Judges 19:27-30 – Act and live right and harvest right

Caring not for the safety of his concubine, the Levite left her to fend for her own life. Nowhere in this passage did he show any concern for what happened to her, not even the least bit. One wonders how he could have slept peacefully that night? How could his conscience remain so unperturbed? His couldn’t care less attitude could not have been developed overnight, could it? For him to reach this stage meant that his present lifestyle and attitude had been developed through a series of impropriety over time. The same can be said of the rowdy mob. It is impossible to believe that they just became so disorderly at the spur of the moment. What we see in the attitude of the Levite and the mob underscore for us the need to examine our lives more carefully. We need to pause periodically before the Lord for a time of introspection. Like David, we need to constantly pray Psalm 139:23-24:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.                     

The Levite literary threw his concubine under the bus. He left her at the mercy of the unruly mob, who gang-raped her the whole night. They abused her unabashedly. This once supposedly godly community had become so shamefully unrecognizable. Here was hedonism personified. Everyone simply indulged and took debauchery to its height. Each man took his turn to satisfy his own lust. As daybreak neared, and they were finished with the concubine, she was also almost finished. Left to struggle home she finally collapsed at the doorstep. How did the Benjamites become so beastly? This could only be the result of a developed sinful lifestyle. They had stayed so disconnected with God and His word for so long that they were oblivious to the sinful development in their lives. Sin became so ingrained in each life so insidiously. The mindset became like that only because they did not take time to know the word of God. Their conscience had not been rightly and carefully cultivated with the Word of God.  

These words in Judges 19:27 that says “When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way,” tells us that the Levite was not even the least bit concerned for his concubine. It was as if he had the intention to leave her behind in whatever state she had become. He only did something when he saw her cold and lifeless body lying at the doorstep and couldn’t respond to him. He calmly picked her up, saddled her on his donkey and left for the hill country of Ephraim. Verse 29 says, “When he entered his house, he took a knife and laid hold of his concubine and cut her in twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.” He wouldn’t have done this to her if he had even a little compassion for her. Obviously, he did not love her. She was an object to satisfy his hurt ego. How sad!

The Levite had shown his cowardice. He was so self-centred that he cared only for his life and personal pride. What he did to his concubine was to incite the community to take pity on him and seek revenge on his behalf. Come to think of it, all these did not take place long after Joshua went off the scene. Sadly, these took place shortly after his death. All these were described to tell us the depth of the people’s depravity. The whole community was morally depraved. The concubine’s harlotry caused her to end up sexually abused. The Levite sacrificed his concubine to save himself. It caused the life of his concubine. His intended journey to seek reconciliation with her became a futile journey. He ended up with nothing. The law of reciprocity is true. We always reap what we sow. Check the seeds we are sowing if we don’t like the crop we are harvesting.