After Samson, Israel had no king and the people did as they saw fit. A man named Micah had taken silver from his mother and returned it to her, which she then had made into an idol. Then Micah took a young Levite into his home to be a priest for him.
The Danites still had not been able to conquer the people possessing the lands of their inheritance. (Joshua 19:40-48 Mar 12) The Danites sent 5 warriors to find a place to take. They came to Micah's town and stayed with Micah. They recognized his priest and asked him to ask God whether their journey would be successful. They went to a Laish, a town that seemed to have it all. They returned to report this and gathered an army and went to possess the new town. On the way they persuaded the priest in Micah's house to come with them and be their priest, suggesting that it would be better to be priest over a tribe rather than just one household. Micah was mad, but he couldn't win against them. The Danites attacked the unsuspecting people in Laish, killed them and rebuilt the city which they named Dan. The priest's name was Jonathan, son of Gershom, the son of Moses. They continued to use the idols that Micah had made and continued as priests for the Danites. The house of God (tabernacle) was in Shiloh. I wondered where it was and why it hasn't been mentioned in a while.
I was surprised to learn that some concubines were wives of a lower stature than a full-on wife. I thought they were just women the men fancied and kept - like property (some of them were.) It had something to do with the bride-price or dowry not being exchanged, sort of a low-cost wife. They were not accorded the same preferential treatment that wives enjoyed, but their children, born on the wife's lap were considered legitimate. Anyway, 'twas the Levite and his concubine that stirred up the Israelites. The Levite and his wife (concubine) went to Gibeah in Benjamin and waited in the town square to be invited to stay with someone as was the custom. Finally, in the evening an old man found them there without a place to stay and invited them to his house. Just like in Genesis 19:1-8 (Jan 6), some men of the town came and pounded on the old man's door to let them have sex with the Levite. He said he had a virgin daughter or the man had a concubine they could have, but not to do such a disgraceful thing to the man. So the man gave them his concubine and they raped her and abused her all night. At dawn they let her go. She made it to the door and collapsed. In the morning when the Levite was ready to be on his way he opened the door, found her there and realized she was dead. He put her body on his donkey and went home to Bethlehem. When he got home he cut her body into 12 parts and sent the parts all over Israel. Whoever saw it was horrified that such a terrible sin was committed in Israel.
All Israel, except Benjamin, rose up as if they were one man and assembled before the Lord. All the leaders took their places with 400,000 soldiers armed with swords. They came to Bethlehem to the home of the Levite and wanted an explanation. He related the events as they happened and why he divided his concubine into 12 pieces and sent them all over Israel. Everyone knew they had to take a stand against this sin occuring in Gibeah, and they planned what to do.
Tomorrow finish Judges and read Ruth 1-2:13
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