Sermon Transcript:

December 7th, 1941. November 22nd, 1963. September 11th, 2001. There are certain events that are so transformative they forever stand as reference points in our collective experience and our history is divided into how things were before and after. Scripture is filled with such events, and one of the most significant is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God’s judgment upon these wicked cities echoes throughout the scripture as an illustration of the total depravity of sinful humanity and the certainty that God will judge sin.

What we see in chapter 19 of Judges is a replay of the wickedness of Sodom but while Sodom and Gomorrah were examples of the wickedness of the world, the events in this chapter are not happening in a Canaanite city, but among God’s covenant people. The people called to be a light to the nations have been enveloped in darkness. The people of promise have become indistinguishable from the people of judgment.

They were entrusted with the oracles of God and repeatedly witnessed his power in delivering them, yet their hearts remained hardened. This shows that God’s promise of salvation from sin must ultimately be fulfilled not just externally but by a transforming work of grace within the hearts of his people. The darkness of this passage therefore points us to the light of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. Our main point today is

Only God's transformative grace through Christ can rescue us from the depths of sin and darkness.

We begin with verse 1.

1 In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. 2 And his concubine was unfaithful to him, and she went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there some four months. 3 Then her husband arose and went after her, to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys. And she brought him into her father’s house. And when the girl’s father saw him, he came with joy to meet him.

We are again reminded there was no king in Israel, everyone did whatever they thought was right. Then we zoom into an everyday scene, the kind of thing that happens in the life of regular people all the time. We meet another Levite, and this one has taken a young woman as a concubine. Neither of them is named, indicating we are to see them as general examples.

A concubine is basically a second-class wife. God never established this or any form of polygamy, this is something invented by fallen humans. The ESV says she was unfaithful to him, but the meaning of the Hebrew is a bit unclear, and it could just mean she was upset with him. In any case, after four months he goes to get her back.

4 And his father-in-law, the girl’s father, made him stay, and he remained with him three days. So they ate and drank and spent the night there. 5 And on the fourth day they arose early in the morning, and he prepared to go, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and after that you may go.” 6 So the two of them sat and ate and drank together. And the girl’s father said to the man, “Be pleased to spend the night, and let your heart be merry.” 7 And when the man rose up to go, his father-in-law pressed him, till he spent the night there again. 8 And on the fifth day he arose early in the morning to depart. And the girl’s father said, “Strengthen your heart and wait until the day declines.” So they ate, both of them. 9 And when the man and his concubine and his servant rose up to depart, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Behold, now the day has waned toward evening. Please, spend the night. Behold, the day draws to its close. Lodge here and let your heart be merry, and tomorrow you shall arise early in the morning for your journey, and go home.” 10 But the man would not spend the night.

The father-in-law seems happy to see him and by the end of verse 4 the Levite and his concubine appear to be reconciled. The tension has been resolved, and the story seems headed for a happy ending. All that is left is for them to return home and live happily ever after. This is somewhat delayed because of the almost comical efforts of the father to keep them from leaving, but finally, they go.

He rose up and departed and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him. 11 When they were near Jebus, the day was nearly over, and the servant said to his master, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.” 12 And his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will pass on to Gibeah.” 13 And he said to his young man, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah.”

As they travel, they come near Jerusalem but decide not to stay there. At this time, Jerusalem had not yet been taken by Israel, so it is still a city of the Jebusites, and the Levite would rather stay among his own people where he assumes they will be safer and receive better treatment than among the Canaanites.

14 So they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, 15 and they turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. And he went in and sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night.

These verses are like ominous clouds gathering before a storm, hinting that something is amiss. In an era without hotel chains or diners, hospitality to travelers was a matter of basic human decency. Ignoring a traveler in need was like witnessing a car accident today and not calling for help. Since nobody shows hospitality, they go to the city square. They would be more visible there and surely someone would come along and invite them in.

16 And behold, an old man was coming from his work in the field at evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning in Gibeah. The men of the place were Benjaminites. 17 And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city. And the old man said, “Where are you going? And where do you come from?” 18 And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to the house of the Lord, but no one has taken me into his house. 19 We have straw and feed for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and your female servant and the young man with your servants. There is no lack of anything.” 20 And the old man said, “Peace be to you; I will care for all your wants. Only, do not spend the night in the square.”

Finally, an old man who isn’t even from Gibeah takes an interest in them and asks what they are doing there. They explain they have their own food and supplies but need a place to stay. They will not be a burden and are not looking for a handout. The man, clearly concerned, urges them to come with him and not stay in the town square. Since this is a walled city, they should be safe from outsiders, but the man knows the problem is not outside, it is inside and they are not safe.

21 So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys feed. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank. 22 As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.” 23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing.

