The Threshold of the house.

[VictoryinJesus]

His concubine played a whore against him. Her husband arose and went after her, to speak friendly to her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him.

...the day draweth toward evening...I pray you tarry all night.

But the man would not tarry that night... but rose up and departed, and came over against Jerusalem. With him were two asses saddled...his concubine was with him.

His servant said to his master, Come, I pray thee, let us lodge in this city of Jebusites.
The master said unto him: We will not turn aside into the city of a stranger that is not of the children of Israel.

The sun went down upon them in Benjamin. They turned aside to lodge in Gibeah.
He sat in the street of the city. For there was no man that took them into his house.
An old man came from his work out of the field at even. But the men of the place were Benjamites. The old man of the city, a wayfaring man in the street, said "Whither goest thou? and whence camest thou?"

The master said: we are passing from Beth--lehem--Judah toward the side of mount Ephraim: from thence am I.
There is no man that receiveth me to house.

Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no want of any thing.

The old man said, Peace be with thee; however let all thy wants lie upon me...but don't lodge in the street. He brought the master into his house. Gave provender unto the asses, washed their feet, and did eat and drink.

The house is beset round about. There is pounding on the door. Shouts for the old man to bring out the man. "Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him."

The old man went out and pleads: don't do it.
The old man offers his daughter and the masters concubine. They are virgins. Humble them, but unto the man...do no such vile thing.
They wouldn't listen.
The master(Lord) gives his concubine. He brings her forth unto the men. They knew her all night until morning, abused her, and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

In the dawning of the day, the woman came, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her Lord was, till it was light.

Her Lord arose up in the morning, opened the doors of the house...behold his concubine had fallen upon the threshold.

"Up, and let us be going," the master said to his concubine.
She didn't answer.
Her Lord took her upon an ass, and took her unto his place.
When the man had come to his house, he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones...into twelve pieces.

He sent her into all the coast of Israel.
Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man. The man, a Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered:

(Judges 20: 4-6)
...I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.
And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead.
And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

1 Samuel 5:4 KJV
[4] And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord ; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.

1 Samuel 5:5 KJV
[5] Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.

The Elect:
Ezekiel 9:3-4 KJV
[3] And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; [4] And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

Ezekiel 10:4-6 KJV
[4] Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory. [5] And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh. [6] And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.


Ezekiel 10:18-19 KJV
[18] Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. [19] And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.


Ezekiel 43:8-12 KJV
[8] In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, (Sin) they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. [9] Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. [10] Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. [11] And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. [12] This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.


Ezekiel 47:1-14 KJV
[1] Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. [2] Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. [3] And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. [4] Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. [5] Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. [6] And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this ? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. [7] Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. [8] Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. [9] And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live:
Fishers of men
and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. [10] And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it (Peter stood upon it)from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. [11] But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. [12] And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. [13] Thus saith the Lord God ; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. [14] And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand (Jesus Christ) to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.


Zephaniah 1:7-18 KJV
[7] Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God : for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. [8] And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel. [9] In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit. [10] And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord , that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills. [11] Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off. [12] And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil. [13] Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof. [14] The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord : the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. [15] That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, [16] A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. [17] And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord : and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. [18] Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Zephaniah 2:10-15 KJV
[10] This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts. [11] The Lord will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen. [12] Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. [13] And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. [14] And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. [15] This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am , and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

What is the point?

Judges is not simply about the mistreatment of women. Concubines, cattle, possessions and such. If you get nothing more out of this post, I pray you see, it all points to Christ. There is a spiritual message there. In Noah and his sons. And in Lot with his daughters. The depth of the Word is never ending.