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Transcript 216A — The Spiritual Significance of Judges 19
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Brother Camping, I believe you told a caller that you'd attempt to speak on the spiritual significance of Judges 19. And I've been anxiously waiting to hear that. And I also have another one that I'd like to hear your comment on, and it's Judges 11:30-40, about Jephthah's daughter.
HC: Well, tonight let's just talk about Judges 19, and then another day we'll talk about Jephthah, because you really don't realize what a big order this Judges 19 is.
CALLER: Okay. Thank you very much
HC: Thank you. Good night.
The question is raised concerning this interesting passage in Judges 19. And I'd like to spend the next little while on this because I did study this since last week, and I had studied it previously, and I've tried to bring some ideas together, to see if we couldn't be blessed by what the Bible declares.
Now we read in Mark 4 that whenever Christ brought the Gospel, He spoke in parables, and "without a parable He did not speak." And since Christ is Eternal God, and God is the author of the Bible, therefore we can expect that while God gives us much historical information that is record of events that actually did occur, we can expect that there must be deeper spiritual significance that must be found from these historical events, even as when Christ, for example, did a miracle. That miracle actually happened, but there was deep and rich spiritual significance connected with that miracle. In other words, through that miracle He is teaching us something about the nature or the very essence of what salvation is.
Well, let's look at Judges 19 for a bit, and see if we can discover some spiritual truth connected with it. Now again let me just very quickly outline the story. In the days when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite. And he took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
Now a concubine was the equivalent of a wife. A concubine, in certain instances, did not have quite the rights of a wife. She was even called a half wife. She was on a lower status than an ordinary wife. But in other places in the Bible a concubine is looked upon as really the equivalent of a wife. We think, for example, of the two concubines that Jacob married. He married Leah and Rachel, but he also took on two concubines. And their sons had equal inheritance with the sons of Rachel and Leah. So a concubine effectively is a wife.
Now his concubine played the harlot, and she went back to her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah, and was there for four whole months. And then, after four whole months, her husband went to Bethlehem and spoke kindly to her, and was reconciled to her, and spent 5 days in the house of her father, in Bethlehem. He tried to leave on the third day, but his father-in-law constrained him to stay a fourth day. And on the fourth day he wanted to leave, but his father-in-law constrained him. But finally on the fifth day, late in the afternoon, he left Bethlehem.
Now Bethlehem is located about seven or eight miles south of Jerusalem. And he is leaving Bethlehem close to evening time. And he's heading back up toward Ephraim, the land of Ephraim, which was his homeland. And then we see the interesting information that when they arrived opposite Jerusalem he would not go there, because that was occupied by strangers, "Let us not spend the night in Jerusalem." Now this is strange because in Judges 1 we read that, in verse 21, "The people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who dwelt in Jerusalem. So the Jebusites have dwelt with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day." And so there were people of Israel dwelling in Jerusalem.
But here we find the strange language that they would not lodge in Jerusalem, even though that was a logical city to lodge in. But the reason is that it's a city of strangers, of foreigners. And we don't want to lodge there. And so they went up north a little bit farther, to Gibeah. And when they came to Gibeah, it's nighttime now. And they sat down in the square of the city, and no one gave them any lodging.
Now the interesting thing that's emphasized here is that they're going with a couple of saddled asses, in verse 10, and the concubine, and a servant. In other words, we have this little company that leaves Bethlehem. the Levite from Ephraim, with his concubine, with his servant, and two saddled asses. That's the entourage that leaves Bethlehem and now comes into Gibeah.
And then in verse 16 it speaks about an old man, who came from his work in the field. It was evening. He also was a sojourner from the land of Ephraim. He was sojourning in Gibeah. And he talked to this Levite and invited him into his home. Now the emphasis in verse 16 is that this was the land of the Benjaminites. The people of the city of Gibeah were of the tribe of Benjamin.
Then we also have the interesting statement that the Levite says in verse 19, to the old man, who is inviting them into his home, "We have straw and provender for our asses, with bread and wine for me and your maidservant, and the young man with your servants. There is no lack of anything." Interesting statement. They have everything that they need as they go into this old man's house.
Well, then, in the old man's house they were fed, and they ate and drank, and they washed their feet. Okay. Then the tragedy occurs. As they are spending their night together, the wicked people of the city, of the tribe of Benjamin, surround the house. And they say:
"Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him. And the master of the house said, 'No, my brethren. Do not act so wickedly. Seeing that this man has come into my house do not do this vile thing. Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine [that is, the concubine of my visitor]. Let me bring them out now. Ravish them, and do with them what seems good to you. But against this man do not do so vile a thing.' But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine [now as near as we can tell it's the man of the house that seized the concubine and put her out to them] and they knew her, and abused her all night until the morning.
"As the dawn began to break, they let her go. And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was until it was light. And her master rose up in the morning. And when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go out on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, 'Get up. Let us be going.' But there was no answer. [She had been killed. She had died because of the ill treatment by the wicked men of the city.] And so he put her on his ass and took her home. And then he cut her up into twelve pieces and sent one piece into each of the tribes of Israel, to indicate the dreadful thing that had been done."
