Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

The next three stories, two of which are intertwined, do not happen chronologically after Samson was a judge. We know this because of a town whose name was changed. The new name it ends up with is how it is referenced in the Samson discourse. These events happen interspersed within the book of Judges. During times there was no judge and no ruler of the people (either someone like Abimelek or an actual national king like Saul and David). This was during one of the LAWLESS times – which is also when the book of Ruth happens, but more on that when we get there. Fair warning, the main reason these sections seem to have been written by the Holy Spirit and included is to show us how low human beings can get without something to hold them in check. Freedom without boundaries is bondage to depravity.

We start in Ephraim. With idols. This is NOT a surprise, is it? With a mixing of idolatry and proper worship, which is ALSO not a surprise. We start with theft. Micah lives in the hill country of Ephraim and he stole eleven hundred shekels of silver from his mother (around 15oz per coin, so $18,000 in today’s money – a VERY estimatey estimate). The mother hadn’t been happy about the loss and cursed the money. So he returned it and fessed up. She was so happy it came back she told him what it had been for. She had consecrated the silver to the Lord. Why? So her son could make a carved idol and a metal idol. They did just that. He had a shrine in his home, he made an ephod, a silversmith made the idols, and he hired one of his sons to be the priest. These people TALKED the Lord, but were using IDOLS to worship Him. At best they’re misguided from lack of knowledge of the Law (showing a failing in the Levites whose job it was to teach the Law throughout the land), at worst they’re purposefully mixing idol worship and worship of the Lord – which mixes about as well as nuclear waste and cupcakes. It’s a BAD idea. It’s a WRONG idea. It’s an IMMORAL idea (Exodus 20:3-6; Deuteronomy 4:15-20).

Along comes Jonathan son of Gershom from Bethlehem in Judah. He was a Levite and was looking for a place to serve. Levites didn’t have an inheritance in the land, so this was what they did if they didn’t want to stay in one of the Levitical cities (Numbers 35:1-8). They were specialists in worship of the Lord and the Law, so there was always a need for teaching and service in the tabernacle (and later in the Temple). Theoretically, they could keep the people worshipping Yahweh properly by showing them both the error of their ways AND teaching them the Law. As we are about to see, however, the temptation to simply sell services to the highest bidder was enormous.

When you travelled in Israel, you could stop off in any town or settlement and ask to be taken in (or in larger towns wait in the main courtyard for someone to offer you lodging). It was the kind of built-in generosity and hospitality that the Lord calls us all to and one of the major evidences of moral lapse – look at Sodom and Gomorrah (Ezekiel 16:49; Jude 1:7; Genesis 19). As it got late in the day, Jonathan was looking for a spot to stop and came across Micah’s house. Micah asked about him and once he learned Jonathan was an actual Levite, he offered him a position. Ten silver coins a year ($175 in estimatey modern value), room and board, and a new set of clothes (unclear if that’s every year or just a signing bonus). Jonathan agreed and started serving there. Micah was thrilled. His take? Now he knew the Lord would bless him. Except the Lord does NOT bless idol worship – something Jonathan must have known well, being a Levite (unless it is more evidence of a lapse of values, teaching, and morals in the land).

Dan’s inheritance had been given to them. “The seventh lot came out for the tribe of Dan according to its clans. The territory of their inheritance included: Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir Shemesh, Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, Elon, Timnah, Ekron, Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, Jehud, Bene Berak, Gath Rimmon, Me Jarkon and Rakkon, with the area facing Joppa” (Joshua 19:40-46). But they LOST it. It isn’t recorded how. Tradition is that they got pushed out and forced away into other territories where they had no spot. They were on the prowl for an inheritance. They weren’t possessing what God gave them, they were looking for an easy hit elsewhere. They sent five men to go explore and find a spot.

They came into the hill country of Ephraim and ended up seeking lodging at Micah’s house. They noticed Jonathan’s speech was different and asked him his story. When they heard he was a priest, they asked him to inquire and see if the Lord was with them in their task. Oh yeah, he said. The Lord is with you and you’ll prosper (talk about telling people what they want to hear).

Off they went and found the city of Laish. These were peaceful people who were living according to Sidonian culture, but with no ties to anyone. They were too far from Sidon to be beholden to them (or to get help) and clearly no interest in hooking up with the Israelites. The five guys thought this was perfect and reported as much back home. Six hundred men of Dan went out and set up camp in a place that came to be known as Mahaneh Dan (which Samson spent time in – Judges 13:25). Then they went up into the hills and came by Micah’s place.

