Judges 19 Devotional

Darkness Without a King

Among the darkest chapters in Scripture, this one opens by noting that Israel had no king (19:1). A Levite retrieves his concubine and, preferring an Israelite town to a foreign one, presses on to Gibeah, where only an old man takes them in (19:12-21). The town's men surround the house and demand the Levite, much as the men of Sodom once did (Genesis 19:4-5). The host offers his daughter and the concubine instead, and the Levite forces her outside. She is abused all night and collapses at the door. His only words to her are an order to get up, and she does not answer (19:25-28).

The text names this evil without softening it, and so must we. An Israelite town acts like Sodom, and a husband saves himself by handing over his wife. Scripture does not look away from her suffering, and it calls hearers to consider it and speak (19:30). The answer to such darkness is Christ, the husband who gave himself up for his bride, the church (Ephesians 5:25).

To think about: Is there a wrong around you that God's Word is calling you to see clearly and speak about rather than look away from?