Betrayed And Used

Betrayed and Used

The Levite’s Concubine

Read: Judges 19

Janet threw down the newspaper in disgust. Last week she had seen the announcement about her ex-husband’s promotion in the law firm; this week’s paper included an account of his lavish wedding to the senior partner’s daughter. Quite a different lifestyle from our years together, she thought bitterly, as she glanced around her sparsely furnished apartment. Janet had put her own education on hold and worked long shifts as a waitress while her husband finished school. Once he had passed the bar, he informed Janet that he no longer needed her.

The woman in Judges 19 knew about being betrayed and used by men. When a crowd surrounded the house and demanded that the Levite come out for sex, he used his concubine to protect himself. How terrified she must have been when her own husband pushed her out the door! We can only imagine the horrors she endured as the crazed mob took turns raping her all night.

The last verse in Judges explains this sad period in Israel’s history: “All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Today we live in a similar atmosphere. God’s standards of right and wrong have been replaced with moral relativism and situational ethics. People do whatever seems right to them and expect others to tolerate it.

As a result of this moral decay, people selfishly use each other to get what they want, and they leave wounded, bitter men and women in their wake. But even when we feel betrayed by the very ones who should love and protect us, we can be sure that there is Someone who always puts our well-being first. When sin demanded the penalty of death, Jesus didn’t push us out the door. He went out himself to face it—and died on a cross for us.

He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross.

1 Peter 2:24