man well it's great to be back it's been so long since I've been here and so it's
so good to see you guys and the kids have grown up so much in the last two
weeks but it's good to be preaching behind the original pulpit this is
actually the original right here okay this is my first pulpit ever and so I'm
very comfortable behind although now it has this new add-on feature that keeps
things from slipping but hey I'm open to change so tonight I'm preaching a
sermon called virgin versus concubine virgin versus concubine now there's
obviously a concubine in the story that we just read but there is also a maiden
that is mentioned in the story and maiden in the Bible is another word for
a virgin okay and so that's what I'm gonna be preaching about tonight but the
first thing I want to do is talk a little bit about what is a concubine
what does that word mean because this is not a word that we use in 2023 America
no one's ever going to introduce you to their concubine okay this is not
something that we say and so words like this can sometimes be misunderstood if
we're not familiar with them now there are 39 mentions of concubine in the
Bible and 11 of them are in this story so this is sort of like the concubine
chapter if you will because out of 39 mentions the lion's share of them you
know because other mentions maybe one per chapter here all spread out and
then you just have 11 mentions in this chapter now if we just kind of break
down the English word into its component parts just kind of at first blush we
glance at this word we have some similar words in English like we have
the word incubation or incubator right who knows what an incubator is okay well
incubation literally means to sleep inside of something okay and an
incubator is something that someone would sleep inside I mean that's just
the literal meaning of the parts of the word okay that cube part is the sleeping
part and then the in part and so obviously you know you go to the
hospital and you have premature babies and they're sleeping in an incubator
makes sense right so when we have the word concubine what we have is that con
prefix at the beginning is sort of like the Spanish word cone which means what
with right so basically the concubine is a woman that is slept with now this is
not really necessarily sound like the most flattering way to describe one
significant other does it oh this is a woman I sleep with I mean that doesn't
sound very good on the surface does it probably why this words not in style
okay but here's what you want to be as a woman you want to be a wife right it's
godly it's righteous it's Christian to be a man's wife and the Bible says that
at the beginning God made them male and female and he said for this cause shall
man leave his father and mother and shall cleave on to his wife and they too
shall be one flesh so the concubine is not God's plan for a woman God's plan
for a woman is that she be a wife now obviously in some cases it could be
God's plan for a woman to just remain single her whole life in rare
situations but in general God's plan for the young woman is that she marry bear
children and guide the house and so God wants her to be a wife the concubine is
man's invention this is not God's will this is not something that God ordained
in the Bible but it's something that people in the Bible do so what is a
concubine so we looked at just kind of the component parts of the word but
that's not always necessarily the definition how about what is the
dictionary say you know lastly we're gonna go to what the Bible says because
that's the most important factor well here's what the dictionary says
definition number one a woman who cohabits with a man that means lives
together with a man to whom she is not legally married especially one regarded
as subservient a mistress okay everybody got that they're living together but
they're not legally married or it's a man's mistress that's definition number
one definition number two says that among polygamous people it could be a
secondary wife usually of inferior rank and then number three it says especially
in formerly Muslim societies or formerly in Muslim societies a woman residing in
a harem and kept by a Sultan you know for his pleasure as it were okay so
these are the dictionary definitions of a concubine and I would say definition
number one is the most accurate to what we see in the Bible one who is
cohabiting with a man but they're not legally married okay a mistress that he
has that's how this word is often used in the Bible now throughout the Bible in
general we have a distinction between wives and concubines like if you look up
all these 39 mentions of concubine most of them will mention in the same breath
this guy's got some wives and he's got some concubines and there's a distinction they're
not the same thing like King Solomon you know he's got his wives he's got his
concubines all different people like that throughout the Bible David or other kings
and leaders and so these things are typically most of the time mentioned separately so what
would we call this today well today what we would call this is we would call it a
mistress or a consort or a live-in girlfriend or what's called a common-law wife these are
all things that we would say today about what was back then called a concubine okay now what is a
common-law wife this is something that's actually kind of going out of style but when I was a child
in California there was a law that said that if you live with a woman for seven years she
automatically becomes considered by law your wife even if you didn't marry her so you never
had a ceremony you never had a marriage license but if you just live together for seven years I
remember I was working with a guy one time and he's talking about how he lives with his girlfriend
they have two kids together and I'm like why don't you just get married and he's like well
we've been together for six years and eight months so in like three four months it's just
gonna be common law anyway so boy that's real romantic buddy great great attitude real biblical
to really Christian attitude there guess what God does not ever condone of polygamy or concubines
all right hey it's supposed to be a man and his wife that's what the Bible teaches okay so most
of the time you're gonna see this distinction between wives and concubines sometimes in the
Bible it'll kind of you it'll use the same word to describe the same person which can be a little
confusing at first blush so let's glance at a couple of these we're gonna come right back to
Judges 19 but flip over you would to Genesis chapter 35 Genesis chapter number 35 so in
Genesis 35 and I'm gonna read for you also from Genesis 31 and Genesis 32 so if you want to just
kind of get in that neighborhood but let me just give you a few examples of this so while you're
turning to Genesis 31 32 35 that neighborhood in Judges chapter 8 it talks about how Gideon had
three score and ten sons so Gideon had 70 sons and it says of his body begotten for he had many
wives so Gideon's got a bunch of wives so he has 70 sons but then it also says that his concubine
that was in Shechem she also bare him a son whose name he called Abimelech and of course the bastard
