Judges 19

[Sis. Sarah]

I have been reading in Judges of late and read chapter 19 last night. What do you all suppose the meaning of the concubine was in this chapter? Why do you think her father was referred to as Ephraim's father-in-law and Ephraim was referred to as her husband? Could a man be husband unto someone other than a wife?

 

[Scarlett O.]

I am reading the Chronological Bible and just got through reading the book of Judges a few weeks ago.

What I am about to tell you is strictly my opinion.

The concubine has no meaning to her life.....no symbolism in her death. The story is what it is. Ugly. Vicious. Cruel.

There are many stories in the bible of many people, even God's people, who do things that are ugly and senseless. Just because these stories are in the bible does not make the actions of the participants ordained by God or condoned by God.

The book of Judges is full of brutality, vile behavior, and bloody deeds. In between judges and even while ruled by some of the judges the people acted with no spiritual sense at all. In fact, Judges ends with the statement that there was no king and everyone was doing right in his own eyes.

In Judges 19, the people are in between judges and have no king. This passage is a prime example of people doing what is right in their own eyes.

• The Levite thought it was perfectly fine to "shack up" with a woman and not marry her and in the end toss her out to most evil of men for their pleasure.
• The concubine (or handmaid as she was called in verse 19) thought it was perfectly fine to be unfaithful to him and go to live with her father.
• Her father thought is was perfectly alright to act inhospitably to the Levite by continuing to lie each morning about when he could leave.
• The old man who gave them lodging on their way back home thought it was perfectly alright to give up his own daughter and this Levite's concubine to the Benjamites beating on the door.
• The Benjamites, who were of the tribes of Israel, thought it was perfectly alright to descend into moral depravity.

I have heard people say that she represents what happens to people when they stray from God and His love for them. I have heard people say that the Levite represents God and she represents God's people.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Levite man did not love this woman who was called his concubine or he would have married her. And he would not have thrown her out to those immoral men in his place. They wanted to commit homosexual acts with him. He threw out his girlfriend instead.

After she is sexually abused all night long by a crowd of men and crawls back in the morning to the threshold of the door, she dies. When he find her the next morning, he doesn't tend to her wounds or pick her up to see about her. He simply says, "Get up! Let's go!"

It isn't until he sees that she is dead that he gets mad. He doesn't grieve or mourn.....he gets mad that she is dead. He didn't care that she was abused, he had no hesitation in throwing her out the door to take his abuse for him. He is angry that she is dead.

God loves us and did not put us on a cruel cross. He put His own Son there in our place. He did not throw us out the front door to face the evil that we could not overcome, but He sent Jesus to conquer it for us. God doesn't get angry when we suffer. He mourns for us and Jesus makes intercession for us and the Holy Spirit groans utterances for us that we cannot understand and pleads with words when we do not know what to say.

This is not a picture of God and His people.

It isn't a picture of anything.

It's just a historical reference outlining how wicked God's people had become and were in desperate need of repentance and submission to the Holiness of God.

 

[menageriekeeper]

Scarlett has it exactly!

 

[canadyjd]

It isn't a picture of anything.

Scarlett, I appreciate everything you said above and agree with you.

While reading this I rememebered an episode of the Simpsons (I know I am in big trouble now:laugh: ) where the Simpson family is trying to figure out the meaning of bible stories and Homer finally says, "It doesn't mean anything. It's just a bunch of stuff that happened to people a long time ago".

Sorry, it made me remember and just struck me as funny.

peace to youraying:

 

[Bro. Williams]

On the Father in law and husband thing... for one, it was mount Ephraim, I don't think the Levites name was mentioned (it took me a second to figure that out as well). On the calling him husband and father-in-law, Take the example of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid. She is given to Jacob as wife in Gen. 30:4, but in Gen 35:22 when Reuben goes in unto her, she is referred to as a concubine again.

I know most dislike the Webster's 1828, but it is useful for such cases.

Webster's 1828 Dictionary [A-J]
concubine
CONCUBINE, n. L., to lie together, to lie down.

1. A woman who cohabits with a man, without the authority of a legal marriage; a woman kept for lewd purposes; a kept mistress.

2. A wife of inferior condition; a lawful wife, but not united to the man by the usual ceremonies, and of inferior condition. Such were Hagar and Keturah, the concubines of Abraham; and such concubines were allowed by the Roman laws.

David Clouds Way of Life Encyclopedia expounds similar:

Way of Life Encyclopedia
CONCUBINE
Wives of lower status than ordinary wives. Some O.T. men had concubines (Ge 25:6; 35:22; Jg 8:31; 2Sa 5:13; 1Ki 11:3; 2Ch 11:21). This was never God's will, though. It has always been God's will for one man to have one wife (Ge 2:20-25; Mt 19:4-6). God told Israel that kings must not have many wives (De 17:17). Those who did were disobeying God in that particular matter, even though some were godly men. David is a key example. He multiplied wives to himself in spite of God's command against this, but his lust also brought him into terrible grief.


Next:
American Tract Society Dictionary
CONCUBINE
A term which, in modern authors, commonly signifies a woman who, without being married to a man, lives with him as his wife; but in the Bible the word concubine is understood in another sense-meaning a lawful wife, but of a secondary rank. She differed from a proper wife in that she was not married by solemn stipulation, but only betrothed; she brought no dowry with her, and had no share in the government of the family. She was liable to be repudiated, or sent away with a gift, Ge 21:14, and her children might be treated in the same way, and not share in their father's inheritance, Ge 25:6. On cause of concubinage is shown in the history of Abraham and Jacob, Ge 16:16.

Hope this helps.

 

[Bro. Williams]

To further the conversation, although I am not in disagreement with Scarlett on her expounding, I would caution to say that "it isn't a picture of anything" is a bit to definite. I do not intend for this to be a rude statement, I just feel that such a given statement is a little too narrow. I do not beleive that was how she meant it though.

We learn from I Cor. 10 that the OT is for ensamples to us, written for our admonition. I think the summation that,

Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

 

[Sis. Sarah]

Concubine

I see the concubine as the nature of the flesh that is bound to the law. It is not the wife but it is still bound by the law so man(kind) is its husband, or ruler. And the men in this story are what men (mankind) are when they are without grace, the Love of God. They want to rule over the flesh and they want to use, abuse and rule over others in using and abusing the Law (and flesh) to their pleasure. They will quickly throw it out to the wolves though when they are frightened and then when they see that their benefits (such as the concubine here) are wasted, they will then destroy what they have lost by throwing the remains, guilt upon the ones they have given in to for their own preservation. Yes, I believe the men in this chapter are just men acting as men do today. And the woman in the story who was not a wife of the inheretance represents those who are bound by the Law to a husband of the lust and flesh of this world only. The true Bride of Christ is loved by Him and She is married to Him by His Grace because He died for Her on the cross.