SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON. FEBRAURY 11,2018.TOPIC: CONSEQUENCES OF IMMORALITY

SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON. FEBRAURY 11,2018
TOPIC: CONSEQUENCES OF IMMORALITY

MEMORY VERSE: Roman 1:28. Even as they did not like to retain in God in their Knowledge, God gave them over to reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient (KJV).

LESSON TEXT: Judges 19:1 through 21:3

CENTRAL TRUTH: Sin compounds, taking a person farther from God.

FOCUS: To seriously reflect on the downward spiral of sinfulness and determined to live righteously.

OUTLINE:
1. An Inhospitable place.
A. The Beginning of the Problem
B. Welcome Hospitality
2. Horrible Acts Committed
A. A Dark Night
B. Call to Arms
3. Civic War Incurred
A. Brothers At War
B. On the Brink of Extinction

                 LESSON OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:]
1. Explain the Broadening downward spiral of sin and its consequences
2. Empathise with those who are mistreated and abuse, and discover ways to help.
3. Identify the impact of sin’s consequences and how to avoid them.

INTRODUCING THE LESSON
      The writer of Judges closes his history with one final story that brings the reader to the edge his seat as they vary the existence of Israel as a nation is the threatened from within. The story begins with a woman leaving her husband for some unknown reason and concludes with the tribe of Benjamin near extinction. How could this happen? What could make it possible for something like this to occur? It happens when one follows the way of sin and does what is right in his own eyes.

1. An Inhospitable Place
A. The Beginning of the Problem. Judges 19:9-15
       QUESTION: What makes this account in Judges different from other ones we studied in this unit?
       The background behind this lesson is unusual in that it states that there was no king in Israel and the Israelites were under bondage to another country because of sin. Rather it is a story of Levites and his concubine, and the atrocities that were committed while staying in Benjamite town of Gibeah.
        The concubine of Levite, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim, had left him and gone back to her father in Bethlehem. She had been unfaithful, but the Levite followed her to Bethlehem four months later to persuade her to return. For three days, the Levite and the woman’s father ate and drank together. And he was persuaded to stay a fourth day ( see Judges 19:1-8).
   Finally, on the fifth day, the man resisted the father’s pleading to stay another day. However, the Levite with his concubine, servants, donkeys  did not leave until late in the day. After sometime travelling, they arrived near Jebus. Jebus would will later become Jerusalem but at this time, it was still occupied by the Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe ( Judges 19:9-10).
    With the day close to ending, the servant recommended that they stay the night in Jebus. However, the Levites knew that the Jebusite does not have a part among the people of Israel and refused to stay in the company of the Gentile. Instead, he chose to press on to Gibeah, a city in the Benjamite territory ( verses 11-13).
     As the sun set, they finally arrived in Gibeah. Unfortunately, no one extend an invitation for the travellers to stay in their homes. This was counter to the culture of the day. It was expected that the people would show hospitality to strangers by opening their homes to them. The man went to the city square to wait for an invitation. If none came, they would have to stay the night in the open air( verse 14-15).
     It is important to note that the father-in-law had begged the Levite to stay until later on the fifth day. This delayed them to get an early start to travel to Ephraim’s hill country. In addition, the man refused to stay in Jebus because it was a Gentile place. He arrived at Gibeah, a city belonging to Israel, where he rightly expected, but did not receive, hospitality.

B. Welcome Hospitality. Judges 19:16-21
When it seem the traveller would have to stay at the city square, an older man suddenly arrived on the scene. Yet, this man was not a Benjamite. He was from Ephraim but was staying in Gibeah. The author of Judges emphasized it was not a Benjamite who extended hospitality to the stranger but a man who belonged to another tribe. Hope was temporarily renewed that not all was  lost . There was at least one person who offered hospitality, even if he was from another tribe in Israel( Judges 19:16).
         When the old man saw the travellers, he asked the Levite who he was and where he was  going ( verse 17). The man’s response seems straightforward. However some translations read that he stated that he was going to the house of the Lord, while others said that he was going home. Most ancient manuscripts lean toward the former. The house of the Lord was at Shiloh at this time so he may have been planning  to stop there to offer an offering of thanksgiving ( verses 17-18).
      The man continued by saying he had all the supplied that he needed. He just needed shelter. This offered assurance that he wouldn’t be a burden because he could provide for his own. He simply wanted a place to stay the night.
       The old man agreed to show hospitality to the Levite. They could stay with him, and he would provide for their needs. The old man also emphatically told him not to stay the night at the square. The author was perhaps giving a clue that not all is well in Gibeah; perhaps he knew it wasn’t safe ( verse 19-20). So, the old man took in the travellers. He fed their donkeys. He gave them water to wash their feet, and they ate and drank together. This was hospitality as it was meant to be according to the custom of the day (verse 21).

