a levite and his concubine...

There is a story in the bible that in some versions is titled "A Levite and His Concubine." The passage in its entirety can be read in Judges 19-20. Warning: this passage may be a little shocking to the faint of heart...a tale of sex and woe and revenge.

Here is a brief synopsis of this story: a Levite takes a concubine from her home in Bethlehem, but she was unfaithful to him and goes running back to Bethlehem to stay with her father. After four months, the Levite goes to find her and tries to persuade her to leave. The father-in-law invites him to stay for a few nights, and when the man tries to leave after four days, the father-in-law tricks him into staying an extra night. Then the father-in-law makes them a little late in leaving the next day, and the traveling party has difficulty figuring out where to spend the night. The end up in a square in Gibeah for the night, and an old man asks them, "Where are you going? Where did you come from?" When the travelers explain that they are looking for a place to stay, the old man invites them in, with the words "You are welcome at my house. Let me supply whatever you need. Only don't spend the night in the square." Then some of the "wicked men of the city" surround his house and try and get the old man to send the Levite out "so we can have sex with him." I'm sure at this point the Levite was sweating buckets, but the old man came to his defense and offered to send out his virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine instead. The Levite ends up just sending out the concubine, who was "raped and abused throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go." She ends up falling down dead in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. The Levite takes her home on his donkey, and when he gets home, he cuts up the concubine into twelve parts and sends them to all the areas of Israel. This starts a huge war, with eleven of the tribes against the tribe of Benjamin.

There are a few stories in the bible that disturb me...this happens to be one of them. First of all, I want to feel sorry for the concubine, but I find myself thinking, "Well, she shouldn't have been at her dad's house in the first place." She was unfaithful, and then she ran and hid. I can relate because I tend to do this as well in my relationship with God, but I'm still not as sympathetic towards her as I could be. I also got a little mad at the father for wasting a few days...who knows what would have happened had the traveling party made it to Gibeah the night before, or left a little earlier that morning?

Again, because I have more of a heathen's appreciation of the bible, I'm trying to figure out the symbolism of the concubine being torn apart for the twelve tribes. Was she merely a macabre message, a call-to-arms for the other 11 tribes? Or does she represent the modern-day church? There is so much disunity, at least among the churches in America..it seems as though the Body of Christ is completely dismembered. I think that is because Americans like dichotomy; we like black-and-white; we like being divided among party lines and watching football rivalries. A lot of us (myself included) are more comfortable worshiping in a place where everyone looks a lot like us, thinks like us, votes like us, etc. Is it because we make new Christians look like us ("domesticating you until you look just like me" -- Derek Webb) or because we church shop until we find a church that fits well. I don't know. I'm guilty of the whole church shopping..it took a while, and I'm still not completely comfortable at the place where I am, although I'm pretty sure I would be less comfortable at other places.

Also, the questions of the old man are somewhat piercing for me..."Where are you going? Where did you come from?" I'm assuming he was just talking about their journey, and the answers would obviously be a town or city. But for me, when I think about my "journey" or "walk" (which I've been forced to do a lot lately, thanks to a good pastor), the old man's questions become a little more poignant. A friend and I were talking about this a while ago. I'm definitely not even close to where I want to be on my walk/spiritual journey, but I'm nowhere near where I was 4 years ago, or a year ago, or even 3 months ago.

Sorry that my line of thinking is somewhat tangential. I would love to hear your thoughts (not someone else's researched exegesis) about the concubine and her Levite. Or just email me and let me know your answers to "Where are you going? Where did you come from?"