son Abimelech ends up growing up to be a very wicked person the son of the concubine and he
ends up murdering virtually all of the 70 sons of Gideon so this lifestyle did not pay off so even
though people in the Bible you know they had wives they had concubines it's it's never a blessing it
never goes well it goes poorly right and Gideon's a perfect example of that but we see that he had a
bunch of wives but then he also had this concubine and so that's different than his wives and she
even kind of lives somewhere else she's in Shechem and he's got this concubine over there in Shechem
and she's got this bastard son and so forth okay look at you what a Genesis chapter 31 verse 50
and this is Laban who is the father of Leah and Rachel so Jacob's got two wives Leah and Rachel
but then you remember there are also the handmaidens Bilhah and Zilpah so it says in Genesis 31 50 if
thou shalt afflict my daughters or if thou shalt take other wives besides my daughters no man is
with us God is with witness betwixt me and thee so here what Laban saying is that basically you
know hey you have my two daughters as your wives you've got Rachel and Leah don't marry anyone else
I don't want you to have any other wives besides my daughters now he's already got Bilhah and Zilpah
but they're not really considered wives in the same way that Rebecca or excuse me Rachel and Leah
are so baby see what I'm getting at there now flip over to chapter 32 verse 22 it says and he
rose up that night and took his two wives and his two women servants that's Bilhah and Zilpah right
his two women servants and his 11 sons and passed over the Ford Jabak okay now flip over to chapter
35 verse 22 so we seen that Laban looks at it as that he has two wives and then in Genesis 32 it's
mentioned that he has two wives and the two main servants and then in chapter 35 verse 22 it says
it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's
concubine so notice that now Bilhah is being called a concubine so in that sense he has the
two wives and the two concubines okay but then where the Bible could get a little confusing is
that then in chapter 37 verse 2 if you flip over there it actually refers to them as wives it says
these are the generations of Jacob Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his
brethren and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah his father's wives
does everybody see that and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report so out of 39 mentions
virtually all of them distinguished between a wife and a concubine we have two places where this gets
a little muddy because Bilhah and Zilpah are called wives but they're also called concubines
and then also Abraham after the death of Sarah takes Keturah the Bible says as his wife but then
the Bible turns around and calls her a concubine two different times so you have a couple times
where there's overlap here which could be confusing here's what I think is going on in
those two places with Keturah and with Bilhah I would say that what's going on is that just like
we call it a common-law wife even though they're not legally married it's not the same as a
legitimate wife where you actually got the marriage license it's legal you had a ceremony
I now pronounce you man and wife it's just and look I don't know about you I've had people tell
me that that a woman was their wife and then you get to know them a little more they're like oh
well you know we're not actually married but we've been together for you know five years or eight
years sorry that's not really a legitimate wife it's a concubine you could call it your wife and
it's a common-law wife you could say it's a common-law wife if you want to use that term
but it's not a legitimate wife that you're actually legally rightly married to okay and
let me just make this really clear you know you need to get married legally and in the sight of
God in 2023 America you know this doctrine that says oh you know we're just not going to get a
marriage license let's keep the government out of marriage and let's hey that's garbage marriages
should be legally binding in God's law they're legally binding that's one thing that the
government should be involved in that there should be a legal definition of marriage okay
and so you know you got Kent Hovind coming along and teaching like oh marriage licenses are
unbiblical right and then isn't it interesting the woman that he was actually married to with
a marriage license that marriage lasted for decades then Kent Hovind married a woman without
a marriage license and it lasted like less than a year then he married another woman without a
marriage license lasted less than a year then he married another woman and I don't know how many
wives he's up to but I'm saying like he's changing wives with the change of the seasons because
they're not even legally married and that is the fruit of that foolish doctrine okay in order for
marriage to be a right legitimate godly marriage there need to be three elements involved okay
there needs to be legal recognition of you're married and maybe that's different in different
states or different countries but wherever you live whatever the rules are get legally married
according to the rules of your nation you know if you're in Japan or if you're in Timbuktu or if
you're in America or if you're in Canada or Mexico what you know figure it out and make sure that
you're legally married if you're gonna go around saying that you're married it should be legally
recognized and the biblical proof of that is that the Bible has laws about adultery and laws about
divorce and so forth that are supposed to be enforced by government so therefore it is biblical
for the government to have a definition of marriage and for you to be legally married okay
so you need in order to have a legitimate marriage you need you know legal legal recognition you
should be legally married according to your municipality and you say oh you know nobody's
gonna tell me what to do you know doesn't the Bible say we should be subject to magistrates
and ordinances and so forth we're not supposed to be these anarchists okay if you're gonna get
married you get married legally number one number two there needs to be some kind of a promise
that's made that's till death do us part you know where you're actually promising to keep the only
unto her or to keep the only unto him so long as you both shall live that's a commitment so number
one you've got legal status number two you've got a commitment that says hey it's a lifelong
commitment right what God is joined together let not man put us under and then the third element
for it to be a legitimate marriage is that there must be physical consummation of that marriage
if there's no physical consummation of that marriage it's not a legitimate marriage it's a
fake marriage it's not real okay so to have a real marriage you have to have these three elements you
have to have legal recognition you have to have that commitment or promise or vows that are spoken
and you must have that what was the third one again I'm losing my mind what consummation of
course how could I forget so important you know or it's not real okay so those are the three
