73 – Prelude to War
Judges 19:1-30
Once, during the time of the judges, civil war broke out throughout the nation of Israel. All the tribes united against the tribe of Benjamin and almost eliminated them. It all started with a woman leaving a man.A certain Levite got a woman to become his concubine. One day she left him and went back to the home of her parents. After four months, the man decided to go and be nice to her in hopes that she would return to his house.
When he got there, her father welcomed him into his home. The two men became friends, so the Levite stayed for three days.
He got up early on the fourth day to go home. The girl’s father said, “Have a good breakfast before you leave. It will help you have a better day as you travel.”
So they ate together and enjoyed their friendship. Time went by and finally it was late in the afternoon. The father said, “It’s too late to leave now. Wait until morning when you can have an early start.”
The Levite stayed the night, and in the morning the girl’s father said, “Have a good breakfast before you leave. It will help you have a better day as you travel.” Again, they ate and talked until late afternoon. The father said, “It’s too late to leave now. Wait until morning when you can have an early start.”
This time, the man was determined to leave. He set out with his concubine, but didn’t get far before they realized they needed to spend the night somewhere.
They traveled on to a city controlled by the tribe of Benjamin. They stood around hoping someone would invite them into their home. At first, no one responded, but finally an old man saw them and invited them into his house.
They were enjoying each other’s company that evening, when suddenly a gang of men surrounded the old man’s house. They beat on the door and said, “Send out that man who is staying with you. We want to have sex with him.”
The old man yelled back, “This man is a guest in my house. I won’t let you abuse him. I’ll send out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine. Do what you want with them, but you can’t have the man.”
The men outside wouldn’t listen. They became more violent and insisted on having sex with the man. Finally the Levite grabbed his concubine and pushed her out the door.
The gang of men took turns raping her for the rest of the night. Early in the morning, they let her go. She crawled back to the house and collapsed outside the door.
The Levite woke up and got ready to continue his trip. He saw his concubine at the door. “Get up. It’s time to go.” She didn’t move, so he put her on his donkey and went home.
When they got there, he realized she was dead. He cut her body into twelve pieces, and then sent them to every area of Israel. When the people saw this, they said, “Nothing like this has ever happened in the nation of Israel.”
It became the topic of discussion in every town. Finally the people knew they had to take action against the tribe of Benjamin.
Continued in the next story