The old man treats his guests well and as they were enjoying themselves men from the city surround the house and beat on the door. Just like at Sodom the townsmen demand the guest be turned over to them so they may know him. They aren’t looking to expand their network. This is a Hebrew phrase that refers to sexual relations. They are insisting the man send out his guest so they can rape him.

The man rebukes them for their wickedness and begs them not to do this. In this culture, once you invited someone under your roof, you were responsible for them. He is expected to protect them and if something happened to them, it would dishonor him. I am told it is still the case in certain parts of the middle east that if someone invites you into their home, even if you are an enemy, they are responsible for your welfare while you are there.

Out of desperation to protect his guest and his own honor the man does something appalling and unthinkable.

24 Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do this outrageous thing.” 25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. 26 And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light.

The man offers his own daughter and the young concubine, eventually forcing the concubine outside. The phrase “Do to them what is good in your eyes” invites us to see this event as an illustration of the theme that “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” There is nothing in this that is of God. This is utter confusion and horror. Israel doesn't need a king to reach such depravity; the people of Gibeah are willing to descend this low on their own.

This shows how dire the situation has gotten. Even noble intentions are tainted. This man's focus has shifted from caring about people to abstract ideals. This is typical of sin's confusion. A good measure of understanding God's will is seeing how it influences our treatment of others. Even when we must make tough stands for truth or obedience, the Spirit never guides us toward hatred or cruelty.

Both the men outside and the men inside the house are a law unto themselves, doing what is right in their own eyes. The result is this young woman is violently gang raped and abused throughout the night until they leave her for dead lying in the gutter.

27 And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up, let us be going.” But there was no answer.

The callousness of this man is revolting. I am not sure how well he slept that night, but he comes out in the morning and sees her laying there unmoving, hands outstretched toward the door, and mercilessly tells her to get up so they can leave.

It is crucial to understand that while the Bible presents a model of loving, sacrificial leadership for husbands, this passage shows how sinful men can corrupt God’s design to serve their own purposes. This is not God’s design for male headship. Instead, it is a vile and disgusting picture of men dominating and using women, even sacrificing them, for their own interests. This is a distortion of biblical roles operating according to Canaanite logic. The Bible calls for husbands to sacrifice themselves, even giving their lives to protect and care for their wives, not to use them as shields.

There are no heroes in this story. The story begins with us learning she was unfaithful, but she turns out to be the most sympathetic figure of the group. Sin has done to these men what it always does, bending us inward and leaving us insensitive and inhumane, distorting God’s image in us, turning us into monsters willing to sacrifice the weak and vulnerable for our own self-interest. He eventually realizes she is dead,

Then he put her on the donkey, and the man rose up and went away to his home. 29 And when he entered his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his concubine he divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.

He takes her body and carries it home and, on the way, he decides what to do. When he arrives home, he cuts her body into 12 pieces and sends a piece of her to each of the tribes throughout Israel. This seems weird and gruesome to us. Why does he do this?

In the ancient Near East, dividing a body and sending parts with a message was a known call to arms. Records from Eastern Syria, a few hundred years earlier, indicate this could be done with a prisoner. Among the Hebrews, it typically involved an animal. We see references to this, for example, with Saul in 1 Samuel 11:7, which says,

7 He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one man.

This act of cutting up her body and mailing it around Israel is therefore an attempt to shock the tribes into action. He is saying, look at what has happened, you must respond! 

30 And all who saw it said, “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.”

This anonymous Levite from the boonies will achieve what none of the leaders had managed to accomplish. Even Deborah and Barak were not able to rally the resources of the entire nation to the extent his appeal will. The final words are a plea to think about this young woman, to consider what it means, and to respond. How should we as New Testament believers in Jesus Christ respond? What are we to learn and to do?

We can start with the same questions that must have occurred to Israel. What is wrong with these people? How could this happen? What will come of God’s promise to bring salvation to the world through them?

The book of Judges began with Israel poised to drive out the wicked nations of Canaan and to receive the land God promised with the assurance that if they were faithful, God would fight on their behalf. God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and established a covenant with them. They were to be a kingdom of priests, set apart for God, through whom he would bless the nations. Instead, by chapter 19 the chosen people, called to be a light to the world, are indistinguishable from those who were judged in Sodom and Gomorrah.

I believe what we are to recognize in this is that the problem of sin is far greater than we think and only the supernatural power of God can overcome it. Throughout the book of Judges, the author has hinted at a solution. Israel needs a king. But as we read past Judges, we will see the same pattern emerge under imperfect kings that we saw under imperfect judges.

This shows that salvation cannot come from earth and reach up to heaven, it must come down from heaven itself. The king Israel needs is the same person as the prophet and priest she needs, and these are all the same person. The promised deliverance will come from God himself because no sinner could ever deliver us from sin. Only God can do that.