Hey, did you know there are household idols, carved idols, metal idols, an ephod, and a priest here? said the five spies. What a great idea, they all say. So they offered a position to Jonathan. Stay with one family or be priest to a whole tribe. Jonathan went with the whole tribe. They stole the idols and ephod and left. Micah followed them to get everything back, but they outnumbered him a LOT and chased him away. They went on and took the city of Laish. They killed everyone and set it on fire. Then they rebuilt the city, named it Dan, set up the idols there, and Jonathan was their priest with those idols until the nation was taken into captivity. Meanwhile, the tabernacle was in Shiloh – so they had no excuse not to do things properly before God.

“In those days there was no king in Israel; there was a man, a Levite, who dwelled as a foreigner in the remote areas of the hill country of Ephraim. And he took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.” (Judges 19:1).

Nothing good happens in the last story. This is about as base as people get. Everyone is in the wrong one way or another. It’s brutal. Why is it in the Word? First, this is how people get when left on their own to their own sense of morality. When you do what’s right in your own eyes (‘my truth’ is a slippery slope), you don’t improve. You always degenerate. Second, this is why we need a Saviour and what He saves us from: our own desires. I am SO GRATEFUL to Jesus for what He did.

A Levite got a concubine. They lived in a remote part of Ephraim. She was from Bethlehem. She left him and went back home, which kicked off the whole thing. Some say she was angry (they fought). Some say she committed adultery. Translations vary, original language words lean heavily toward sexual sin but can mean other things. The point is she went home and that is the end of her responsibility. If she’d stayed with her husband, the devil would have had no opportunity here. If her husband hadn’t come for her, the devil would have had no opportunity here. It was NOT in ANY way this woman’s FAULT. It’s simply a fact this could not have happened if she had not gone home – I am casting NO judgment.

Levite comes for her. Either he loved her (I hope) or was reclaiming property (I hope not). His father-in-law kept him there for four days talking and feasting and not letting the couple go. Finally the Levite demanded release, but it was the afternoon of a day not the morning, so it was foolish to go. But they did. And got caught on the road at night. His servant suggests Jerusalem, but the Levite didn’t want to go to a Gentile city (the Jebusites held it still at that time). They pressed on until they got near Gibeah and Ramah. They picked Gibeah.

No one in town put them up. They were still in the street when an old man came in from his fields and asked them why they were there. The old man was also from Ephraim like the Levite. He took them in. They were having a good time when the wicked men of the city surrounded the house and pounded on the door. They demanded the visiting man to come out so they could sodomize him. They were into men and gang rape (two separate things) and wanted to actively participate in both. Rape is always wrong. God clearly calls the act of homosexuality wrong (He never cites feelings, inclination, or attraction ONLY the act of lust by thought or deed of men with men or women with women – Leviticus 18:22, 20:13; 1 Kings 14:24; Genesis 19 [which includes inhospitality and oppression as sins]; 1 Timothy 1:8-11). Thank God we have a better covenant and thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice there is forgiveness for our sins whether lying, being inhospitable, rape, or the act of homosexual intercourse.

The old man said no. He offered instead his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine – a very wrong action, but the old man felt normal rape was better than homosexual rape (God NEVER wants us to choose a lesser sin because ALL sin is the same: wrong. He wants us to choose HIS Way.). The men of the town refused – full of selfish desire. They seemed about to break down the door when the Levite grabbed his concubine and threw her outside. This is utterly reprehensible. It seems cowardly and selfish. It doesn’t speak to me of love. I can’t imagine doing this. But like I said at the beginning, this was a lawless time when they were not following God but whatever seemed right to themselves. His truth was that it was better she was raped than him.

They brutalized her all night. She was alive when they left her at dawn. She crawled to the house and died on the doorstep. The Levite was on his way home (this screams selfish to me) when he saw her. Discovering she was dead, he took her body home (instead of giving it a decent burial), and dismembered it in order to send a piece of it to each of the tribes (presumably with a message of where to meet – next chapter).

Everyone agreed it was horrible. That nothing like this had ever happened before. They demanded that it be considered, thought about, and then talked about publicly.

This chapter (19) hurts my heart. Everyone did something wrong. The worse, the worser, and the worserest. No one does right. They had no king. Everyone did what was good in their own eyes. We NEED Jesus. We NEED His yoke. We NEED guidance, leadership, correction, and teaching. We NEED a Saviour to help us out from who we are to who we can be because of what He has done for us. When we do what WE think is right, it’s a sliding scale of immortality, sin, and horrible behaviours. This chapter is very clear instruction about that, cannot be glossed over, and should not be ignored. It’s a hard chapter. But this is what sin does. It isn’t clean.

Summary

Key Players: Micah, Jonathan, Men from Dan, a Levite, a Concubine, Wicked Men

Key Themes: Proper Worship, Idolatry, Personal ‘truth’, Wicked Acts of Human Desire, Selfishness

Key Verse(s): Judges 17:3-6, 10-13; 18:1-2, 7-10, 27-31; 19:1-4, 15-17, 25, 29-30