In this video listen to Judges 19 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In Judges 19 is a story spanning three chapters. One writer Campbell called this narrative the “sewer of scripture.” It outlines how low people could get without proper guidance, and with hearts that did whatever they felt was right.

This story was also in the early period of the Judges, after Joshua died, but before Phinehas died, according to the Pulpit commentary. So it indicates that things were bad early on, and only got worse. A Levite went to try to win his concubine back from her father’s house. Her father kept encouraging him to stay longer. That apparent strange behaviour is completely understandable in a world with no communication.

He was probably not going to see his daughter again for a very long time. Even so, the Levite ends up leav ...