elements that are necessary for legitimate marriage okay now you can see that the concubine
is not recognized in the same way as a wife okay because if we look at all these concubine stories
you know what are the two that sort of confused us a little bit by using the word wife and again
it's just because it's a common-law wife doesn't make it a legitimate wife though it's it's a it's
a common-law wife okay look at the two stories you got Bill Hans Ilpah that are referred to as
both but guess what what is Laban what does dad think he says you got two wives it's my daughters
Jacob says I got two wives you know so basically society and the law isn't really recognizing them
in that with the same legitimacy as the actual wedded wives the actual legitimate married wives
also when it comes to Keturah who is called Abraham's concubine and Hagar who's called
Abraham's concubine do they have the same legal rights when it comes to their offspring because
everything goes to Isaac you know Hagar gets a water bottle she gets in out of the desert with
a big bottle of water okay and then Keturah's sons are given gifts they get presents but they
don't get the inheritance everything goes to Isaac because he's the son of the legitimate wife
okay Sarah so you say well I don't know pastor Anderson because I've heard different theories
out there some people have said that and if you would go to judges 19 that's where we're gonna
be for the pretty much the rest of sermon some people have put forth alternate definitions like
some people have said well a concubine is a wife that's a slave or a wife that's enslaved or a wife
that's a servant you know a wife that's in that kind of bondage here's the issue that I have with
that definition is that sure if you if you were to apply that definition to Bilhah and Zilpah it's
gonna work so you know you could turn to that story and say oh see look they're maidservants
and he's with them and so boom that's what a concubine is the problem is when you try to
apply that definition to the rest of the stories in the Bible it doesn't really pan out you know
especially judges 19 which is kind of the big concubine chapter if you think about it so that
definition doesn't really end up panning out as we're gonna see tonight it doesn't really end up
applying in most situations but the other issue that I have with that I have three issues that
number one is it doesn't really pan out across all the Bible stories but number two is you know oh
it's a wife that's subservient you know last time I checked all wives are subservient amen I mean
you know no offense ladies but you know the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ
is the head of the church and last time I checked the wife is to be subject under her own husband
and everything so what if I just snap my fingers and my wife was was my slave or something legally
or something you know what would change nothing you know because like I it's a she already has
to obey what's the difference you know if she were my slave I would treat her well she's my
wife I treat her well it's just it is what it is folks wives obey their husbands you know and so
that to me seems like a strange distinction and it well but you you know the the the concubine
you paid for you bought her but in the Bible you paid you pay the father-in-law a lot of times a
dowry anyway when you're getting married remember David had to bring all those foreskins of the
Philistines and everything so you know money changes hands in most of these ancient weddings
there's a payment made the the husband is the master I mean husband Sarah called Abraham Lord
does that make her his concubine because he's her Lord I mean that's the same word that's used with
with servants a lot of times you know the servant has a Lord the wife has a Lord what's the
difference okay and I'm and don't don't you know go out of here and twist my words and say pastor
Anderson treats his wife like a slave or something because I don't treat my wife like a
save it I'm not saying you should treat your wife like a slave I'm saying that if I had if that was
the only distinction it wouldn't really make a lot of sense because if you're romantically involved
with this woman that you're having kids with and she's living with you and she has to obey you
that's called a wife so what would be the difference between that and a maidservant that's
the part that doesn't really quite click with me about that definition and then the third issue
that I have with that definition is that it's not very helpful because you know we don't have
anything like that in America so then if you say well concubine is a wife that's this enslaved then
it would be like oh it doesn't exist in our society and then it's not very helpful of a
word I want to be able to use this word and have it be applicable and relevant in our day and I
think it is applicable and relevant in our day and so that's a third reason why I don't really
care for that definition I can see where they're coming from because if you're just looking at the
Bilhah's Opus story then it makes sense but I don't think that that's a good working definition
whatsoever I don't think that that is a legitimate definition another definition is well it's a wife
of lesser status and that was one of the dictionary definitions like a wife of lesser status but what
I'm saying is I don't think it's really a legitimate wife at all I think it's an illegitimate
wife it's a common-law wife it's someone you're living with you're claiming it's your wife you're
treating her as your wife she's like a wife but you're not actually legally rightly married to
her there wasn't a ceremony there wasn't these elements that we need in order for it to be a
legitimate marriage and I think that as we go through the story in Judges 19 you're gonna see
why the working definition that I've given actually works across all the stories and
actually is more theologically rewarding for us in 2023 America so look down at your Bible in
Judges 19 and let's go through the story here it says in Judges chapter 19 verse number 1 and you
know maybe that was a little bit dry what I just gave you but it's a Bible study isn't that what
it's advertised as so we got to do a little Bible say before we get in the preaching so judges 19
verse 1 says and it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel now look why
does the author of judges always give us that disclaimer toward the end well you know came to
pass when there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right his own eyes he's
trying to tell you like warning weird stuff coming don't take this as a model for how to live your
life the whole point is the lawlessness of the situation and of course judges 19 is a great
example of that lawlessness because basically a crime is committed against one person one person
is brutally assaulted in the story and killed excuse me I mean do you really think that this
is the first time anybody's been brutally assaulted and killed in Israel I mean how
often does somebody get murdered in Tucson Arizona how often does somebody get murdered in Phoenix
Arizona you know how many how often does somebody get murdered in Chicago Illinois like I could I
