(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) 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