Can someone please help me understand what went on with the levite and his concubine

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tat2ed

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#1
#1
The story (can be found in judges 19) just didn't sit right with me. why did he sacrifice her to those "worthless men" then cut her up and send her to all the other tribes? maybe someone can elaborate on that for me i know there is probably some lesson or significance to the story. Maybe I'm focusing on the wrong parts i don't know. Could someone kindly break it down for me
 
JimJimmers

JimJimmers

Senior Member
#2
Apr 26, 2012
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The way I see it, all of them behaved wrongly. The Bible says that every man was just doing what he thought was right during that period, and a lot of them made poor decisions. They fought against their brothers the Benjaminites, and the whole thing was a mess.

That was the lesson I got out of it. Seek God's will, and don't just decide you're going to go do something rash.
 
phil36

phil36

Senior Member
#5
Feb 12, 2009
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There seemed to be lawlessness in Israel, hospitality and protection of ones guest wa a matter of honour (compare Genesis 19). The concubine was already dead and the man cut her up and sent her over Israel to display the crime that had been committed in Israel.... yet the suprisingly thing is, this man is as guilty as those who killed her...did he try and protect her..no! He was more interested in preserving himself.. the same as the old man who took them in..he was more interested in cultural hospitality..
 
Bookends

Bookends

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#6
Aug 28, 2012
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Heh, the bible doesn't air brush anything. Back then women were looked down upon as worthless. So the men used the women to save themselves, I assume maybe they were drunk somewhat. After the concubine was already dead the Levite cut her up. He sent the body parts to the 12 tribes to stir up their emotions in rage, so that a battle of revenge could take place. Other then that I don't know of any other lesson or significance.
 
Shilo

Shilo

Senior Member
#7
Aug 31, 2011
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The story is important because when something is some what repeated in the Bible both must be looked at for what makes them the same and what makes them different. This story in judges and the story in Genesis of lot and his 2 daughters. Lot would have given his 2 daughter if not for the Angels
 
H

Hungry

Banned
#8
Nov 26, 2012
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This is my take. It starts out the concubine "played the whored against him" and ran away. Not exactly a love story. He went to pick her up and bring her back home. I get the idea that the women were property and he didn't seem to have an emotional attachment to the girl. It's not a fable. It's a record of how without God and accountability just how depraved and debased mankind can be. Horrible things still happen around the world like this. I read that when New Orleans flooded there was mass rapes done to the defenseless children in the superdome while they waited for help for days. Some evil just requires mass cleansing, which is how the story ends.
 
4enlightment

4enlightment

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#9
May 15, 2013
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tat2ed said:
The story (can be found in judges 19) just didn't sit right with me. why did he sacrifice her to those "worthless men" then cut her up and send her to all the other tribes? maybe someone can elaborate on that for me i know there is probably some lesson or significance to the story. Maybe I'm focusing on the wrong parts i don't know. Could someone kindly break it down for me
Click to expand...
That is how the people of them times had handle certain matters. The Benjamites has violated the covenant of God by defiling a man and his concubine and which they weren't neighborly. But the concubine's people has shown hospitality towards the man like in the parable about the Good Samaritan, but when the man had came to his own they has rejected and defiling them as the people of Sodom. So the man wanted to get the public attention about what has happened on his return to his town. According to the laws that if anyone has violated the covenant should be cut apart as the animals were cut apart in the blood convenant of God. So the man was letting God and Israel know that someones has violated the convenant.




A man has set himself on fire outside the parliament building in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
He shouted anti-government slogans before pouring fuel on his clothes and setting himself alight, witnesses said.
BBC News - Man sets himself on fire in Cairo protest
 
RedTent

RedTent

Banned
#10
Oct 31, 2011
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This story is very like the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, except the men who wanted a homosexual encounter were of the tribe of Benjamin, they were only a generation away from Joshua. The Levite and the concubine had been given shelter for the night when the Benjamites demanded the Levite for their pleasure. Because women were not properly respected, the concubine and the daughter of the host were given them instead. We aren't told what happened to the daughter, but we are told about the concubine.

When the Levite cut up the body, he was acting in an immoral way. This entire story is an illustration of how immoral the Hebrews had become. All the other tribes insisted the Benjamites punish the men responsible. When they refused, there was a war with the Benjamites, with the tribe of Benjamin almost wiped out.
 
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nathan3

Guest
#11
#11
tat2ed said:
The story (can be found in judges 19) just didn't sit right with me. why did he sacrifice her to those "worthless men" then cut her up and send her to all the other tribes? maybe someone can elaborate on that for me i know there is probably some lesson or significance to the story. Maybe I'm focusing on the wrong parts i don't know. Could someone kindly break it down for me
Click to expand...
If you want to have a closer look at those events then this study into Judges , and Chapter 19 can help ::

>>>>> judges <<<<<
 
R

RachelBibleStudent

Guest
#12
#12
it is important to notice that -nobody- in this story is praised for doing right...not the levite...not his host...not the tribes of israel...not the tribe of benjamin...nobody...

the point of the story is to show how corrupt the israelites had become just one generation after joshua...
 
