Image via Wikipedia

 In the days of the Judges of Bible times, There is a gory story that could blow ones mind,There was this Levite the story goes,Whose concubine ( a secondary wife)was unfaithful and she returned to her father as women in those days did if they were able, Apparently the Levite missed her and determined to go and get her, Taking a servant they set out for Bethlehem or there abouts,The woman met him at the door and introduced himto her Dad,With great delight the Levite was invited in to stay a day or two, For three days they ate and drank enjoying themselves thoroughly, On the fourth day the Levite decided it was time to go home, packed and ready by dawns early light,The father suggested they ate before they departed,The first mistake it seems to me,The day wore on and dusk was falling so the father said you better wait till morning, Next day ready to leave, again the old father offered him food,Later that day the Levite arose determined that day to be on the road, Gathering his concubine,his servant and donkeys they headed off towards home via Jebus (the old name for Jerusalem) The servant suggested the stop over there, But the Levite would not stay in any foreign city,We will go on to Gilbeah that belongs to the Tribe of Benjamin, We should be safe there, Reaching the town they entered the Square, Hoping that some one would invite them to stay for the night, Not one person in that town invited them in,Till an old man returning from his work in the fields found them,He asked where they came from and where they were going,The Levite informed him they were on their way home to Ephraim,Having travelled from Bethlehem that afternoon, The old man said you can’t stay in the square over night,Come home with me your welcome there. Taking him up on his offer the travellers followed him home, They had no sooner settled in for the night, When there came a loud banging on the door that gave them a fright, Outside there had gathered some wicked men, Who wanted to make sport of the Levite right there and then, The old man protested that  wouldn’t be fair, To treat a guest that way would not be right. However he offered to appease them with his virgin daughter and the Levites concubine,The men of the town would not listen,And continued to raise such a din.The Levite then pushed his concubine out the door,All through that night those men used and abused her,At dawn’s early light they let her go,She crawled back to the door, And died on the step, The Levite came out later that morning, Finding her there he said get up lets be on our way,When there was no answer he bundled her up on a donkey,Taking her body home he cut it into twelve pieces, Them out to each tribe in Israel.This brought most of the tribes out in alarm, That a tribe of Israel could do an other harm,Gathering together they decided to demand that those men be made to make restitution, Instead of handing the men over the tribe of Benjamin disputed the matter,Joining together they took up their stance, No way would these men have to pay for what they had done, So the other tribes finally brought God in to the matter,At Gilgal they gathered to pray and fast, They asked God who should go up against the Benjaminites, Judah was nominated to go to face the foe, Sadly the Benjaminites beat them and drove them back,Again they went to the Lord asking who should face the foe this time, again Judah was nominated, again the tribe of Benjamin won the day. Finally after much prayer and fasting, they were able with God’s help to  capture the town and killed all the people with in. Only six hundred men escaped over the hills. Not long after that the rest of the tribes realised they were now missing one tribe as they had sworn not to give their daughters to any Benjaminites in marriage .Being resourceful people they remembered their were tribes that didn’t come to avenge the Levite, so they attacked these towns and took away the young women, still they didn’t have enough. Remembering the festival due to begin, where young girls came out to dance on the green ,they told the Benjaminites to take captive the girl they wanted for their wives and so it  came to pass.  To my mind all this could have been avoided if they had gone to God in the first place.