can answer that question you know once or twice per day okay but because of this one crime because
there's no king in Israel because of the lawless situation it ends up just escalating into a giant
war where tens of thousands of people get killed to deal with one crime you know one crime happens
instead of just dealing with that crime it escalates into total civil war that kills tens
of thousands of people that's not a very good way to run a country is it you know be better
to just punish the people that are guilty fix it done so that's what's going on but that disclaimer
is showing us that just because we read about something in the Bible doesn't mean that people
are doing the right thing it can often be a bad example and this is a bad example okay so there's
no king in Israel and a certain Levite sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim who took to him a
concubine out of Bethlehem Judah and his concubine played the whore against him and went away from
him unto her father's house to Bethlehem Judah and was there for whole months now let's apply
some of these definitions that we've been told you know are a concubine is this an enslaved
individual doesn't seem like it because it seems like she can just go off and play the whore and
be gone for four months and when he goes after her he doesn't show up and say hey this is my
property I'm here to get my property back he shows up and speaks kindly to her hey baby you know why
don't you think about coming home you know and he schmoozes with the father and so forth this
doesn't feel at all like a slave situation from what we see in the story what about the idea of
a lesser wife there's no indication that this guy has any other wife there's no indication that he
has a wife at all we have a Levite he takes a concubine he doesn't have a wife he's like that
dude that I worked with he's got his common-law at home so you can see how I believe that the
definition that I've provided you tonight is more accurate and more consistent it's a live-in
girlfriend it's someone that you're living with and treating as a wife maybe it's even called a
wife common-law wife but you're not legitimately married so the concubine played the whore against
him went away from him under her father's house she's there for four months look at verse three
and her husband arose and went after her to speak friendly under her and to bring her again having
his servant with him and a couple of asses asses are like donkeys and she brought him into her
father's house and when the father of the damsel saw him he rejoiced to meet him it always cracked
me up why the dad loves this guy so much but he does and his father-in-law the damsel's father
retained him and he abode with him three days so they did eat and drink and lodge there so again
notice the wording father-in-law because this is like a quasi marital relationship but it's not
actually marriage okay you know I've had people ask me well you know if two people love each other
and they live together and they're faithful to each other but they're not technically married
what's the difference you know what the difference is one of them's right and one of them's wrong
that's the difference I mean it's just a piece of paper yeah and the Constitution is just a piece
of paper and the book of John is just a piece of paper the Holy Bible is a piece of paper but guess
what it's a piece of paper that matters so don't buy into this thing of just oh well we don't what
do we need marriage for huh here's what you need marriage for to be right with God because if it's
not marriage is fornication if it's not marriage it's a concubine and so it says it came to pass
on the fourth day when they arose early in the morning that he rose up to depart and the damsel's
father said unto his son-in-law come from thine heart with a morsel of bread and afterward go
your way now this is interesting you got to pay attention to every word in the Bible here and they
sat down and did eat and drink notice the keyword both now how many is both is it three no it's two
so notice that this guy and the father-in-law are partying where is she she's just gone okay she's
just absent from the story which is interesting right so basically he shows up the father-in-law
and him just hit it off right away and they stay for three days the fourth day he's like okay time
for us to go home now I'm gonna take my concubine and we're gonna go back to Mount Ephraim we're
going back to where we came from and the dad's like hey why don't you before you leave why don't
we have brunch first you know so he kind of drags things out and they eat and they hang out but it's
funny how the Bible specifically says that both of them eat like they're partying and she's just
out of the picture like wow so then you know the problem is they get a little carried away and so
pretty soon it's late in the day and so both of them after they're done partying in verse 6 it
says that the second half of verse 6 be content I pray the anterial night and let that heart be
merry he's like dude it's too late for you to leave now just stick around we're having fun hang
out so he's like okay and it says in verse 7 when the man rose up to depart his father-in-law
urged him therefore he lodged there again and he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to
depart and the damsel's father said comfort that hard I pray thee you know one more brunch and they
tarried until afternoon and they did eat both of them again the Bible repeats the word both again
it's important and when the man rose up to depart he and his concubine and his servant his father-in-law
the damsel's father said unto him behold now the day draweth toward evening I pray you Terry all
night behold the day groweth to an end lodge here that then heart may be merry and tomorrow gets you
early on your way that thou may'st go so you see a pattern here it's like get up to leave no get
some food first all right now it's too late to leave okay spends the night Oh gets up to leave
wait wait let's have food the food goes too long all right now you guys stay the night but this
time he's like no I can see how I'm being caught in endless loop here I need to break the cycle and
so he makes the foolish decision of leaving in the afternoon when really you got to leave first
thing in the morning because then you can make it to the next lodging and you don't get caught out
in the dark out on the trail right so he makes this bad decision of leaving in the afternoon
but the man would not Terry that night verse 10 but he rose up into part and came over against
Jebus which is Jerusalem now back then it wasn't Jerusalem back then it was Jebus but the author
of the book of Judges is writing in a time when it's called Jerusalem he's writing much later and
so he says hey reader we're talking about Jerusalem but back then it was a heathen city
of the Jebusites okay and so there were with him two asses saddled his concubine also was with them
verse 11 and when they were by Jebus the day was far spent and the servant said unto his master
come I pray thee and let us turn in unto the city of the Jebusites and lodge in it and his master
said unto him we will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger that is not of the children
