Scripture Daily

Context No. 1979 of 4322 · Judges

Context · Reflection

Judges 19:1-8: in context

1In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a certain Levite living on the farther side of the hill country of Ephraim, who took for himself a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah. 2His concubine played the prostitute against him, and went away from him to her father’s house to Bethlehem Judah, and was there for four months. 3Her husband arose and went after her to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his servant with him and a couple of donkeys. She brought him into her father’s house; and when the father of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 4His father-in-law, the young lady’s father, kept him there; and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank, and stayed there. 5On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning, and he rose up to depart. The young lady’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward you shall go your way.” 6So they sat down, ate, and drank, both of them together. Then the young lady’s father said to the man, “Please be pleased to stay all night, and let your heart be merry.” 7The man rose up to depart; but his father-in-law urged him, and he stayed there again. 8He arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart; and the young lady’s father said, “Please strengthen your heart and stay until the day declines;” and they both ate.

In the days when there was no king in Israel, a Levite's concubine leaves him and returns to her father's house. Rather than let the breach stand, the man rises and goes after her, to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He travels to her father's house, and there the reunion is warm; her father welcomes him gladly and presses him to stay, day after day, reluctant to let him go. The passage begins with a man taking the initiative to repair a broken relationship, going to the other with kind words to restore it.

The passage opens with an act worth noticing on its own: the man went after the one who had left, to speak kindly to her and bring her back. There was a breach, an estrangement, a relationship broken; and rather than let it stand, rather than nurse the grievance or wait for the other to come to him, he took the initiative to repair it, traveling to her, speaking gently, seeking to restore what had broken. He went toward reconciliation, with kind words, to bring the estranged one back. There is something to learn here about repairing broken relationships. When a relationship is broken, estranged, ruptured by hurt or offense, the instinct is often to let it stand, to wait for the other to make the first move, to nurse the grievance, to leave the breach unrepaired. And relationships left unrepaired tend to stay broken, the estrangement hardening with time. This passage begins with a different instinct: to go after the one estranged, to take the initiative to reconcile, to seek the other out with kind words and the desire to restore. This is the spirit Jesus commends: if you remember that your brother has something against you, go and be reconciled; so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all. Reconciliation often requires someone to take the first step, to go toward the other rather than wait, to speak the kind word that opens the way back. And that someone can be us. When there is a breach in a relationship we value, the call is often not to wait for the other to come, but to take the initiative ourselves, to go toward reconciliation, to speak kindly, to seek to bring back what has been estranged. The man in the story went after the one who had left, to speak kindly and bring her back; and the willingness to take the first step toward a broken relationship, to go with kind words seeking to restore it rather than letting the breach stand, is a step toward the peace God calls his people to pursue.

Is there a broken or estranged relationship in my life that I am letting stand, waiting for the other to make the first move or nursing the grievance, and can I take the initiative as this man did, going toward the other with kind words and the desire to reconcile, taking the first step to repair what is broken rather than leaving the breach unhealed?

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