A Levite and His Concubine

The last few chapters of Judges are appendices to the rest of the book. The last two chapters were one continuous story. We now move on to a new story with different characters, but the same theme. Now a word of warning, chapter 19 of Judges would get an R rating if it were a movie. Be prepared for that, no seriously, it's about to get crazy!

Read verse 1a: Yet again we are reminded that there is no king, which should makes us think that the people therefore are doing whatever they want.

Read verse 1b:  A Levite (not the same Levite from the last two chapters) is traveling around (but remember he should be doing priestly duties in a levitical city) and he takes a concubine. Now the question you don't want to answer for 7-12th graders, but you have to since you've been asked is: what exactly is a concubine? Well here are some possible answers:

• a sex slave (some sort of extended prostitution)
• a secondary wife (lacks the respect a wife deserves)
• the bearer of children for barren wives
• woman who was part of a king's harem for sexual gratification
• if a woman was unmarried and had no family, this was a better option than prostitution, homelessness or death.

The definition that seems to best fit this story is that she was like a live-in girlfriend. There was a relationship there but it lacks the commitment of marriage.

Oh and one other thing, The Levite is referred to as "the man," "his son-in-law," "her husband," "his master," and "the traveler" among other things. To make it less confusing, I'm just going to refer to him as the Levite throughout the entire story.

Read verse 2: After some time, the concubine is unfaithful to the Levite and goes to her dad's house for four months. In those days adultery would've been punishable by death so when it says she was unfaithful it means they were just having some issues which cause her to leave.

Read verses 3-4: The Levite goes to woo her back, and is welcomed by her father to stay for a few days.

The Levite and the Idols

A little refresher from the last chapter... Micah has a house full of idols and he just hired the Levite as his priest. This is all quite sinful because Israel has no king and people are just doing whatever they want.

Read verse 1: In case you forgot, we start off with another reminder that there's no king. We now find out that the tribe of Dan hasn't cleared the Gentiles of of their promised land and they decide to look for land elsewhere.

Read verse 2: Five spies are sent out who find Micah's house.

Read verses 3-4:  They recognize the Levites voice (meaning his accent probably), so they ask him what he's doing there.

Micah and the Levite

A little recap on the outline of the book of Judges... Chapters 1-2 was an introduction with some background information on the book of Judges. In chapters 3-16, there was story after story demonstrating the cycle of sin and deliverance of Israel through a number of Judges. The judges spiraled downward, falling further and further from God's plan for them. The final chapters (17-21) share a few stories that are considered to be appendices. They are not chronological, but are likely to have happened during the time of the Judges. They will demonstrate the apostasy of Israel during this time period.

Read verse 1: Our main character enters the scene, Micah, and he is an Israelite. An interesting note as you read through the story: Micah means "Who is like the Lord."

Read verse 2: Micah reminds his mom of some silver she thought had been stolen and then confesses that he was the one who took it. Her response, "Lord, bless my son." (Seems like a weird response to me!)

Read verse 3: Micah gives the silver back and she instructs him to take it back and use it to make idols. (FYI- a graven image would be wood overlaid with silver and a molten image would be solid silver)

Remember

In Judges 16:28, Samson cries out in prayer to the Lord and asks God to remember him. A number of years ago, I was teaching a Sunday School class on the life of Joseph and had made a worksheet up for the teens to do as homework. (It was a small group of solid kids and 4 of the 5 of them did the homework.)

The homework was a word study of sorts on 'remember' because the verse we would be looking at the following week was Genesis 40-41: when the cupbearer remembers Joseph and tells Pharaoh about him... Here's the homework I gave them:

Remember

What does remember mean? (look it up in a dictionary or something.)

Some possible definitions from dictionary.com…

            …to keep continually in mind for attention or consideration

            …to be continually aware or thoughtful of

            …to bear (a person) in mind as deserving a gift, reward, or fee

Grab a Bible and check out these verses. From what you know about these passages; jot down what happened before and after each verse.

Genesis 8:1- ___________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Genesis 19:29- _________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Genesis 30:22- _________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Exodus 2:24- __________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

1 Samuel 1:19- _________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Psalm 106:44-45- _______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

There are many verses that God says, “I will remember my covenant…” or the people are told that they will “remember the days of their youth.” What do you think it means or what will happen when these things are remembered?

Any conclusions you can draw from these passages?

So for those of you who aren't going to look up the verse, I'll give you my answers.

