Iniquity in Gibeah (Judges 19:22-28)

3/5/2010 8:23 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Iniquity in Gibeah

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Judges 19:22-28

 

            Message of the verses:  “22 ¶  While they were celebrating, behold, the men of the city, certain worthless fellows, surrounded the house, pounding the door; and they spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, "Bring out the man who came into your house that we may have relations with him." 23  Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, "No, my fellows, please do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not commit this act of folly. 24  "Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Please let me bring them out that you may ravish them and do to them whatever you wish. But do not commit such an act of folly against this man." 25  But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and brought her out to them; and they raped her and abused her all night until morning, then let her go at the approach of dawn. 26  As the day began to dawn, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was, until full daylight. 27  When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, then behold, his concubine was lying at the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. 28  He said to her, "Get up and let us go," but there was no answer. Then he placed her on the donkey; and the man arose and went to his home.  29  When he entered his house, he took a knife and laid hold of his concubine and cut her in twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel. 30  All who saw it said, "Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it, take counsel and speak up!’”

            The Old Testament has some gruesome stories in it and this is one of those stories.  This story shows how far the spirituality of Israel had fallen.  This story shows that because the children of Israel did not do what the Lord had directed them to do when they came into the land that He had given them to live in that this type of thing was going to happen.  When God gave the victory to Joshua over the evil people of Canaan who were in the land He told each of the tribes to continue to get rid of those people as they began to grow more in population, however this did not happen and the result was that the children of Israel began to become like the people of the land.  Looking back to a couple of days ago in the SD that I wrote earlier in the life of this Levite I had quoted John MacArthur saying that because of the unfaithfulness of this woman she should have been stoned, and if this would have happened then this event would not have happened.  With that said there was no excuse for this Levite to act like he did for he should have protected his wife even if it cost him his, and so should his host who should have protected his daughter. 

            How could two men sleep through the night when there were undoubtedly screams in the street as these evil men rapped this woman and eventually killed her?  This story is almost the same as the story of Lot while in Sodom, but this story took place in the nation of Israel!

            How this man could cut up his own wife and send her body parts around to the twelve tribe is beyond way of thinking, but that is what he did and he surely got the attention of the children of Israel and a fire began to burn in their hearts that would be hard to put out as will be seen in the succeeding chapters of Judges.

 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have often thought about the sin that the children of Israel did when they did not follow the Lord’s command to wipe out all of the Canaanites after they began to settle in the Promised Land.  I have written about this in earlier SD’s but perhaps it is worth repeating here.  When a person is born again they are given a new life as all things are new because of the new birth.  However that person has to grow in the Lord and stay away from the desires of his flesh, which he still has within him.  To me this pictures Israel conquering the Canaanites under Joshua.  The next step for the believer is to study and to grow in the Lord and to begin a personal devotional time so that he does not fall into the evil practices of the world around him.  I John 2:15-16 speak of not loving the world.  Because the children of Israel did not get rid of the Canaanites by faith in the power of the Lord they began to practice their evil practices and some of those results can be seen in today’s text.  As a believer I need to, (by the power of the Lord and the practice of reading His Word), get rid of those “Canaanites” in my life or they will begin to become too much of a part of me and difficult times will be ahead because of this.  Practicing Psalm 139:23-24 each day is a good way to keep those “Canaanites” away from me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Practice Psalm 139:23-24 “23  Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24  And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”

 

3/5/2010 9:17 AM