A Hard Story in Judges

This is the story of the concubine who was abused all night and died; her husband took her home, cut her up, and sent her pieces to the tribes and told the story of what had happened. The tribes tried to get the tribe of Benjamin (the offender) to respond by sending out the evil men. They would not, so Israel asked the Lord what to do and what tribe to go 1st. He told them. They lost twice, and both times cried out to the Lord, and He gave them the victory the 3rd time with only 30 lives lost in the 3rd battle.

Thoughts: • Why did the husband take 4 months to go and get his concubine (in a formal relationship with a man <husband>, with less rights than a wife)? • 19:16 It wasn’t even a Benjamite that took them in. Why? (Mt. Ephraim) • 19:24, 25 What loving father/husband would offer up his daughter/concubine to the evil men to abuse them all night? I’m not sure I will ever understand this • 19:29 What kind of man could cut up someone he committed to love? • The Israelites lost the battle twice before winning, yet they knew this was the Lord’s will. • Sometimes, things don’t go how we want or expect them to, but we must trust God. He sees the whole picture. • Trusting God ALWAYS leads to a victory…eventually. It just may not be the victory we expected or prayed for. • There are always casualties in battles. Israel lost a lot of men in the first two battles, yet we see they received the victory in the end. • Sometimes, we go through things, and there are hurts. We need to remember that God knows. It may seem sometimes when the losses (hurts) come, that God doesn’t know what He’s doing. But we can trust Him. He’s never failed once…. **This story, as horrible as it is, shows what happens when people ‘do that which is right in their own eyes’ (21:25) and abandon God’s ways and laws.

**All Scripture references are taken from the KJV😉