Judges 19:22–25a

As they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally!”

But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage. Look, here is my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine; let me bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!” But the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them.

There was no 911 for them to call. We don’t know how many men surrounded the house, but obviously the people inside are outnumbered by the men outside. Furthermore, the men outside are violent and perverted. The old man and his guests are trapped.

Their choice of action is disgusting. It’s massively less than chivalrous. The Levite sacrifices his concubine—the same one he so actively pursued just a few days earlier.

It’s a horrible choice, but all the choices are horrible.

The lesson here—and it’s a painful one—is that the threatened homosexual rape is such a great abomination that any alternative is better. One is horrible, but the other is an absolute no.

It’s not a cowardly choice; it’s a logical one.

This speaks strongly to God’s priorities. The creator sees things from a creator’s point of view. He cares about many things that we don’t even think about. More to the point, we can be surprised by what’s important to Him.

God invented sex. He created us male and female. He invented childbirth. He invented families. He invented love. He invented the parts that make sex work and make sex pleasurable. These things are all part of the design of His apex created being.

He also gave us a list of the ten things that are super important to Him. Adultery made His top ten list.

But the Ten Commandments are not verbose. The seventh commandment is only two words in Hebrew — לֹ֣֖א תִּֿגְנֹֽ֔ב, not adultery (masculine, second person singular, imperative). That’s a summary; it’s not the whole concept.

The whole concept is that God gave us a great gift and we are to use that gift the way it was designed. Anything else is an effrontery to its inventor.

Such a great and important gift should make the top ten.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.