#15 a Levite: possibly Johnathan with some deep hurt.
Judge #15 a Levite: possibly Johnathan with some deep hurt.
We never learn his name but we find out all of what is about to happen happened when
1. Jerusalem was still in Jebusite control, so before David.
2. Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron was serving as preist. Who was born in the last days of Egyptian slavery and died around the time of the first Judge Othniel. He would have been a contemporary of Joshua in the Battle of Jericho.
“When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Please, why not let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here? ”
“Then the Israelites inquired of the Lord. In those days, the ark of the covenant of God was there, and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving before it. The Israelites asked: “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites or should we stop? ” The Lord answered: “Fight, because I will hand them over to you tomorrow.”
Judges 20:27-28 HCSB
I can’t but wonder if this Levite is Johnathan Judge #14. Both of these men were priests in the hill country of Ephraim during the early years of the judges. Johnathan was Moses’ grandson and this man lived during the time of Phinehas the grandson of Aaron. Johnathan and this man’s concubine was from Bethlehem.
So here is how the story might have gone according to me, I’ll try to keep it short.
One day in Bethlehem a young priest looked to his concubine and said “I am going up north to find a place to live! Are you coming with me?” She said yes. So they traveled up to the hill country of Ephraim. After a few months up there she went back home to visit her family for four months. Johnathan began to miss her and traveled back to Bethlehem to get her back. When they were traveling back home she was raped by the men of Gibeah and died the next morning. He then put her up on his donkey and finished his traveling home. He cut her up into 12 pieces and sent her to the twelve tribes of Israel. Who then gathered for battle against the town of Gibeah in Benjamin. After the battle, he began to look for work and Micah found him and recognized him for his work in the battle. He then moved into Micah’s house to be his priest over his idols and soon he moved with the Danite tribe to their newly captured territory.
There is no evidence in the Bible that this story is true but there are so many facts in both stories that line up that it could be true just written down by two different people from different oral traditions.
During the post of Johnathan, we decided that he was not willing to put down his foot to insist Micah and the Danites follow God. But now we may see why! He was so hurt by God, the Benjaminites, and his concubine that he gave up following God and allowed the idols to run and ruin his life.
Let us not let our sin run and ruin our lives. God is disappointed in our sins but He loves us while we are in our sin to bring us back to Himself through repentance.
“But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!”
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