of Israel will pass over to give you so the servant says dude it is late we've got to you
know spend the night we're gonna be out here in the dark let's go to Jebus quality in and sweets
here and let's spend the night here and he's like whoa we're not gonna go to a heathen city we need
to stay in a city of the children of Israel you know we can trust the children of Israel these
heathen we don't trust them we don't want to stay the night there so let's push through so they push
through and they go to Gibeah which is of the children of Israel of course they would have been
a lot better off just going to Jebus okay because it couldn't have been any worse than what happens
in Gibeah so they push through and they get to Gibeah and it says in verse 13 he said unto his
servant come and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night in Gibeah or in Ramah
and they passed on and went their way and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah which
belongeth to Benjamin and they turned aside thither to go in and to lodge in Gibeah and when he went
in he sat him down in a street of the city so there was no man that took them into his house
to lodging so nobody wants to show hospitality nobody wants to give them a you know place to stay
dinner a bed to sleep in and so there's no hospitality forthcoming and behold there came
an old man from his work out of the field at even which means evening which was also of Mount Ephraim
and he sojourned in Gibeah but the men of the place were Benjamites and when they had when he
had lifted up his eyes he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city and the old man said whither
goest thou and whence comest thou and he said unto him and and on and on the story goes he says look
we've got everything we need we just need a place to stay and the guy says oh sure come over to my
house don't sleep in the street bad idea come stay at my house everything's gonna be great and you
know let me take care of everything well look what the Bible says in verse 22 they get to this
guy's house and when their hearts were making Mary now as they were making their hearts Mary behold
the men of the city certain sons of Belial beset the house round about and beat at the door and
spake to the master of the house the old man saying bring forth the man that came into thine
house that we may know him okay so this is their perverted right these are sodomites their perverts
and they want to abuse this man the man the master of the house went out unto them and said unto them
nay my brother and nay no I pray you do not so wickedly seeing that this man is coming to my
house do not this folly now watch this in verse 24 behold here is my daughter a maiden and his
concubine them I will bring out now and humble ye them and do with them what seemeth good unto
you but unto this man do not so vile a thing so basically in order to save themselves here these
dudes the old man and the young man who's visiting make this offer the old man says hey take my
daughter who's a virgin take my daughter who's a maiden and take his concubine and you know abuse
them but don't do something to another dude okay don't do such a vile thing okay that's just
horrific now here's what we need to see about this is that obviously offering his daughter to
these monsters is bizarre okay this is something that no normal father no righteous father just
wants to sit there and offer up his daughter to this group of freaks okay and then also you know
that the man who's lodging there would be willing to offer up his concubine shows how much he can
concubine right that he's willing to just throw her to the wolves and even this virgin daughter
is ready to be thrown to the wolves okay in the story don't do this vile thing but here take them
instead verse 25 but the men would not hearken to him the man will not agree to this no they're
set on we want that guy who's visiting you so the man took his concubine and brought her forth
unto them so even though they don't agree to the deal he just kind of shoves the concubine out the
door and shuts it and just hey let's just see what happens maybe this'll you know get us out
of this mess and so it says they knew her and abused her all the night until the morning and
when the day began to spring they let her go then came the woman in the dawning of the day and fell
down at the door of the man's house where her Lord was till it was light and her Lord rose up in the
morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way and behold the woman is
concubine was fallen down at the door of the house and her hands were upon the flip the threshold now
here's what you have to understand about the Bible okay when you read the Old Testament nothing is
ever wasted in the text and what I mean by that is that every single thing that is mentioned has
significance okay there's nothing wasted now if we were to get a modern novel if we were to just go
down to the bookstore and get some popular modern novel that came out in 2022 there'd be pages and
pages describing a house pages and pages describing a forest and describing someone's
appearance it'll tell us the color of their hair the color of their eyes the way their face is
shaped the clothing that they wore that's how novels are that we would read in our modern day
is that how the Bible is how many times how often does the Bible just stop and tell you someone's
hair color eye color describe the architecture of their house isn't it interesting how modern
writing modern storytelling involves all these descriptions the Bible only gives you a description
that matters nothing else nothing's wasted there's an economy of giving you only relevant
information so for example if we find out that Absalom has this really long beautiful hair it's
not just oh by the way he's got long beautiful hair it comes into play because ultimately he's
gonna be hanging from a tree by his hair so that's why the narrator tells us he's got this really
long hair and so when there's a description of someone it's for a reason and so the Bible
doesn't typically just engage in a gratuitous description of her hand her hands were upon the
threshold you know she's laying there and her hands are upon the threshold like that actually
has to mean something or why is it there it's not just there for dramatic effect because the Bible
typically doesn't give descriptions unless they have some relevance unless they matter
either symbolically or they move the story forward in some way but they always are relevant they have
some kind of a theological meaning or symbolic or just they always have a purpose nothing's ever
wasted in the Bible everything is relevant nothing is incidental or coincidental or accidental we're
reading the Bible so obviously and I'm gonna make my points in a moment here but right now I'm just
kind of setting the stage for the points that I want to make obviously there's a very strong
similarity between this story and the story in Genesis 19 of Sodom and Gomorrah let's just turn
there very quickly keep your finger in Judges 19 and flip over to Genesis 19 and I'm gonna
make the point that I want to make the payoff is coming all right stay with me okay Genesis 19 is
