I Wish I Went to Jebus Part I

“And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.” Judges 19:30

As was true for the children of Israel then, it is true today for us. We need to consider what is going on around us: in our hearts, homes, communities, states and nation. Once we consider such matters, we should find good counsel and take advice; that means we must carefully listen. Then of course, after we’ve considered and listened, we must speak our mind, but as Christians, we do so with compassion and understanding, lest we find ourselves tested in the same way. Otherwise, we cannot afford silence. Silence is a blessing in a world at peace, but not so in times of lawlessness, and our silence is the consequence of our fears.

Such were the times of the Levite who dwelled in Mount Ephraim. Unlike the Levite who took up residence with Micah (Judges 18), this man was a good man, who performed his duties in the temple in Shiloh. He had taken a woman as his concubine (a wife to whom he could offer no endowment), but she cheated on him and ran back to her father who lived in Bethlehem-Judah. If she had done that when Moses or Joshua were alive, she would have been executed for her adultery (Leviticus 20:10). That would have certainly have happened in the time of Moses, when men were selected and placed as chiefs over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens (Exodus 18:21) to ensure the law was kept and disputes were wisely settled. However, in this time, there was no king in Israel, which meant there was no magistrates who kept the law; everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Truly it was an antinomian period; a time when people were opposed to observing or keeping any moral laws. Indeed, I would say that Israel was much like Las Vegas today. You could pretty well do much of anything, but if you think you can leave that baggage there, you are sadly mistaken; that is, if you have a conscience.

As for the father who took his daughter back into his home, what would you expect in a time when there was no keeping of the law? There was no threat of civil enforcement at that time, which would have placed the father at risk for harboring a law breaker. I’m a father of daughters, and I don’t know if I would have turned them over to the authorities if they sought to prosecute one of them. I do know, that as the father of this young woman, I would have been glad to see the Levite come to the door; showing and speaking forgiveness to her. That would have been the Old Testament Christian thing to do; not to cast the first stone. You can even say that the demonstration of his sincerity was shown in the fact that he hung around and enjoyed the father’s company for a few days. Usually, those who are false in their forgiveness, are looking for a quick exit because they really do detest you. What is the loudest and most hurtful thing in the world? A false smile.

Anyway, after staying a little longer and later in the day than he should have, the Levite finally grew impatient and wanted to go home. I can’t fault him for that. When we have business at home; work to do, we can only tarry so long in a strange place. Of course, for those who have no business or work, they’ll hang around forever. Nonetheless, the Levite, his wife and a servant start out for Shiloh; not Mount Ephraim. He was presumably going to the temple in Shiloh to offer a sin and peace offering for his wife. Now that is really cool. Here the Levite not only forgives her, but desires her reconciliation with God. That’s what a husband ought to do, isn’t that right ladies?

Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out. Because they started out late, it soon became dark, and they needed to find a place to spend the night. Keep in mind folks that we’re not talking about well lit streets and byways; nor a Motel 6 on every other corner. It was really dark and wild animals potentially lurked behind every tree or rock formation. The Levite’s servant recommended that they stop in Jebus, which was later named Jerusalem, but at that time, Jebus was under the control of the Jebusites (go figure, Jebus; Jebusites). The Levite wasn’t willing to go there; not because he was fearful, but they weren’t his people. We all know how that goes. We want to be with our people. As a result, they went a little farther and stayed in Gibeah, which was occupied by Israelites of the tribe of Benjamin. There, they settled down in the city street, until an old man, returning from work in the fields, saw them and invited them to stay at his place. The old man, who happened to be from Mount Ephraim where the Levite lived, truly showed his compassion and generosity. Even though the Levite had provisions for his wife, servant and animals, the old man took care of it all. Matthew Henry observed of this old man that he demonstrated true Christian love by seizing upon the opportunity to show kindness. His kindness was not insisted upon, as some of us today feel as if we must beg for help when we’re out in the street. No, what the old man offered was freely extended, without reservation or forethought; even as God freely offers; if not insisting upon His elect, to invite us in because we really don’t know what lays out there.

The men of Gibeah were as evil as those of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Levite soon discovered that he would have been better off in Jebus. I’m not going to go into the details; you can read that for yourselves in Judges 19 (Part II of this blog will cover Judges 20 tomorrow.) Suffice it to say, we can never know what can happen within our close and extended families, especially where there is no provision for law and enforcement.  When husbands are not husbands; fathers are not fathers; our police; city, state and Federal representatives and elected officials do not lead to enforce the law and protect the people, we are all on the verge of Gibeah. However, this story wasn’t just about the men of Gibeah; they were an extreme reflection of all that went wrong in Israel, except that what those men did was so bad, heinous; something had to be done, but that is not to suggest that anyone did altogether right in this story. The old man was wrong when he offered his daughter to the men of Gibeah to satisfy their lust. However, presented in the light of what the Gibeah men did, his act was perversely noble; appearing good, but isn’t that how we attempt to mediate our own sin? By comparing ours to someone else’s sin that is far worse?

The Levite was also wrong for offering his wife. As you’ll read, she was found the next morning sexually and physically abused, dead at the front door. What kind of man was the Levite really? At one point, loving and considerate; the next? I had the sense when I read the story that he actually slept that night, and I was ashamed in the way he initially treated her the next morning. It’s like I heard him say, ‘Come on, get up; we have to go,’ before he saw that she was dead. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t sleep through the night knowing any one that I said that I cared for was being abused. In the dark of night, clear sky and a small city, how could he not have heard her screams in terror?

Well, I suppose that we all have to live with our shame; our silence, unless by God’s grace we know His forgiveness and Christ’s righteousness. Otherwise, I suspect we will go through life like the Levite, saying, ‘I wish I went to Jebus.’