Jesus is God, and he came to earth as a human being, being born as a man through the virgin Mary. He lived a perfect life, so although he was truly human, he was also truly divine and without sin. Having fulfilled the law perfectly, he obtained righteousness in the flesh and then offered himself as perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for the sins of all who will repent and believe in him. Then after 3 days in the grave, Jesus rose again proving he had defeated the power of sin and conquered death.

But not only is God accomplishing something for us through Jesus, he is accomplishing something in us. The evening before Jesus was crucified, he was preparing his disciples for what he was about to do. As they ate that last supper Luke 22:19–20 says,

19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Israel had seen the power of God; they had experienced many miracles. They had knowledge, having received the law and the promises. They had every advantage education and experience could provide, but that was not enough. As Jesus offers his own blood upon the cross, he is not only paying for sins, he is also purchasing something else Moses could not give to Israel.

Jeremiah 31:31–33 says,

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Israel’s problem was ultimately not something that could be solved with better government, education, or leadership. The problem was not to be found in something outside of themselves, the problem was within their own hearts. The same is true for us. A heart enslaved to sin cannot produce true obedience and righteousness. The bad things we do are only the fruits of a deeper root of sin in us. We may not bear as much wicked fruit as the men of Gibeah, but we were all born the same kind of tree as them.

We are tempted to think we can keep our sins manageable, but like them, our natural instinct is to reject God and do what is right in our own eyes. Whether expressed politely or savagely the natural man wants to be his own God, calling his own shots. That is why James 2:10–11 says,

10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

All sin is eternally condemning because it is the rejection of an eternal God. None of us can stand before the law of God and be considered innocent or righteous based on our own record. We cannot erase our sins or earn salvation because we have violated the entire law by rejecting the law giver. We are therefore rightly under the exact same condemnation as these folks we have been reading about because we also have no king and have decided to do whatever was right in our own eyes.

If we pick and choose which commands we follow then it is not God, but ourselves that we worship. But what Jesus buys with his own blood is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises and the power for it to be done. God will create for himself a people. Our sins will be removed by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, our old identity will die with him there and we will be born again, made a new creation, having a heart transformed by grace that beats with faith and love for him. In Christ we are changed from a tree bearing wicked fruit to one that bears the fruit of repentance and faith.

Jesus Christ purchases the new birth for his people on the cross. True conversion isn’t simply a mental decision but a supernatural work where the Holy Spirit transforms a rebellious heart into one desiring to trust and obey. The story from Judges vividly illustrates the need for Christ’s transforming work. The Israelites repeatedly failed to keep God's law, highlighting the insufficiency of human effort and the deep-rooted sin within. That is why the new covenant is good news. Listen to what God promises in Ezekiel 36:25–27,

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

This is what Jesus buys with his own blood for Israel and we who were born outside of the family of Israel have been made partakers in these promises in fulfillment of God’s promise through them all nations will be blessed. This promise is the Holy Spirit applying the work of Jesus Christ, to redeem sinners, to fulfill the will of the Father to have a people who will live for his glory. Israel mistakenly thought the law would accomplish this, but the law is there to show us that God himself must do it. That is why Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:3,

3 …Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The new birth is a supernatural gift from God, a divine act resulting in faith, uniting us to Jesus, and implanting a desire for holiness and God’s glory. Saving grace not only brings forgiveness of sins but creates in us the heart every true Israelite must possess. A heart that loves God and hates sin. It must be this way because as Puritan scholar John Owen observed,

“Sin always aims at the extreme. If it had its way, every time it rises up to tempt or entice, it would go out to the most extreme sin of that kind. If it could, every unclean thought or glance would become adultery. Every covetous desire would become oppression. If it were allowed its own reign, every thought of unbelief would become atheism. Men may reach a point, where sin is so unrestrained, that it no longer stings their conscience. The most outrageous sin no longer seems scandalous. If every impulse of lust were satisfied, it would reach the height of villainy. Sin is like the grave that is never satisfied. This is part of the deceitfulness of sin, which hardens men’s hearts and leads to their ruin. It is subtle in its initial approach, and so we succumb to it. But once it has a hold on our heart by these little concessions, it gains a footing; and then it presses on in increasing degrees of the same kind.”

We have seen the devastation that sin brought upon Israel; let us be vigilant so that pride or indifference does not cause us to stumble. Let us never take God’s grace for granted but live every moment trusting His promises and the guidance of His Spirit. By faith in Jesus, we have been freed from sin’s penalty; through His work by the Holy Spirit, we are being freed from sin’s power; and in His resurrection, we have the promise that one day we will be freed from sin’s presence. Let us therefore learn from Israel, examine our hearts, repent, and follow Christ—because only through Him can we find deliverance from sin and darkness.

With all this in mind, I want to end with the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 6:17–19,

17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 ... For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.