• Genesis 8:1- Noah is in the ark, God remembers him and causes a wind to make the waters subside.
• Genesis 19:29- God remembers the promise He made to Abraham and saves Lot.
• Genesis 30:22- Rachel had no children. God remembers her and opens her womb so she conceives a child.
• Exodus 2:24- The Israelites are in slavery. God remembers the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the rest of the Old Testament, He is working to fulfill that covenant.
• 1 Samuel 1:19- God remembered He had closed Hannah's womb and He opens it.
• Psalm 106:44-45- God hears the cries, He remembers them, and He relents because He is merciful.
• “I will remember my covenant…” God will act on the promises He's made, whether good or bad thing (saving people, punishing people, etc). If He said it, He will do it at the right time.
• “remember the days of their youth” They often did not remember and acted sinfully because of not remembering.

The conclusion I drew from these passages? When it says God remembers, it's not that He had forgotten about the people and where they are. Instead, when God remembers, an action immediately follows.

The afternoon after I taught this lesson. I picked up my copy of Beth Moore's Believing God Bible Study and opened up to the day's homework and it was titled "How God Remembers." It said to look up Genesis 8:1 and then asked "Whom and what did God remember?"

And then it talked about how it's unsettling to think about God forgetting us. However God assures us in Isa. 49 that we never leave His mind (Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I WILL NOT FORGET YOU. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My Hands; your walls are continually before me. v15-16)

Beth goes on to say that the opposite of God remembering is not God forgetting. And has a page set up to have you study 3 of the exact passages we had on the Remember worksheet I gave the teens, as well as two other very closely related ones.

She then concludes the section with this paragraph: 

The vast majority of references to God remembering also record a subsequent action or promise of action. Beloved, God never forgets His people. When the Word of God says that God remembers, we can assume a subsequent action on His part, even if its not specified. Almost every time we see a reference to God remembering, He is about to stretch out His mighty arm and swing into action. And when He stands, His enemies scatter (see Ps. 68:1). Glory! As you discovered in the previous Scriptures, most of the action is included, if not implied, in the context of God's remembrance. Hear this carefully: God acts on what He remembers. (Moore, Beth. Believing God. LifeWay Press: Nashville, TN. 2004. p147-149.)

This is a lesson that I haven't forgotten. The pre-chorus of Chris Tomlin's song "Your Grace is Enough," sings "Remember Your people, Remember Your children, Remember Your promise, Oh God." Every time I hear it I get a expectant joy in my heart thinking, "Yes God, please remember us and immediately act on our behalf."

One last thing, there are also verses that state, "God will remember no more..." For instance, in Jeremiah 31:34 the Lord declares, "I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more." It doesn't say God just forgot about it. No He chooses not to remember, meaning He knows but chooses to show mercy and not act upon it.

Samson & Delilah

This is the last chapter in the story of Samson. When we ended chapter 15, the Philistines and he were retaliating back and forth and ended with lots of dead Philistines.

Read verses 1-2: Samson goes to Gaza (which is a Philistine city) and sleeps with a prostitute. The Philistines see him and set an ambush to attack him in the morning.

Read verse 3: Samson wakes at midnight, somehow sneaks past the ambush and takes apart the city gate. He then carries the gate's doors, posts and bar up a mountain 38 miles away. (That's a really strong guy to carry any weight such a long distance!)

That's the end of this first little story. Now on to Delilah...

Samson Seeks Revenge

It's been a few weeks since we've looked at the book of Judges. We had breakfast instead of Sunday School on Easter, then a Youth Group Survivor weekend. So you may not remember where we left off. If you recall, Judges 13-16 are all about Samson and his life. He was to be a Nazirite from birth, meaning he was to avoid alcohol, cutting his hair and touching dead stuff. The last we saw Samson he had found a woman he wanted to marry but because of the whole riddle dilemma, he went home while the best man consummated the marriage. Quite an odd ending to the chapter, but the story continues in chapter 15.

(Now before I dive into the Scripture, I'm going to ask you to grab a Bible and turn to Judges 15 and read the verses when it says to. Or if you prefer, open up a Bible online to read it. Either way, read the Word, don't just read what I say, my words are not inspired, unlike His!)

Read verse 1: Some time has passed and Samson's no longer angry about the riddle, so he's ready to consummate the marriage. He brings a goat to give her as a gift, but her dad says no.