#403 Hard Reading

And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehemjudah.

2 And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Bethlehemjudah, and was there four whole months.

3 And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

4 And his father in law, the damsel's father, retained him; and he abode with him three days: so they did eat and drink, and lodged there.

5 And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he rose up to depart: and the damsel's father said unto his son in law, Comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way.

6 And they sat down, and did eat and drink both of them together: for the damsel's father had said unto the man, Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thine heart be merry.

7 And when the man rose up to depart, his father in law urged him: therefore he lodged there again.

8 And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the damsel's father said, Comfort thine heart, I pray thee. And they tarried until afternoon, and they did eat both of them.

9 And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel's father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.

10 But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him.

11 And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.

12 And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah.

13 And he said unto his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah.

14 And they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin.

15 And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging.

16 And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites.

17 And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?

18 And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehemjudah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I: and I went to Bethlehemjudah, but I am now going to the house of the Lord; and there is no man that receiveth me to house.

19 Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no want of any thing.

20 And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street.

21 So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink.

22 Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.

23 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly.

24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing.

25 But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

26 Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.

27 And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold.

28 And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place.

29 And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.

30 And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds. Judges 19 KJV

Here is the setting, that there is no king or no rule of law, no provision to the quiet and peaceful existence of those that wish not against their neighbor. It is the wild west. I remember as a young man having a negative outlook on police even though I knew both good and bad as it is with all men and trades, but I focused only on the negative and thought how much better the world would be without magistrate. But the Bible declares clearly and often that men are not righteous.

The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.

4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.

6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house. Micah 7:2-6

I remember going to Atlanta for an interview as a young man, and I had just quit the use of hard drugs not long before this. While I was there I took a wrong turn and ended up in an area I did not know. My car broke down and I was able to push it to a gas station / garage, but they were closing and no one would be there till next business day. I left a note on the car stating that I would be back and walked down the street where I found some police officers at a Dunk'n Doughnuts. How cliche I thought, but I decided to ask them about a place to stay to which they replied, "you don't want to stay here." I explained that my car was broken down to which they laughed and pointed, "I hope it's not back that way". Why? "Because there probably won't be much left of it by tomorrow." They told me about a motel down the street and a Western Union where I could get some money, so I called my God mother and she sent me some cash. It was a little nerve racking having the lady at the register count the money out loud while I stood out like a sore thumb in this place. When I left I saw a group of Latino gentlemen walking together down the street and I asked them for directions, but I couldn't understand the reply. I asked again and one of them flipped me off. Having no issue with them or prior knowledge of them I didn't understand the aggression, so like a fool I tried one more time to talk to them at which point they turned around to cross the street towards me. This black gentlemen had been watching and intervened, he told them I was with him and they went on their way. He told me it was no use trying to explain myself to them; it was the Mexican gang that ran this area and if they didn't want to talk to me then my persistence was going to get me cut. Yea, I still didn't get it or understand what gave them the right to treat someone, who wasn't hurting them, that way. The man who saved me walked me to a hostel, which I decided to pass on, and then on to a motel, which was actually better looking, but at night time really came to life as well. My rescuer asked if he could sleep in my room, to which I replied, no, I just wouldn't be able to sleep with a stranger in my room. I gave him 20 dollars and thanked him for his help. I found a wonderful little Laotian restaurant, grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to my room where I took a shower then watched tv. The wall behind the television shook, then it would stop, the door to that room would open and then close and then open again, close, and the wall would shake again. There were voices, first talking, then moaning, rinse and repeat. Then there was a knock at my door and gentlemen asking for a certain individual, who I told him wasn't there as he tried to peer around me. He asked if he could get me anything, weed, rock, meth, a girl? No, I told him, I'm good. I shut the door, laid back down on the bed and was flipping channels when a knock came again. I answered and it was the same man, who  now said, "how about a man?"  I laughed, told him no and shut the door, but I wasn't offended, because he doesn't know me, what my vices may be and this is the sadness that was this part of Chamblee at that time. The only reason for someone who looked like me to be there was apparently drugs, prostitutes or a broken down car. I turned off the tv, closed my eyes and was just about to sleep, when the phone rang, and it was the girl in the room next door. She had a break in her clientele, and she wanted to know if I would like to come over. No, thank you, I said, I am tired and going to get some sleep. 

The Levite was on his way to reconcile with his concubine, and forgiveness is a wonderful and beautiful thing, but this is not so beautiful a story.  

The proud religious law-keepers came to Jesus. They tried to trap Him by saying, “Does the Law say a man can divorce his wife for any reason?” 4 He said to them, “Have you not read that He Who made them in the first place made them man and woman? 5 It says, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will live with his wife. The two will become one.’ 6 So they are no longer two but one. Let no man divide what God has put together.”

7 The proud religious law-keepers said to Jesus, “Then why did the Law of Moses allow a man to divorce his wife if he put it down in writing and gave it to her?” 8 Jesus said to them, “Because of your hard hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. It was not like that from the beginning. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sex sins, and marries another, is guilty of sex sins in marriage. Whoever marries her that is divorced is guilty of sex sins in marriage.” Matthew 19: 3-9

It appears that some sort reconciliation occurs, and it also appears to be the joy of the father in law, but they linger at his place and leave too late to make it home. At night he decides not to stop in one place because they are gentile, but moves on to the land of the Benjamites, where no one seems willing to pay him by the traditions of hospitality, though they are his fellow Israelites. They do not have the luxury of hotels, Dunk'n Doughnuts or police. It says he has all his travel needs, so far as food and drink, and he will not be so much of a burden, but I think it is also because he is surrounded by a pack of wolves. They will not encourage him to strength or security, but rather measure him to the delight of their own depravity. But an older gentlemen offers them asylum, a place to stay, and the wealth of his house. There is no king and they have slid far from the rule of God. Even the religion of the elder man is watered down, so that when the men of Gibeah behave like Sodom and Gomorrah, he offers his virgin daughter and the concubine of his guest. He will honor a law of hospitality to the man but not protect his own daughter. The man will give up his concubine, that he traveled so far to retrieve, but this is not for love as we now see, and lust is not strong enough to seek the best for the other. 

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.[a] 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5: 25-33

Your daughter is not yours to sell, neither your concubine. This is where a man must defend even to his death or embarrassment. Yes, it is an abomination, but there is not a trade off here of lesser sin, that she is a woman, a sinner, it is still rape. Look at the hardness of heart, even in what we first read as reconciliation. It is the worse winter's breeze across naked skin, that says, "up, and let us be going." She does not respond, and he does know that there has been a wrong here, but only part of it. He does want justice, but there is no king, no sheriff, and so he cuts his concubine into 12 pieces and sends them with a letter to each of the 12 tribes. Think hard on this, this is not right, we have not seen this, but think hard, what shall be done? Examine yourself, the other tribes, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, left it in rubble and the wife of Lot as a pillar for looking back. Now, I would ask my reader or just myself, examine yourself, God, examine me, I don't want to hold such salt in my own heart. I don't want to pretend that I hate sin, when it is only some sin that I don't like so much. You are not mocked, no one fools God. Like the Psalmist said, see if there be any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Don't allow me to linger too long, to leave too late. He was on his way to Shiloh with his party, but not everyone made it. Doing right by others can be expensive.

Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” 18 And this she did for many days.

But Paul, greatly [d]annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. 19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

20 And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; 21 and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” 22 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. 23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. Acts 16: 16-24