the more common story the more familiar story and it's always easy to remember how to find these in
the Bible because it's Genesis 19 and Judges 19 so that makes it easy to find okay so in Judges 19
it's the same thing look at verse 6 lot went out at the door unto them and shut the door after him
and said I pray ye brethren do not so wickedly behold now I have two daughters which have not
known man now two daughters that have not known man what does that make them it makes them maidens
it makes them virgins am I right let me I pray you bring them out unto you and do ye to them as
is good in your eyes only unto these men do nothing for therefore came the under the shadow
of my roof sound familiar very much like Judges 19 isn't it and they said stand back they said
again this one fellow came into sojourn and he will needs be a judge now will we deal worse with
thee than with them and they press sore upon the man even lot and came near to break the door but
the men put forth their hand and pulled lot into the house to them and shut to the door and they
smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness both small and great so that they
wearied themselves to find the door now one colossal difference between Genesis 19 and Judges
19 is that in Genesis 19 there's divine intervention this hopeless situation is there where the the the
the evil men have surrounded the house but there's a divine intervention where the angels smite the
men with blindness and so they're neutralized and nobody gets hurt except all of them get torched
but I'm saying no innocent people get hurt do the two virgins get sent out to these freaks no
they're spared because of a divine intervention and Judges 19 there's no divine intervention is
there so in Judges 19 what they end up doing is shoving the concubine out the door but here's what
these stories have in common we talked about the colossal difference what about what they have in
common in the first situation you have a very callous move by lot saying here take my two
daughters just get the hell out of here you know just take them and do whatever you want with them
right which is like whoa who would offer their daughters to these freaks okay you have that same
callous move by the old man and Benjamin 19 or in Judges 19 where he sends out or he offers to send
out who does he offer to send out his own daughter so I hope you're able to process all this and not
get confused Genesis 19 you got the two virgin daughters they don't get sent out because of
divine intervention but in Judges 19 there's no divine intervention the offer is made the virgin
daughter and the concubine will send them out but who actually gets sent out just the concubine
okay and here's the point that I want to make in both stories the virgin daughter is okay even if
dad's an idiot even if dad's a jerk even if dad's living in a weird part of town even if dad is
callous and uncaring and not looking up notice are the virgin daughters okay in Genesis 19
through divine direct intervention by God the supernatural blinding of the weirdos and the
daughters are fine what about judges 19 even without a miracle even without a supernatural
divine intervention the virgin is fine why everything in the Bible matters she's fine
because God is looking out for her even if dad's not looking out for at least God's looking out for
her in that story and I think there's a big difference in this story between the virgin
and the concubine because we have two innocent women in the sense that they don't neither of
them deserves this right neither of them deserves to be cast out to these wolves so in that sense
obviously all have sinned and come short of the glory of God but we have two women innocent women
in that sense being you know offered to this horrible disgusting fate but yet in the end one
of them is spared and the other is destroyed in the worst possible way and even mutilated
after her demise and the application here is something that we see all throughout Deuteronomy
all throughout Joshua judges and the the histories that follow which is this idea that God blesses
obedience God blesses purity God blesses righteousness and that when you go out and do
wrong and break God's law and commit sin you're kind of on your own in this world and a lot of
bad things can happen to you whereas what does the Bible say the angel of the Lord and campeth
round about them that fear him right God is going to bless you if you're clean if you're pure if
you're doing right now look if you go out there and become some dude's concubine you're forfeiting
some blessings of God I promise you that promise you that is that God's will for your life and look
if you're growing up in faithful word Baptist Church you know better you've heard the preaching
that says we should flee fornication you've heard the preaching that says a man shall leave his
father and mother and cleave to his wife and they too shall be one flesh if you go out of here and
become some dude's concubine some dude's common-law wife some dudes you know live in well guess what
don't be surprised when he doesn't respect you because none of the concubines of the Bible get
very much respect I don't see Bill Hans Ilpach getting a lot of respect I don't see Hagar and
Keturah getting a lot of respect I don't see this woman getting a lot of respect I mean this woman
gets so much respect the only time she's in the story is basically when she's getting attacked
because she didn't even get to be at those cool dinners that were so good they were worth staying
a few extra days and messing up the whole travel plans you know she doesn't get treated with respect
well guess what when you go out and go outside of God's plan you're also going outside of the
protection of God now obviously God's merciful and and and maybe maybe you'll be okay but I promise
you you'll be chastised by God but not only is there chastisement from God because the Bible
says whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth if you're
without chastisement you're not even saved the Bible says okay not only is there divine
chastisement to fear but you're also stepping out of God's protection in many ways you know I if I go
through life serving God and doing right if I'm out soul winning or something you know I can have
a pretty reasonable expectation that God's gonna protect me that's why even if I go soul winning
in dangerous areas you know I might quote myself the scripture yay though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me right I'll fear no evil because
God's with me if God be for us who can be against us right the angel Lord and camp with round about
them that fear him he keepeth all his bones not one of them is broken he's given his angels charge
concerning me God's angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs
of salvation and so yes I do believe that we have a guardian angel or guardian angels and and the
angels of the Lord and God's presence protecting us but here's the thing could I reasonably expect
the same level of protection as I'm going to the casino as I'm going to all these other wicked
places would I actually expect God to protect me if I went to these wicked places if someone went
