The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/judges/19.htm

Who loves a good horror story? Well, buckle up.

I’m not sure any modern day horror story can rival this. And I’ll just tell you the lesson I got from this at the onset, and not wait until the end. Now I don’t want my take on this to influence you; by all means, read it for yourself, pray about it, ask God for instruction and understanding.

Over the last 66 years of my life, there is one thing for certain; there is no one alive that is wholly and totally unbiased, completely objective. And for that reason, I find it difficult to trust man. Not that I have any reason for doubt, but salvation is the most important thing in our life, and if we get it wrong, we will perish. And again I say, I prefer to trust in the word of God than the word of man, so I continue to study the Bible, this time without any instruction or interpretation of man, who may not be totally accurate or truthful with their interpretation. And as such, I implore you not to listen to me either; read my opinions, then form your own based on your study. so, it is important that you work through the scriptures with God, rather than work through the scriptures with man. God will not deceive you, or lead you astray whereas man will.

I don’t mean to ramble, but I’m an old man and it comes natural to me; again I say, there was a pastor in the 19th Century who, when confronted with the facts that there is no eternal hell-fire, replied, “I know there is no hell, but if I don’t preach hellfire, I can’t fill my pews.”

Enough on that subject. Just read, try to keep in mind the mindset of the author, then read and study prayerfully.

Now the meaning of the story…before the story. I’ve come to believe that we are truly spoiled and we lead some pretty cush life. These same events occur today, but because of the population explosion, few of us are closely affected by it. But this story continues to tell about the great battle between good and evil, between God and Satan. Satan is still working overtime to draw God’s people away from Him, to conquer them, to kill them. He doesn’t care about us one iota, he is just trying to hurt God.

Imagine if you had a child abducted and killed. It would destroy you…you would grieve forever for your child, there would be a hole in your heart. It would take a remarkable person to forgive the evil person that took your child from you; to continue life without harboring any hate or ill feelings. Some people can, you read about heart-warming stories where, in court, the family members of a victim publicly forgive the person who killed their family member. But the reason you hear about it, is because it rarely happens. Most families of victims want revenge. They want the killer sentenced to death, or at the very least, to spend the rest of their lives in prison. Very few have the ability to forgive, as Jesus would.

This story tells the heartache that God goes through anytime His children are taken from Him, or worse, killed.

There is a Levite who lived in Ephraim, and he had taken a concubine from the land of Judah. Scripture says she became a harlot and ran away, going to her father’s house; I can only assume that she became promiscuous, and after having many “flings”, ran back to her father. Who knows why? Perhaps the Levite was cruel to her. Perhaps she didn’t like him or want to be with him. Or perhaps that was just her personality.

So the Levite persued her to her father’s house to reclaim her and after three days, in which I perceive the father was trying to delay his daughters departure, the Levite took his concumbine and headed home. When they came to Jerusalem, the Levites servant want to spend the night there, but the Levite refused, saying he would not stay with “foreigners”. This was partly due to the fact that the children of Israel had not ran everyone out of the land yet, and there were many travelers that stopped in Jerusalem on their journey. One of the reasons I was told that the land of Israel is so valuable, is because it is a direct route between the lands to the east (Persia, Syria, and others) and Africa to the west. There is desert on one side and mountains on the other, so the only easily passable route is through the heart of Israel.

In addition, by now, enough time had passed and the children of Israel had divided into their respective inheritances, that despite being cousins, they were not close, generations separating them.

So the Levite continued until he came to Gilead in the land of Benjamin. He and his party stopped in the town square, waiting for someone to take them in for the night, but no one would. In those days, hospitality was wealth, and you were expected to take in a stranger, to allow them to stay with you, to feed them and care for them.

Finally an old man returning home saw them, and invited them to stay at his house. But as they were there, several men of Benjamin came to the old man’s house, demanding he release the Levite so they could know him carnally, yes, sexually. Homosexuality was rampant in those days, and it was better to give a virgin daughter to allow the men to have their way with her than to allow homosexuality. So the man of the house offered his own daughter and the concubine instead, and the men of Benjamin, set on abusing the Levite and his servant, finally settled for the concubine.

And all night long, the men of Judah repeatedly raped and abuse the concubine. Yes, there are stories of gang-rape in the Bible to demonstrate just how evil Satan is, what lengths he will go to to promote and spread sin.

The next morning when the Levite came out of the house, he found his concubine dead on the threshold, raped and beaten so badly she had died.

Today things like that happen. We acknowledge them, we pray for the victim and their family, we pray that justice on the perpetrator is carried out, and we go on with ourl ives. Likely, a movie may be made about it, or a crime TV series makes a documentary about it, and life goes on.

The Levite didn’t take it so lightly. He was horrified and very, very angry. He didn’t wait for the “authorities” to do something about it (an there were no authorities in those days, no kings). So the Levite took a knife, and carved the dead concumbine into 12 pieces, then sent a piece to each of the 12 tribes of Israel as a way of saying, “Look at what the men of Benjamin have done!”

Can you imagine that evil that was in the land back then? Take into consideration that this was before Jesus came to earth and began his teachings. The children of Israel had no earthly appointed king to rule over them, their only king was God, and most had turned away from him, quite obviously.

But this story also shows what life is like without God. Many people have turned away from God, and that is why our lives a filled with unbelievers, and idolaters, and those who ignore the Sabbath, and adulterers, and murderers, and liars, and thieves. And some of the areas of this world, areas to which seldom of us are exposed, are extremely violent, to both extremes. There are evil wicked people persecuting Christians, and there are others working through the name of Allah to kill non-believers. We try to minister to and convert non-believers, those of the Islamic faith kill theirs.

So, the story is very graphic, but sometimes you have to be graphic to get the point of the story across.

Pray for our nation. Pray for this world. If people return to Christ, this world will be a less violent world. The battle is real, and it is still ongoing.

Amen.