The Silent Woman

I weep over her story. I don’t know her name, but every time I read her story in Scripture, I weep. I weep and become angry at the abuse and injustice on the pages of Judges 19-21. These chapters of the Bible are rarely taught or discussed. 

 It is the disturbing and tragic story of the Levite’s concubine, the unnamed woman, the silent woman. She is the silent woman because she is the only character that does not speak in this horrific story. She doesn’t speak, yet life shattering decisions were made for her. She ran away from her husband and returned to her father’s house. After four months, her husband went after her to bring her back. On their way back home, they stopped in Gibeah because the darkness of night had already fallen. An older man of the city offered the Levite his home to stay the night and  much like Genesis 19, perverse men showed up demanding to have their way with the Levite. The older man offered them his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine instead. The perverse men were persistent and the Levite man threw his concubine out to these men and she was abused and raped all night. Weak and near death, she somehow made it back to the door of the house where her husband was sleeping. The door that should have been the door of help, the door of safety, the door of hope. She reached for this door, but death came instead of help, safety and hope. The Levite, her husband, the one who was supposed to protect her, opened the door the following morning and found her on the ground with her hands on the threshold. With no compassion, he told her to get up, but once again she was silent. He then took her home and did the unthinkable, he took a knife and divided her body into twelve pieces and sent each piece to the tribes of Israel along with the story of what happened to his wife. He left out the detail of him throwing out his wife to abusive men in order to protect himself. Israel then gathered to war against the Benjamites of Gibeah for this horrific crime. The other tribes declared they would not give their daughters to marry the men of Benjamin so these men that were left alive after the war were also left without wives. The unthinkable happened yet again. To provide wives for the men of Benjamin, the men of the other tribes kidnapped women for them. Their vengeance over the Levite’s concubine led to more women being abused. 

The last verse of Judges 19, referring to the treatment of the concubine says: “No such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, confer, speak up!”

We must slowly read and take to heart that last line: Consider, Confer, SPEAK UP! 

Speak up for those that are silent. 

For those that feel trapped and are afraid to speak up for themselves, speak up! 

For the innocent children who cannot speak for themselves, speak up!

For the abused and oppressed, speak up!

We can no longer turn a blind eye, Christians.
There are many reaching for the threshold of hope, do we see them?

We must consider, confer, speak up!

I remember when someone gave me the movie “Priceless” and it didn’t take me long to realize that it was about human trafficking. I whispered to the Lord “oh, I can’t watch this.” And He whispered back “that’s what my people have been doing, turning a blind eye to this that breaks my heart.” So, I watched it and wept and prayed and wept more. Since then I’ve watched more videos educating myself on human trafficking committing to pray for these victims asking God to protect them and rescue them and heal them. I also pray for the captors to leave this wickedness and darkness and run to Jesus for mercy and forgiveness.

Satan has twisted God’s design for men as protectors. I find it amazing that the book of Judges ends with this tragic story and the very next book is Ruth. Boaz could have looked down on or taken advantage of Ruth because she was a foreigner and a poor widow. He could have kicked her out of his field where she was gleaning, but instead he desired to protect her and also to marry her redeeming her family’s land and honor. Boaz saw value in Ruth and wanted to protect her and provide for her. 

Human trafficking is a world wide tragedy. As believers, what do we do?
We pray.
We pray for these victims to be rescued and for human trafficking to end! Place a world map on your wall and lay hands on the nations covering them in prayer.
When we are out, we can be observant filled with discernment from God and report anything that looks suspicious.
We educate ourselves and our children. Social media is one of the tools that traffickers use to lure children and teens. Parents must be aware of their children’s online activity and our children must be aware of the dangers of the internet.
Human trafficking is enslavement, but another form of bondage is linked to human trafficking. The bride of Christ must wake up to the fact that the perversion of pornography is fueling human sex trafficking.
We must stop turning a blind eye to what is happening in the world. The evil we see on the news should not cause fear because we do not have a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind! The evil and darkness we hear about and see is a call and a cause to pray! 

In 1 Samuel 17, David became enraged at the giant, Goliath who was defying the army of the living God. Eliab, David’s oldest brother rebuked him trying to discourage and belittle him. David responded with “is there not a cause?” 

Because David was the only one who dared asked “is there not a cause?” the giant that threatened all of Israel was taken down. 

Like David, I ask: “ is there not a cause?”

Is there not a cause to go against this giant of human trafficking?

Is there not a cause to speak up for the silent children and women?

Is there not a cause to pray?

Is there not a cause?

The third verse of the Star Spangled Banner reads, “Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just.”

Yes, conquer we must for our cause is just! 

The story of this silent woman in Judges should grab our attention and break our hearts for those that are silent all around us today. May we speak up for those that cannot speak up for themselves. Lord, rescue, save, heal and strengthen those that are in bondage bringing them into freedom that is only found in You.

“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”
Psalm 82:3

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”
Proverbs 31:8