to some gentleman's club or bar or casino or these places and say well you know I'll fear no evil
God's with me and the angel of the Lord and campeth right about the angel of the Lord is not gonna
protect you in the same way when you're going to those kind of places as he's gonna protect you
when you're out soul winning when you're going to church when you're with your wife he might not
protect you and your common law the same way he's gonna protect you and your wife okay because when
you go outside of God's will when you go outside of God's plan it's a jungle out there life can be
scary sometimes life can be dangerous and you know what the Bible says about the end times in the
last days perilous times shall come well you know if I'm living in perilous times I want to make
sure that God is protecting me and that God's taking care of me and this is a tragic story
it's a sad story neither woman deserved this fate I mean this horrible nobody deserves that but yet
what do we see happening we see God allowing horrible things to happen in this world I mean
horrible things happen in this world my friend are horrible things happening in America today
somewhere yeah okay but you know what I do believe that God will protect those who do right he'll
protect his children he'll protect his servants obviously there are exceptions that prove the
rule but in general when you're doing what's right God keeps you safe and in general when
you're doing what's wrong you're on your own that's a general principle okay and don't be
like well I don't think it's gonna matter I don't think it's gonna change I think God's gonna know
my friend okay you doing right by God is going to change the outcome of your life you being pure
and being a virgin and getting married God's way is going to give you a different outcome then you
know kind of having a few rebellious years and by the way I'm not just talking to the girls I'm
talking the boys too you know just as much as a girl needs to be pure and and should be pure on
her wedding day hey that goes for the boys too you know if you guys want to be blessed by God if you
and and look the the I believe this was in the chapter last night I didn't get to in Proverbs
but doesn't the Bible say that the whore is a deep ditch and he that is a horde of the Lord will
fall therein the strange woman is out there now look I believe God will protect you from the
strange woman when you're living for God okay because I remember there were times when I was
a teenager and I was young and I wasn't very wise about these things that there were girls that I
was interested in and maybe went on a few dates with and I didn't really understand at the time
why things didn't work out because it seemed like it should have worked out just kind of didn't
really pan out I was like I wonder why not but then when I saw how that young lady's life turned
out or maybe it turned out she wasn't even saved then looking back you know how I interpreted those
events was like God protected me from the wrong person you know God knew that that wasn't the
right person God was protecting me well you know it feels good to go through life thinking God's
protecting me God's looking out for me it's not you don't want to trade that for some pleasure of
sin for a season and trade God's protection because it's a jungle out there and I believe
that I'm gonna be much safer because safety's of the Lord I'm gonna be much safer and protected
when I'm doing right by God I mean think about Jonah you know when he disobeyed God was he safe
I mean no he's put in peril and he ends up spending three days and three nights in the belly of a
whale which is not a fun place it was a hellish experience he compared it to being in hell he
said I cried out of the belly of hell he's not literally in hell he's prophesying about Jesus
but he's experiencing you know darkness I mean it's not like he pulled the chain and turns the
light on and sees a little tonsil of the whale or something hanging there I know that's not even a
tonsil whatever that thing's called it's called we need a better name for that thing that's easier
to say so until we get a better name for it I'm just gonna call it tonsil you know that little
thing when cartoon characters cry yeah it's a punching bag in a cartoon you know Tom and Jerry
or something I you know which one's a Jerry's using Tom's thing as a punching bag probably
but anyway I saw that cartoon too so the point is that you know in the story this virgin barely
even pops up in the story out of nowhere oh I've got this daughter's a virgin isn't it interesting
that you got a virgin and a concubine both offered one of them actually gets used up and destroyed
abused and the other one comes out unscathed even without a supernatural divine intervention guess
what the Bible doesn't have to tell us that God's involved for us to know God's involved in fact
there's a whole book of the Bible like that's called the book of Esther the book of Esther
ten chapters never mentions God God is not mentioned at all in the entire book of Esther
but yet we see God's hand working in the book of Esther in those ten chapters well here's another
place where God is subtly sparing one and allowing the other to be destroyed as a bad example God
allows evil to happen in this world it's happening in 2023 it's sad it's tragic it's terrible and of
course these guys all end up dying they all die in the war and many other people unnecessarily die
because of it but notice that the virgin comes through unscathed and the concubine is the one
that gets smoked but not only that here's what I think is interesting because I was kind of
meditating upon her hand being on the threshold okay now obviously there is a drum it definitely
does deliver some drama like she's just barely alive after what they've done to her she's barely
alive and manages to barely drag herself back to the house and she just doesn't quite get there
right in order to knock on the door and be let in and maybe get some help maybe get some first
aid maybe get some kind of a life-saving care if that's even possible after the abuse she's gone
through we don't really know right there's no detail like that but what we do know is that
she's trying to get back to the house and she doesn't quite get there she's reaching out and
her hands at the threshold at the border but not over the border not she's not in the house she
doesn't make it to safety the house is safety outside is danger death destruction and she's
she's right on the borderline everybody get the picture sort of like the definition of a concubine
right on that borderline is it a wife is it legitimate are they married I mean I don't know
it kind of seems like in this verse they're married but then I got all these other verses
where they're not a wife but then over here it's using words like father-in-law husband
but then over here it's like well it's you know there's the wives and there's the concubines and
it's you know someone that's not legitimate guess what that's what a concubine is just right on that
borderline where it's just almost legitimate well guess what is close but no cigar because guess
what close ain't close enough when you're dead in the street so I believe that a spiritual