2. Horrible Acts Committed.
A. A Dark Night. Judges 19:22-26
      Hospitality had been extended to the travellers. They had shelter, food, drink, and good company. Yet, the night wasn’t over. It soon became obvious why no one took these travellers in.
Men from Gibeah surrounded the house and began beating on the door. They were wicked men, demanding that the traveller be sent outside so that the men could rape him (Judges 19:22). Similar events transpired when Lot lived in Sodom before God destroyed it. The men of Gibeah has clearly embraced the immoral practice of the Canaanites, behaving in the same way as those two condemned cities. How would it have come to this? How could God’s people have so completely turned their backs on Him?
     Rather than give in to their demand, the old man went out to plead with them. He begged the Gibeonites to not hurt the man. He told them what they wanted to do to the traveller was disgraceful. The man then offered his virgin daughter and the concubine in his place.
QUESTION: Why did the man offer his daughter and the Levite’s concubine rather than let Benjamites commit sodomy?
       Sodomy is abominable, but to give one’s daughter or concubine to save one’s life is also abominable as well as unconscionable. Whereas the Benjamites’ plan to rape the man was wicked and vile, at the end the Levite gave them his concubine- in essence sacrificing her for the sake of himself. He sent her outside to be abused and raped. He would not allow himself  to be humiliated by the men of the city. This shows a complete breakdown of moral judgement by the old man and the Levite. The old man wanted to do right by the traveller, but completely failed to do right by the woman (verse 23-24).
    What follows is one of the most violent scenes in the Bible. Yet, the description of these horrific acts can in a way capture the reality of the suffering and abuse the concubine endured. She was repeated abused and raped all night long. Certainly, the woman must have screamed for help. Her screams apparently went unanswered; an entire town turned a deaf ear ( verse 25).
     The ravaging abuse ended as the sun began to show it first light of the new day. It had been a dark night consumed in spiritual darkness. The concubine somehow made it back to the house and collapsed at the door (verse 26).
QUESTION: Why do people turn a deaf ear to those who are victimized by evils of the society in which we live?
      Even in today’s society, people seem to be more concerned about their own self-preservation. They don’t want to get involved
QUESTION: How can we get involved in rescuing woman caught in the trap of sex trafficking?

B. Call To Arms. Judges 19:27-30
         The author of Judges goes on to describe the Levite’s callousness and lack of compassion. When he opened the door, he “stepped out to continue on his way” ( Judges 19:27, NIV),as though he no longer had any concerned for the woman. He simply told her to go up. When  she didn’t answer, he picked her up, put her on the donkey, and took her home (verses 27-28). It is plan that she succumbed to her horrific injuries, suffered through the night. Perhaps it is not surprising that he is impersonally called her “master” rather than her husband in verse 27.
        When he got her home, he cut her body into twelve pieces and sent each of the pieces to the twelve tribes, including the offending tribe of Benjamin. This might have served as an appear for justice for her death.
    It is an appealing sense. In other to save himself, a Levite – a man set apart for priestly service – sacrificed a woman who had lived with him as a wife to a group of wicked Benjamites. He then dismembered her body, sending it throughout Israel ( verse 29). What a sad commentary to the spiritual condition of Israel. 
QUESTION: Why would the Levite dismember his concubine and send the parts to all the territories of Israel?
   This question is very hard to answer because there does not seem to be a precedent in Isreal’s history.. It may be that the Levite want the whole Israel to know how serious the crimes of the Gibeonite were. The Israelites reacted with anger and puzzlement as how such a thing could happened in Israel(verse 30).

3. Civil War Incurred

A. Brothers At War. Judges 20:12-14,20-21,25-28
 QUESTION: How could the tribe of Benjamin have avoided a civil war?
       Benjamin could have avoided civil war by simply doing the right thing. They should have apprehended the wicked men of Gibeah and surrounded them for punishment as the Law required. Instead the Benjamin leaders stood by the Gibeomites and protected them. Doing so was in essence an endorsement of their wickedness(Judges 20:12-14).
      War then ensued as a result of the Benjamite leaders protecting the wicked men (verses 20-21). The hilly terrain near Gibeah gave an initial advantage to the Benjamites, who killed 22,000 Israelites on the first day and 18,000 on the second day ( verse25).
       The Israelite then sought the Lord at Bethel (The location of the ark of the covenant at that time). Led by the ministry of the priest Phinehas they wept and fasted (verses 26-28), praying earnestly for the Lord’s direction. He responded, assuring them that the next day they would win the battle.

B. On the Brink of Extinction. Judges 20:48 through 21:3.
        The next day Israel again took up their position. By the time the battle ended, they had routed the Benjamites (Judges 20:48, see verse 29-47). In fact, only 600 men remained (see verse 46).
        It is usually the case that at the end of the battle, the warriors will celebrate their victory. This was not what happened when Israel defeated the Benjamites, their own brother and fellow tribe. Instead, they mourned and lamented the situation that had been reached ( Judges 21:1-3). It was a tragic scene, shattering the brotherhood that should have existed between the tribes.
QUESTION: Why do you think Israel reached such a point where such a war take place, nearly extinguishing an entire tribe?
     When the battle was over, Isreal cried out to God as to why it had happened. The answer might best be seen in a statement from Judges 3:6. This verse records that they had compromised their commitment to God by intermarrying with the Canaanites. They invited sin into their midst. They were to be blame.
      Although it was a tragic and dark day for the nation Israel, the other tribes were able to salvage what happened to Benjamin (see verse 4-24; note that the first King of Israel came from the remnant of Benjamin).
QUESTION: How can this be a lesson for us in our battle against sin?

DISCIPLESHIP IN ACTION:
What began as a four-months separation between a  man and his concubine turned into a civil war and the near annihilation of one of Israel’s tribe. Although, this could have been avoided at any number of points along the way, each event added to the peril. Once the way of sin is embraced, it is not easy to turn away and often leads to tragedy. Although the Holy Spirit will check us when we are tempted to sin – and will make a way for us to escape (1 Corinthians 10:13) – we still have free will to follow the sin we want to embrace. The seriousness of sin and its growing power over our ability to discern right from wrong and good from evil, requires that we act today to resolve it. Invite students to participate in a time of corporate confession and repentance. Take a time seeking God for a work of renewal in people’s lives.

MINISTRY IN ACTION:
Discuss what student can do to help address sex trafficking.