A Levite and His Concubine

This past weekend saw the worlds largest outdoor cocktail party take place in Jacksonville as the Gators took on the Georgia Bulldogs in tackle football. (Sorry Kenny Mayne - just love that phrase) The Gators continued what is now a 20 year domination of the series with a dramatic overtime victory. I live downtown in Jacksonville so this type of event brings the city to life and is a reminder for those of us that live in the city, of what it could be.

A day earlier I had listened on the radio to Woodward Kroll talk about a story in Judges of a traveler who spent a night in a foreign city on his way home with his concubine and his servant. That night the house the traveler was in was surrounded by men that wanted him to come out of the house so they could have sex with him. The host, the owner of the house, pleaded with the men not to do this, and instead offered his wife and the traveler's concubine for their pleasure. The story ends badly and is hard to read. It is told in Chapter 19 of the book of Judges and you can read it if you like.

The point is that the book of Judges tells of a time after the death of Joshua and before there was a king in Judea. It was a time of apostasy as the Israelites adopted the customs and ideals of the land of Canaan and set aside what Moses and Joshua had taught them. The last line in the book is '. . . in those days everyone did as he saw fit.'

Sometimes when reading The Word the meaning can seem distant, as meant for a different era. But reading from Judges last night, with the sounds of the city-wide party at full volume, it kind of hit me. I could hear the band from The Landing, 4 blocks away, car stereos that rattle your windows and drunken laughter and hollering. A lot of it sounded like a lot of fun. A lot of it sounded over the top.

Seriously, I got a little bit of a chill in my spine as if some of the stories from Judges were playing out in the streets below. And I could hear it.