1) The 19th chapter of Judges begins our text.
a) At this time Israel had no centralized authority (the government was in a shambles).
b) Anarchy and injustice was the state of the nation.
2) In the latter part of verse 1 we find there was a man from the tribe of Levi living in some hill country.
3) The end of this verse says he took a “concubine” from Bethlehem.
4) “Concubine” may be thought of as a “lesser wife.”
5) The concubine became dissatisfied and left – verse 2 – READ
6) After a little time the wife was ready to go back with her husband.
7) Verse 9 – READ
8) The husband wanted to “get on the road.” Verse 10 – READ
a) They got to the city of Jerusalem – verses 10-11.
b) A servant was with the husband and wife and he suggested everyone stay in Jerusalem.
9) Verses 12-13 – READ
a) The couple, just like many travelers today, decided to keep going for a while.
b) They came to another place and decided to spend the night there – verse 15 – READ
10) An interesting statement is in this verse: “no man took them into his house to lodge.”
a) Travelers did not have access to the types of temporary lodging we have now.
b) Staying in Jerusalem was not safe.
11) This couple was finally approached by an old man – verse 16 – READ
a) Verse 17 – READ
b) At the end of verse 18 our travelers said to this fellow they had no place to stay.
12) Verse 19 says they had all the supplies they needed.
13) They lacked was a place to stay.
14) The old man said he would give these people all they needed; he said it was too dangerous to stay on the street.
15) Verse 20 – READ
a) After a time some people from the town came to visit.
b) One paraphrase refers to this group of visitors as “perverts.”
16) An event happened that was similar to the event involving Lot and the area of Sodom.
17) They had some plans for him that were vile – verse 22 – READ
18) The old man was a lot like Lot – he wanted to protect his house guests.
19) He Verse 23 – READ
20) Notice what we are told in 25a: READ
21) The rest of verse 25 says the wife (concubine) finally ended up outside the house.
22) This woman was treated very badly and finally killed.
23) The man took her back home but there was not a burial in the traditional sense of the word.
a) Verse 29 tells us the corpse of this wife was, in a sense, put forward for public viewing.
24) A key verse in this chapter is the last one – verse 30 – READ
a) People in Israel became aware of what had happened to this man’s wife.
b) Seeing the body of this woman stirred practically the entire nation to action.
25) Judg. 20:1-2, 3 – READ
a) The man in Judg. 19 got a first hand look at immorality; it affected his own family.
b) Immoral acts still bring great sadness to people.
26) A key point from Judg. 19, however, is this: God’s people responded to immorality.
27) Think of how our society regards immorality.
28) People have started to erase sin from their vocabulary.
29) We need to go back to the Bible and see how God defines sin.
a) We need to be the people who stand up in society and talk about immorality.
b) God is the moral judge of all people; morality is not judged by a poll.
c) It is not determined by a government, or from one generation to the next.
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