Now there's the story, the tragedy. It's a terrible thing. It's a blot on the nation of Israel that God has recorded for us. Why did God put this in the Bible? Well now, the first thing in studying this, we notice a stark similarity to the events that occurred at the time that Lot was ready to leave Sodom and Gomorrah.
Let's go back there for just a moment, to Genesis 1-9. The two angels have come into the house of Lot in Sodom, and we notice here that they are going to spend the night. And notice the reference to washing your feet, in verse 2. "My lords, turn aside, I pray you, to your servant's house, and spend the night. And wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go your way." And so in verse 3 of Genesis 19, "They entered his house, ant he made them a feast, and he baked unleavened bread, and they ate."
But then we have the same tragedy developing. "Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people, to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot: 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them.'" The same kind of language, you see. They wanted to know this Levite in Judges 19. That is, they wanted to have despicable sexual relationships with this man, and eventually to kill him.
"Bring them out to us that we may know them." Lot went out to the men and shut the door after him and said, "I beg you, my brothers. Do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them as you please." The same strange offer. The man of the house in Judges 19 said, "Look, I have my virgin daughter, and here's this concubine of our visitor. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you please." The same strange offer.
Now in Genesis 19 it didn't develop quite the same way, because the two men in the house were angels, and they brought Lot back in the house, and then they struck the wicked people outside with blindness, so that they actually were not able to ravish either of Lot's daughters.
Now we know, of course, that the event in Lot's case was a figure of the situation that prevailed on earth at the time that Christ returns, because the rescue of Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah is a type of the coming of Christ. We read about this in Luke 17. In Luke 17 it says, "Remember Lot's wife. Then there will be two men in the field. One will be taken, and the other will be left." And so on. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was a figure of Judgment Day. And the rescue of Lot was a figure of the rapture, really. And the conduct of the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah was indicative of the condition, the spiritual condition of the world, just prior to Christ's coming, that the world that surrounds the church, which in Sodom and Gomorrah was composed only of the family of Lot, wants to destroy it. It wants to play the harlot with it, and it wants to destroy it in so doing. This is the picture that we get from Genesis 19.
Therefore we suspect that Judges 19 is also giving us a picture condition in the world at the time that Christ returns, because of this similarity in the two events, of Genesis: l9 and Judges 19.
Let's see if we can develop this just a little bit. Now first of all, it begins with this Levite and his concubine. And of course we immediately think of the intimate relationship between God and the believers. Now the concubine plays the harlot. And Israel in the Old Testament, of course, did play the harlot with God. God came to Israel and did everything for Israel. He looked upon Israel as His wife. And yet Israel played the harlot. And so there was a period when there was an estrangement between God and Israel, a long period of time, when there was no vision, when Israel had gone into subjugation by the Babylonians and by the Assyrians.
But then God came to Israel to renew the relationship. And that of course was in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And where was this contact made? It was in the city of Bethlehem, wasn't it? Christ became flesh in Bethlehem. This is where He was born. And it is from Bethlehem that we have the beginning of the new covenant, when Christ really has become identified with His church. He's always been identified with His body, of course, in the Old Testament, too. But Christ has become identified with His church in a far more glorious way than ever before.
Now here it says that after four months . . . now four months is 120 days, and actually, in the Hebrew, the term four whole months is actually day-month. It has the word "day" right in the phrase, to indicate four whole months. So 120 days is in the fullness of time. The number 12 is the fullness of something. In the fullness of time Christ came, and He provided reconciliation between Himself and those who would believe on Him, those who are the true Israel.
And so we see, therefore, the picture here of five days of glorious rejoicing in the father's house, here in Bethlehem. They're eating and drinking and rejoicing. And there is total happiness here. What does the five represent? Well, the five represents God's grace. Again and again in the Bible the number five represents God's grace. We could try to speculate a little bit more here. And in a sense, whenever we are trying to understand the spiritual significance of a passage, we must recognize that we are speculating just a little bit. But we're doing it based upon figures that the Bible itself uses. And as we go along, we can see whether it will indeed hold water.
Well, he remained three days, and then wanted to leave. The number three signifies that God has spoken. Three times Jesus said, "Father, remove this cup." And that was the answer. Well, God has spoken. But there's more.
The fourth day. The number four signifies the universality of the Gospel, or the mercy of God, that God has spoken but it is to be a universal Gospel, and it is to be a merciful Gospel. The fifth day is God's grace. God has provided redemption.
But now it says, "The day has waned toward evening" (verse 9). It has come for the night to fall. Now remember what Jesus said in John 9? "Work while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work." And so the events that are going to follow are the events that are typifying the sad period just before Christ returns. The day has been spent. The day of salvation has been accomplished, and now it is night-time.
And so we see this little band leaving Bethlehem, the house of bread (that's the meaning of the word Bethlehem), the place where they have had the Bread of Life. And now they are going to exist in the world, typified here by their travel back to the land of Ephraim. And we're going to see what events befall them.
