levite takes his concubine home, cuts her in 12 pieces and sends one piece to each of the 945s
tribes of Israel. And really, it's with a call to action. It's a call to action. This has been done, 954s
this wickedness has been done in Benjamin and we need to go to war. And so the people are called 964s
to action. Never mind that the Levite does not, he omits any part of his part in this. He doesn't say, 974s
I turned her out, I let this happen. Now there is some debate over whether or not this was done 984s
that because he and the man who had a virgin daughter, that they had to, it was better for them to 991s
turn out the women because that was a better sin than the sin of unnatural sex. 1001s
That is one of the theological debates that's out there, but we know that women were less than a 1009s
second-class citizen. And the daughter of the man and then the concubine of the Levite, 1015s
they would have been under complete authority of the father and the husband. And so they had no 1023s
say, they had no say in what was going to happen to them. So we continue in chapter 20. Then all 1032s
the Israelites came out from Dan to Bersheba, including the land of Gilead and the congregation 1043s
assembled in one body before the Lord at MISPA. The chiefs of all the people, all the tribes of 1048s
Israel presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000-foot soldiers bearing 1054s
arms. Now the Benjaminites heard that the people of Israel had gone up to MISPA. And the Israelites 1060s
said, tell us how did this criminal act come about? The Levite, the husband of the woman who was 1066s
murdered answered, I came to Gibbia that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, concubine to spend 1072s
the night. The Lords of Gibbia rose up against me and surrounded the house of the night. 1077s
They intended to kill me and they hurt her until she died. Then I took my concubine and cut her into 1084s
pieces and sent her throughout the whole extent of Israel's territory for they have committed a 1093s
vile outrage in Israel. So now you Israelites, all of you, give your advice and counsel here. 1098s
All the people got up as one saying, we will not any of us go to our tents, nor will any of us 1103s
return to our houses. But now this is what we will do to Gibbia. We will go up against it by lot. 1108s
We will take 10 men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel and a hundred of a thousand 1113s
and a thousand of 10,000 to bring provisions to the troops who are going to repay Gibbia of Benjamin 1118s
for all the disgrace that they have done in Israel. So all of the men of Israel gathered against 1124s
the city united as one. So this war is being prepared. The Israelites, the rest of the tribes 1130s
are ready to take out Benjamin. But if you read further, we see that there's also mourning. 1138s
There's mourning for the tribe of Benjamin because it split the 12 tribes. If they wipe out 1145s
Benjamin, it will split the 12 tribes of God that he promised to inherit and possess the land. 1153s
And so the Israelites, though they are ready to wipe out Benjamin, they also, if you read on, 1162s
they seek out a remnant. They seek out a remnant for Benjamin. Now, in this time, there was no king. 1171s
Who is our first king for Israel? Saul. Do you know what tribe Saul is from? 1183s
Benjamin. He was a Benjamin Knight. Saul was from Benjamin. So, so what I think we take 1189s
from this are a few things. First, I think it's in scripture because it's part of Israel's history. 1201s
It's part of their story as a whole. Also, it shows us the complete depravity, the complete 1212s
abomination of the sinful nature, the wickedness. In that day, all did, or what was right in their 1225s
own eyes. When we seek our own eyes outside of the Lord, when we seek to serve ourselves, 1237s
not saying that the people here are going to be led into such depravity, you know, but in our sinful 1247s
nature, we can be in complete depravity. When we turn away from the Lord, we can be or are 1255s
in complete depravity. We're wicked outside of God's grace, outside of his love, 1265s
outside of his mercy. Another aspect, another reason why I think it's in scripture is exactly because 1274s
as it shows us the depravity, it also leads us to see the remnant that is remained, that is kept 1285s
in Benjamin because God's promise, God's promise will be fulfilled. God's promise will be fulfilled 1295s
and his promise is to the 12 tribes of Israel. And so we see this remnant and with that, we see that 1304s
that God is merciful. That while God does judge, while God does bring justice, he also is filled with 1313s
mercy. Mercy for us in our sinful nature. And we know this because of Jesus, because Jesus entered 1324s
into humanity, which is the other reason why I think this text is there. Remember everything in 1334s
the Old Testament points us to Jesus, points us to Jesus. And we see that even the grossest, 1340s
grossest example of humanity and the wickedness of humanity, even that even that Christ took 1352s
upon himself on the cross. In our wickedness, we have nowhere to turn but to Christ. 1363s
In the depths of our sin, we do turn to Christ and we're told and we're promised 1377s
that he has taken our sin upon himself. And we read those promises that there is nothing in Romans 1387s
where Paul writes that there's nothing and I know I've told you guys, oh, you should memorize this 1397s
and now I don't even have it in my brain. But there's nothing on earth nor powers in heaven and nothing 1401s
or how nothing that will separate us from the love that we have in Christ Jesus. He bore 1409s
all sin of all time and the punishment so that we can live free, that we can sit here and we can 1417s
read this and read of the wickedness and say, this is exactly why God alone can save. This is 1426s
exactly why God alone had to be man because God alone can bear the weight of this sin. 1435s
And he kept his remnant, he kept his remnant and that the twelve tribes then, 1448s
through all the wickedness, through all of the times that we read in scripture where they turn 1455s
from the Lord and turn to their own ways, turn to their own ways. We know and we can read it in 1462s
light of knowing that a savior is to come, that a savior is going to cover the sins and that the 1469s
savior, the savior will make it possible for all of us to be called into freedom. 1477s
Why did this happen wickedness? Human wickedness. It's disgusting. It's in our recent history, 1489s
the most wicked depravity that we've seen, I would say, would be the Holocaust, right? Where we 1502s
saw unthinkable happenings. And yet we know that God worked and works mercy, that God opens our eyes 1508s
to see the wickedness around us, that we can pray for those, we can pray for those who are 1527s
abused, we can pray for those who are trafficked, we can pray for those who are experiencing 1537s
slavery still in countries. And so through this sort of text, through this sort of 1547s
story that we have, we see the grossness of humanity, but it also points us to the mercy and the 1556s
grace that we have in Christ. And it opens our eyes really to the forgiveness and the freedom and 1564s
the love that the Lord has for each and every one of us. I think the Lord that we already sitting 1574s
here have a confession of his goodness upon our lips so that we're promised that he is within us. 1581s
And we can pray that it is he who lives in us, not us, but Christ who lives in us, 1589s
that will fill us with his Holy Spirit and lead us forth as we care for those around us. And as 1595s
we do what we can to serve, to serve our neighbors, to serve those who are in an extreme, extreme 1602s
distrustful situations. So questions? Huh? Romans 835. Yes. Yes, that's the one. Memorize it. 1612s
I will too. Yeah. So sorry for the downer today. The downer story totally, but it also points us 1629s
to the most beautiful story, the most beautiful truth of all truth that Christ has died and is 1640s
risen and will come again and that Christ has taken the punishment of all sin upon himself and 1647s
forgives each and every one of you. That's the good news. 1652s