THE SOBBIN’ WOMEN by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction:  I’m sure I have seen the movie “7 Brides for 7 Brothers” just about 30 times. “How can I be so sure?” It is one of Nicole’s favorite movies, which she watches once every year, and we’ve been married for 30 years. It is a musical that came out in 1954, based on the short story “The Sobbin’ Women” by Stephen Vincent Benét (hence the title of today’s message). It is based on the Roman tale of the abduction and rape of the Sabine women but adapted to the American pioneer period. As the movie goes, the brothers go into a town in the Oregon Territory and abduct a girl each and bring her back to the homestead. At first, the girls are very upset, but, eventually, they fall in love with the guys and marry them. It has a happy ending. Even though our final message in the book of Judges has a very similar storyline, it does not have the same happy ending. In fact, it is a case of a horrendous crime in ancient times – bride kidnapping. The word “rape” comes from the Latin “raptum,” which means “to seize,” to snatch,” or “to carry off by force.” Some parts of the world still have the “marry-your-rapist” laws. Main Point: In the ancient world, women were often treated with contempt and cruelty. The coming of Christianity radically changed that. Even though Jesus did not start a women’s movement, his actions and words shocked many and drew women by the droves to the gospel. The Bible elevated the status of women by declaring – “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Everywhere Christianity has gone, it has raised the standard of women. The further we get away from our Judeo-Christian foundation, the more we return to the evil and unfair treatment of women (bathroom laws or men in women’s sports are just symptoms of an ancient problem).

Judges 21 (page number 407-408) 16 Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” 17 And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel. 18 However, we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn an oath, saying, “Cursed be the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.’ ” 19 Then they said, “In fact, there is a yearly feast of the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” 20 Therefore they instructed the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in wait in the vineyards, 21 and watch; and just when the daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their dances, then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh; then go to the land of Benjamin.

Context: Last weekend, we looked at the Civil War between the tribes of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. The reason for the war was the horrendous rape and murder by a group of unruly men, sons of Belial, in Gibeah of the Levite’s concubine (wife without a dowry). Instead of handing over the culprits the people of Gibeah and the tribe of Benjamin decided to harbor them. Now, the entire tribe of Benjamin was guilty. All of them had to die. Never forget that justice is not divisible. At the end of the bloody Civil War, the body count was 66,130. That’s how seriously God took the life of one woman!

But, unfortunately, the people of Israel did not finish the job. Judges 20:47 “But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months.” We can see this as the hidden sin that many of us have in our lives. We think that it’s not a big deal and that God doesn’t care as long as we handle the big stuff. That’s not true. Just like this incident is going to come back to haunt them, our hidden sins also come back to haunt us.

Let’s pick up in Judges 21.       1 Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” 2 Then the people came to the house of God, and remained there before God till evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly, 3 and said, “O LORD God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?” The answer: Have you forgotten? Don’t you remember the gang rape and murder of the Levite’s wife?

So, they hatch a diabolical plan? Judges 21.       4 So it was, on the next morning, that the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5The children of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up with the assembly to the LORD?” For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who had not come up to the LORD at Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” 6 And the children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel today. 7 What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them our daughters as wives?” 8 And they said, “What one is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Mizpah to the LORD?” And, in fact, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly. 9 For when the people were counted, indeed, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead was there. Background: Jabesh Gilead was a city from the half-tribe of Manasseh on the Transjordanian side. 10 So the congregation sent out there twelve thousand of their most valiant men, and commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and children. 11 And this is the thing that you shall do: You shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has known a man intimately.” Not much prayer and seeking God’s guidance and direction here. It’s all about gut feeling, intuition, and sensationalism. In this state of high emotionalism, they came up with an evil scheme – Judges 21       12 So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man intimately; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13 Then the whole congregation sent word to the children of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and announced peace to them. 14 So Benjamin came back at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead; and yet they had not found enough for them. 15 And the people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel. 16 Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” This is the passage we read in the opening. God had not instructed them in any of this. This is all part of their own disobedient ungodly emotionalism.