significance we could draw from the concubine being right on the threshold almost a legitimate
member of the family almost married almost righteous you know because let's face it obviously
society at one point kind of accepted this idea of well you got a wife and then you got a concubine
and it's sort of like in California they well you've lived together for seven years so yeah
it's kind of like marriage or whatever yeah that's society saying it but it's not God saying it God
says a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife and every concubine in the Bible we
see getting no respect we see concubines being added on in a polygamous relationship that's not
biblical in the first place here we see a guy that doesn't seem to have a wife at all because
no mention of this guy having a wife it's just he took a concubine here's a guy he took a concubine
no wife involved and she's well I mean I mean I mean if it's just him and her what's the difference
aren't they married I mean if it's just him and her and I mean it hold up here's the difference
the difference is right versus wrong you know and it's so easy to ask these questions in 2023
because in 2023 everybody's questioning even the bedrock of our civilization they're even
questioning the foundations of our society well is marriage a man and a woman well I mean are
people really born male and female I mean and you're just like um excuse me what we're having
this conversation but we're living in some crazy times and so you you have people that would ask
like well I mean what's the difference I mean if Kent Hovind is you know you know if they love
each other and you know whatever it's like well here's the thing though there's a difference
between being legally married legitimately married and not being legally legitimately married that's
the difference that's why it's not he took a wife and so obviously this concubine occupies this
liminal space right on the threshold right on the borderline this quasi wife is what you know this
pseudo wife right and it's death it's sin it's wrong okay so don't go through life saying well
okay my situation is kind of like marriage and I kind I go to something that's kind of like a
church and our pastor is kind of qualified and you know we are it's what I read kind of the Bible
but it's you know it's a paraphrase but you know I mean I'm reading a devotional book and it's kind
of like the Bible and you know it's pretty pretty close to being so what we do is kind of like soul
winning kind of I mean because we do a door hanger and I mean you know it's just like like hey make
sure that what you're doing is actually all the way biblical right not quasi biblical not almost
biblical not borderline biblical but you know let's have some institutions in our lives that
are all the way biblical hey how about a marriage that consists of a man and a woman who've promised
to be together for their entire lives and it's just the two of them and they have that document
from the courthouse that says we're married and that's marriage right and they live together how
about that that'd be great okay not a quasi marriage okay how about a church that's actually
a brick-and-mortar assembly of people you say well the church is in the building of course the
church is in the building but you know what the church is though it's actually an assembly of
people it's not just people it's an assembly of people with a preacher who actually is legitimate
and ordained and actually is I mean what's the difference what's the difference if I just had
a bunch of people if I weren't a pastor if I was just a random dude and I just started having a
bunch of people in my living room and calling it church I mean it's pretty much Church right I mean
I mean we got the songs we got preaching we're reading the Bible we're praying what's the
difference the difference is that one has a biblical pastor qualified pastor one is actually
following the model that we see in Scripture where there's an assembly of believers that's growing
that's soul winning that's a pastor that's with families not just three buddies sitting around a
coffee table saying well whether two or three where two or three are gathered together Christ
is in the midst amen where two or three are gathered together Christ is in the midst that's
my breakfast table on a on a slow day you know on a busy day my breakfast table has 12 people
and Christ is in the midst let me tell you but that don't make it church does it so what I'm
saying is you've got all these quasi biblical institutions quasi biblical ideas about how to
live our lives let's get all the way biblical and you young men and young ladies you should make a
commitment to yourself for your own sake also for Christ's sake because if you love Christ you're
gonna keep his commandments but also why don't you respect yourself enough to say hey I'm not
gonna go out there and put myself in harm's way bring upon myself the chastisement of God bring
upon myself shame and ignominy and reproach bring upon myself you know reproach from God's people
by going out and committing fornication why don't you decide you know you're gonna get married and
you're gonna do it right and you know girls if you're with some dude who tries to come at you
with one of these Kent Hovind style marriages no don't even entertain that thought for one second
if he doesn't want to get a marriage license it's because he wants the easy way out okay it's
because he's not taking it seriously if he's taking it seriously he's gonna do it legally
biblically all the way right you don't want to be on this borderline because guess what in volleyball
the lines in but when it comes to God's Word the line is out this isn't volleyball okay the line
is out the line is dead in the street and you become a UPS delivery a few verses later okay
you are sorry you become a FedEx delivery a few verses later all right sorry about that
you don't want to end up in the mail you better be in the house not like well I mean we're practically
married no you're either if there's any question about whether you're married no just no and I've
had I've had people in our church come to me and say well we don't have a marriage license we never
got the marriage license you know are you saying that that we're not legitimately married and I and
I said here I got an idea how about you go get a marriage license and get legally married or I'll
throw you out of the church how about that because I'll just consider you living in fornication if
you don't fix this how about that and they're like oh okay we'll do that and they did but that's the
policy because I mean otherwise otherwise every fornicating couple oh we're married you know we
we did our I look I've had people look at me in my face and tell me well we kind of just did our
own like like we were just by ourselves one night and we just said like hey I take you you take me
and all right here we go that's not that's not biblical marriage okay if if you don't you know
if it isn't legal I won't recognize it and if it isn't legal you're a concubine okay you go from
being a virgin to a wife don't hang out in this this borderline concubine area that's the danger
zone okay get out of there let's borrow isn't a border perk father