B

Beckon

Guest
#13
#13
(YOUR ASK)
Can someone please help me understand what went on with the levite and his concubine
The story (can be found in judges 19) just didn't sit right with me. why did he sacrifice her to those "worthless men"

(BECKON"S RESPONSE)
How many have volunteer for God to use them as God sees fit? The Spirit has told many times, "I use the willing to do my bidding, for what ever they are willing to do weather Positive Or Negative, them I will correct their negative way & reward their positiveness. Such is why it is written, Vengeance is mine saith The Lord! God has had (& has) many volunteers through out this Spiritual birthing program God uses to draw the negative minded to repent. One cannot spill innocent life/blood with out receiving God Spiritual Correction. There appear to be 2 ways, one, Jesus' 4 Love teaching, and the other way is parable to Jesus' saying, any without sin (sin equal, being separated in 1 or more ways, for The Spirit Of Eternal Truth) cast the 1st death stone. Again, God's ways are not humans physical minded ways. Parable, we are all descendants of the murder Cain. As such we are Spirits going through a fiery birthing process to burn the negative/murder out of the willing, especially they who like Jesus realized the way home is to follow The Spirit Of Eternal Truth that is within all who are, whose name (nature & character) were written in God's book of life from (before) the beginning of this program...


Remember "GOD is All, so who in the physical flesh & physical mind can comprehend God, respectfully "IT"S ways, It's Spirit Of Eternal Truth, as set forth in (Eden),the beginning of this (so called) creation program, that starts with a promise that takes the willing through the birthing canal (process) as 1st stated in Genesis 1:27, "THE IMAGE" of The Spirit Of Eternal Truth/Christ, but still lacking in The Spirit Of Eternal Truth/Christ's likeness, as prophesied in Genesis 1:26 God's (God's likeness) plain for any who follow The Spirit Of Eternal Truth into all/All's Truth, parable as Jesus, who was (as we all were) from the beginning of this program...

Believe it or not, but we who are, are the seed of the Knowing, Living, Spirit Of Eternal Truth, & (It) there is where we all come from, & will return, through what mankind falsely calls death, as there is no death, only being called home...

(YOU SAY)
then cut her up and send her to all the other tribes? maybe someone can elaborate on that for me i know there is probably some lesson or significance to the story. Maybe I'm focusing on the wrong parts i don't know. Could someone kindly break it down for me.

(Beckon)
Again, we who are, were in God's foreknowledge before this program & are called to become 1 with the mind/knowledge of God as Jesus lived & taught by KEEPING The Spirit Of Eternal Truth, that is within (all who are) within, FIRST & FOREMOST, above all others, from religions, family, friends...
Other words they historically wronged, may be God's volunteers (parable to Jesus), or like the branch on a vine that a Garner (God) trims back, so that the Spiritual Genetic Line may be correct in order that the line might produce its God mind/head...

Allthings work to gather for God's will that none be lost, God's plain for creation
God willing latter, Beckon
 
P

presidente

Senior Member
#14
May 29, 2013
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#14
tat2ed said:
The story (can be found in judges 19) just didn't sit right with me. why did he sacrifice her to those "worthless men" then cut her up and send her to all the other tribes? maybe someone can elaborate on that for me i know there is probably some lesson or significance to the story. Maybe I'm focusing on the wrong parts i don't know. Could someone kindly break it down for me
Click to expand...
This tell part of the history of Israel, and the story of what happened to the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe Saul would come from.

A Levite's concubine either committed adultery or else quarreled with him, depending on the textual variant. She went back to her father.

What was a concubine? I've read that Hebrew concubine was a slave woman taken as wife. They were legitimate wives and had the legal rights of wives, as I understand it. They weren't prostitutes.

The concubine's husband went to her father's house to collect her. The father kept insisting they wait another day before leaving, until finally the man left kind of late one day. So they go to this town in Benjamin where there were some violent sexually wicked men, reminiscent of the men of Sodom.

They want to rape the Levite which is wrong on so many levels 1) It's rape (or aggravated sodomy). 2) It's a homosexual act. 3) It is a violation of a righteous understanding of hospitality. 4) The man was a Levite, a tribe set apart for the Lord which must have made the story that much more shocking.

So the Levite doesn't want to get raped. He offers his wife. The story does not endorse his behavior, but does report it. She basically gets raped to death.

A man reading the story might think I know why he threw her out to them. He was upset about the adultery and thought if she was an adulterous anyway, let them have her. Or if you go with the quarreling textual variant, you might think that was his reasoning. A woman reading the story might say no wonder she cheated on him or quarreled with him or ran away to her father's house if he treated her like that.

The man is upset that he hacks her body up and mails the parts to leaders throughout Israel to get their attention, along with the story which conveniently leaves out the part about the Levite offering the woman to the violent perverts.

Some lessons to learn in the story are about sin in the camp and accountability. Since the men sinned, the city should have offered them over to Israel for punishment. It refused. Benjamin should have insisted the city turn the men over or attacked it itself. It refused and chose to defend the city. Because of this, Israel had to inflict harsh casualties on the Benjamites who were unrelenting and unrepentant of their sin.

There are lessons here to be learn about God's judgment and church discipline. God did tell the Israelites to attack Benjamin.
 
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