Listen to their next diabolical plan – Judges 21      17 And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel. 18However, we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn an oath, saying, “Cursed be the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.’ ” 19 Then they said, “In fact, there is a yearly feast of the LORD in Shiloh…” Shiloh – where Israel gathered to worship God before Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem. It was the first home for the Ark of the Covenant under Joshua until it was captured by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4). 19 Then they said, “In fact, there is a yearly feast of the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” The specific directions are also very important. They didn’t know how to get to church! Here are the instructions: 20 Therefore they instructed the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in wait in the vineyards, 21 and watch; and just when the daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their dances, then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh; then go to the land of Benjamin.” Did you catch the irony? This entire Civil War happened because a handful of men from the town of Gibeah of the tribe of Benjamin had gang-raped and killed a minister’s wife…Now, the 200 men of the tribe of Benjamin who had escaped the battle by hiding out for 4 months in the wilderness at the Rock of Rimmon were being told to go and abduct women who had come out to Shiloh to worship God. These women who were dancing in praise to God were probably the women who were dedicated to keeping the sanctuary of God or they were the daughters of the priests who ministered to God at Shiloh! While the men of Gibeah had raped the Levite’s wife all night, the Benjamites were now given the permission to do the same in broad daylight!

If you don’t get rid of the problem, you will replicate the problem. If you don’t reject the sin, it will become your own sin.

What if their family finds out? Judges 21       22 Then it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we will say to them, “Be kind to them for our sakes, because we did not take a wife for any of them in the war; for it is not as though you have given the women to them at this time, making yourselves guilty of your oath.’ ” No one cared to ask – “What about the young women who were raped?” Keep in mind that these are not some dashing young men like in the movie. They are from the same stock that wanted to rape the Levite man that night… Judg. 21:25   In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Now, we have come full circle in the book of Judges. God’s people (even the good guys) have become Canaanites, when it comes to women. In opening of Judges, we read about the Canaanite general Sisera who was defeated by the Judges Barak and Deborah. He fled and came to tent of Jael (the Kenite woman), and she drove a tent peg through his temple. Then, Deborah, in her song, praises God, praises those who fought against Jabin, King of Canaan, praises Jael for her bravery, but then she mentions Sisera’s mother – Judges 5       28 “The mother of Sisera looked through the window, And cried out through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?’ 29 Her wisest ladies answered her, Yes, she answered herself, 30 “Are they not finding and dividing the spoil: To every man a girl or two…” Silly me…I forgot!

As I mentioned in the opening – In the ancient world, and even our world today, women have been treated with contempt and injustice. I don’t have time to go to the very ancient times but just a focus on the Greco-Roman times when Jesus came into this world (See Under the Influence by Alvin Schmidt and Unimaginable by Jeremiah Johnston): In Athens, women were to remain in the Gynaeceum (quarters in the husband’s home); In ancient Greece, a man was allowed a Hetaera (legal mistress); In Greco-Roman times, women had to wear a veil in public; Hippolytus (in Euripides, the playwright) asks: “Why have you given a home beneath the sun, Zeus, to a woman, specious curse to man?”; father had absolute power (Patria potestas) over family members; a Roman husband had manus (absolute power over wife); a Roman woman was labeled a “infamia” for being disobedient to her husband; Juvenal (the Roman satirist) says, “There is nothing a woman will not permit herself to do”; female babies were often aborted or exposed to die; child brides were common, and still are in some places; Sati was practiced in India (sometimes with girls as young as 12-13, a 1987 case is back in 2024); foot binding in China, and the list goes on. Unfortunately, even among the Jewish people, as they interacted and learned from their surrounding cultures, women were treated with similar contempt. One rabbi said, “Let the words of the Law be burned rather than taught to a woman…” I don’t have time to talk about Islam – And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice [between them], then [marry] only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course” (Quran 4.3).

All this began to change with the coming of Christ – he treated women with dignity and honor: Samaritan woman, Mary-Martha, Women first at the Resurrection, early church opened the doors to women. This changed the family setting, bridal freedom, took down the veil, and much more. 1 Peter 3:7 “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”

Being Christmas Sunday, I would like for us to read Luke 1 but with this new understanding – Luke 1 (page number 1579) 26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” 29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” 35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.” 38Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Then God sent an angel to even talk to Joseph because he was minded to put her away secretly.

How does God think of women? He gave his Son to die for you. He gave his Son for all of us. Do you know Jesus? You need him. Our world needs him.