In those days Israel had no king… – Judges 19:1
The opening verse in Judges 19 sets an ominous tone: “Israel had no king.” Of course that was true in a monarchial sense. But the nation as a whole had become a godless cesspool. Morality had collapsed. As society crumbled, the family structure disintegrated. No timeline is provided (nor can one be established) but the narrative almost reads like a modern day critique of contemporary Western culture. Nearly all the characters in Judges 19 are unnamed, suggesting that they represent the whole nation during an era when “everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 17:6; 21:25).
The story centers on a Levite and his concubine, a woman with legal status but with less honor than a wife. Despite her unfaithfulness, the Levite traveled to see her at her parents’ house where she was staying, seeking to restore their relationship. Yet their journey back home to Ephraim took a tragic turn in Gibeah, an Israelite city where they expected a welcoming stay overnight. Instead, they only found indifference. They waited in the town square for hours, when finally one person offered to take them in as his guests. What’s worse, some truly wicked men in Gibeah came hunting for the Levite and demanded to have sex with him, echoing the depravity of what occurred in Sodom (Genesis 19:5).
Famed Baptist preacher, F.B. Meyer, described Judges 19 by calling it a “terrible chapter, showing the depths of the depravity to which man may sink apart from the grace of God.” So I’ll spare you the rest of the details. But the irony here cannot be missed: The Levite avoided spending the night in a pagan town, only to find his own people just as evil as the pagans he feared.
Judges 19 is a sobering mirror for us today. Are we, as God’s people, a safe haven for others? Do people feel welcomed and valued in our churches and communities, regardless of their nationality, their ethnicity, or whether or not they happen to be Christians?
When we reject God, we risk reflecting the same brokenness of Gibeah.
Former Blackout Artist 