Title: The Levite's Concubine/Judges 19:1-9
Contents Levite's concubine 98.10.18
There are usually two attitudes when dealing with the Bible. For one thing, how can I be blessed through this Bible? Another thing that is different from dealing with the Bible from the viewpoint of What is correct is the latter, and we should look at the Bible to find out what the will of God, the original author of the Bible, is and focus on who God is. When we deal with the Bible in this way, the Bible tells us how deep our human sins are. The more you know about God, the more you realize the depth of human sin.
This chapter I read today is considered to be a cross section that clearly shows the depth of human sin. God gave the people of Israel various ordinances, laws, and sacrificial systems, as well as the tabernacle and priests necessary for it. However, they did not think about the purpose of God's ordinances and systems, and only used them to sin against God.
Leviticus 21 contains the rules for priests. As you can see there, the priest must not defile himself or profane himself; he must not shave his hair; he must not follow pagan customs; he must not profane the name of God, nor must he take a prostitute or an unclean woman, and he must not marry a virgin. You said that you would take Because this is a role that shows God who is life, he was not allowed to come close to the body. It is like the ordinances of the Nazarites. After all, these things show through life that you are separated from the rest of the world. It is a holy life itself.
Nevertheless, the Levite who appears in today's text took a concubine. This is a clear example of how corrupt the people of Israel at that time were. If the priest was like this, would the people be terrified? The lives of leaders such as judges and priests are like this, but other than that, the lives of the people are obvious. Ignoring God's Word, decrees, and ordinances was an insignificant practice. As we see in verse 1, “In those days there was no king in Israel, so each man did what was right in his own eyes.” They did what was right in their own eyes, that is, as they liked, but they lived according to their own greed.
What we are trying to show us through this series of events is that God punishes evil and executes judgment until one of the 12 tribes of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, is vacated. He also reveals that he is the same sinner. This incident was a form of sin that was prevalent in all of Israel at that time. Homosexuality was not only found in Sodom and Gomorrah, but also in Canaan, the Promised Land. When we see that this is happening among the people of Israel who are said to be God's chosen people, it is not only limited to the people of Israel, but it shows that the entire human race is deeply immersed in this sin.
However, there is something the devil cannot imitate, and that is a person who wants to live a life of giving up everything for the sake of Christ. This is called faith in Hebrews 11. The true minister of the gospel considers everything visible in this world as insignificant and lives only in the spirit of the cross. Living in the spirit of the cross is what the Holy Spirit ultimately wants to accomplish. Therefore, those who have not received the Holy Spirit have a life that cannot be fully understood.
The devil continues to approach us humans and lead us to the broad road. But the Spirit of Jesus Christ urges us to go the narrow way. Therefore, those who want to go the broad road always think only of human affairs, but those who want to go the narrow road always have an interest in the things of God. God's work here is to reproduce a life that resembles the person of Christ, the life that Christ lived on earth.
However, the devil makes us think of it as God's work and compels us to serve by making us devote ourselves to the visible church organization. So, no matter what you do, you have to have feelings of regret and attachment to the existing history and induce them to fall in love with it.
The cause of Israel's fall is that people from the Levitical priesthood to those in the leadership level serve God superstitiously, and like the Gentiles, they seek God's blessing and serve God in their own way. Likewise today, if those who seek Jesus and seek the church seek their own way, it is all idolatry. You will never find any flesh that is set apart as saints. These types of people only have grandiose and luxuriant forms, but they do not contain any substance. In the end, as in the days of Noah, people are eating, drinking, marrying, and getting married, yet they do not realize until the flood comes and destroys them all, so will the coming of the Son of Man be in the same way.