Now notice, first of all, who is leaving. There is the Levite. There is his concubine. And this is a figure of the intimate relationship of Christ with His church There is the servant. The servant also emphasizes the condition of the born again believer. We have become servants of God, in Christ. And there are the two saddled asses. Now at another time we looked at this matter of asses, or donkeys, and we found that they are a figure of born again believers. And I won't try to develop this now. At another time, if you're interested, we can look at that again. But they, too, are a figure of born again believers.
And so in this little company here we have a figure of the body of Christ, the true body of Christ, that exists at the time when the night has come upon the earth. It's just before Judgment Day, and the Gospel has been silenced, as we shall see.
Now first of all, they come opposite Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem in the Bible is the figure of Mt. Zion. It's the figure of the body of Christ in all of it's strength, in all of its ruling power. But they don't go into Jerusalem, because there aren't any believers there. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 24:15? He said, "When you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place." Now the holy place is the body of believers. It was typified in the Old Testament by Jerusalem. It says, "those in Judea, flee to the mountains." In other words, the constituted, organized body of believers is no longer trustworthy. Place your trust in Christ. "To the hills I lift my eyes." The mountains are actually being a type of God Himself. He is the one that we can trust, and we cannot trust in the organized body any longer. It has become so apostate. It has become so watered down, It has begun to run after other gospels to such a degree that we cannot trust in it any longer.
Already today, incidentally, there are those who are finding that they have to seek other congregations because the congregation they belong to no longer is bringing the true Gospel. And this sad condition will intensify as we go along, until the tribulation period, when it will be fairly universally evident everywhere somehow.
So they can't go into Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the organized, the recognized, the official body of Christ as it's found in the world, is no longer trustworthy in any sense. And so they go on to the land of Benjamin. Now I have to say a word about Benjamin. Benjamin in the Bible is a figure of the New Testament church, of the New Testament body of Christ. And let me quickly cite a couple of references to prove this, although there are many in the Old Testament.
In Deuteronomy 33:12 we read, where Moses is pronouncing a blessing upon the twelve tribes, "Of Benjamin, the beloved of the Lord. He dwells in safety by Him. He encompasses him all the day long and makes his dwelling between His shoulders." What a beautiful statement of what the New Testament church is. We are the beloved of the Lord. We dwell in safety, by Christ. He encompasses us. That is, He cares for us, and surrounds us with His love all the day long. He makes His dwelling with us, between His shoulders. You can see that Deuteronomy 33:12 is talking directly about the body of Christ that exists. And so Benjamin is a figure of the body of Christ.
Benjamin, incidentally, was the only one of the sons of Jacob that was born in the land of Canaan. That is, it's a figure of the fact that we in the New Testament are born in the presence of the Gospel. We're born again because Christ has offered the Gospel to us. And I can go on with other figures to show that Benjamin is a figure of the New Testament church.
And so, going back to Judges now, we see this group of believers. And they're in the land of Benjamin. They're in the land of the church. Now let me underscore this. They're in the land of the church. They're not in the land of the Babylonians. They're not in the land of some wicked enemy of Communism. They're in the land of the church. And here is where this dreadful event is going to take place.
So they come into this home. And you'll notice that in this old man's home, and this old man, incidentally, again is a figure of those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has finished his work. It's the end of the day. And so it is with the born again believer. We have work to do. And that work will only be finished when God takes us at death, or if that final day of darkness comes, when there is no Gospel, which is also called the time of great tribulation. That is the time when our work is finished. "Work while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work."
And so we see him coming in, in verse 16, coming from his work in the field at evening. And he also is a sojourner He was sojourning in Gibeah. Lot was sojourning in Sodom and Gomorrah, we would discover, if we went there. We are sojourners in this world. We're strangers and pilgrims here. This is not our eternal resting place. We are just passing through.
And you'll notice that when they came into this old man's house, they said, "We have straw and provender for our asses." In other words, the asses were a figure of born again believers, and there is sufficient food for them. The born again believers in the day of tribulation will still be able to feed on the Word of God. We are never going to be left by God at all.
"There is bread and wine for me and your maidservant, and the young man with your servants." What does bread and wine signify? The bread is the broken body of Christ. The wine is His shed blood. There is sufficient spiritual food. Even though there is going to be a great tragedy, even though it has been nighttime, amongst those who are born again believers, they are sustained by the Word of God. What a precious promise we're beginning to see shining through here. There is no lack of anything. That's the language of someone who is born again. Our salvation is sufficient for every situation. We don't have to fear, even when the time has come when it is the period of great tribulation, when the church, as typified by Benjamin, has become desperately wicked, because you see, these people outside the house of this old man are Benjaminites. And they have become desperately wicked. They want to have an immoral relationship with those in the house. They want to kill those in the house. And that is the situation that I'm afraid is going to prevail in the final tribulation, that the church will be the chief instigator in seeking to make sure that the Gospel will be silenced.
This is not surprising. You know, it was the church of Jesus' day that were most dynamic and dominant in calling for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was Annas and Caiaphas, the high priest, who pronounced the death sentence upon Christ.