Yesterday was a very hot day, even for July.  In the evening, Halley and I went to our cottage to relax by our fireplace on our deck.  On days like that, the ice maker in our house never keeps up with the kids.  Just like fire, they never say, "Enough."  However, once on the deck, I remembered that we had ice cubes in the freezer in the cottage, so I got a tray for Halley and myself to share.  It felt wonderful.  After a little while, I noticed something floating in the cup, so I picked it out, and again a few minutes later.  Then Halley commented quizzically, “I think I have mold floating in my cup.”  Sure enough; both cups had a ton of mold floating around.  The freezer had been off for a while at some point and the ice cube trays had been covered with mold in the warm, stagnant air and refrozen later.  Solomon said, "Dead flies make the perfumer's oil stink..."  I found that dead water had the same effect!  
 
The Problem is Stagnation   
    Jesus gave a specific message to 7 churches in Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3.  The last church was Laodicea.  His message to Laodicea was very clear.  They had stagnated.   
   "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."  - Revelation 3:15-16
     I guess, now I know what that is like.  Jesus goes on to explain how they had become stagnate; "Becasue you say, I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing.  And you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor blind and naked."
    It is great to be content with where God is taking you.  It is terrible to be content staying with where you are at.  Let me repeat: it is great to be satisfied with where you are going in the Lord and what He is doing in you and through you. It is terrible to stop there!   
 
Two Ways to Stagnate 
   A.  The first type of stagnation is in your own personal growth in the Lord.  David said he would come forth as gold refined in the fire 7 times.  When smiths worked with gold they would heat it up and the dross would rise to the surface for them to skim off the top.  It was the practice of David's time to attain more purity every time the gold went into the refining fire.  In the same way, each time God heats up our personal life, He wants to bring things to the surface that we can remove out of our lives.  I usually do not know what it would take for me to something wrong until a situation occurs that brings to the surface the sin that is latent in my heart.  Sometimes this is pride, anger and worry. When God brings it to the surface, it is a beautiful and painful opportunity to be zealous and repent!
 B. The second type of stagnation is in our conversations with others.  Paul said, “Let your conversation always be full of grace seasoned with salt.” (Col. 4:6)  What does that mean?   I believe, "full of grace" is the Gospel and "seasoned with salt," is the testimony of believers, who are "the salt of the earth." (Matt. 5:13)

Salt Heals 
      When the mantle was passed from Elijah to Elisha in the same way that it was to pass from John to Jesus, Elisha began his ministry at Jericho. The people of Jericho had a problem.  They said, “We have a great place here, but the water is nasty, so the land doesn't grow anything well.” (My own paraphrase.)  Elisha asked that they bring him a new bowl with salt.  He then went to the spring of the city and threw all the salt from the bowl into the spring.  God healed the spring of water, and it was no longer bad. (2nd Kings 2:19-22)  We must allow God to flow our from our mouths living waters to those around us.  
    If you go to Jericho today, you will see a vibrant stream of clean water flow out from under Tel Jericho.  The land is also productive.  The city recently celebrated its one millionth date palm tree in the field along the East side of the city.   
    Having our conversations "seasoned with salt" is about having life-giving conversations with people every day.  We should be including God’s love, grace and peace in each conversation.  Those around us need to hear from God through us. They do not need our own words.  This requires us not quenching the Holy Spirit through sin in our own life and allowing the power of the Spirit to work through us. 
 
Two Solutions 

  Jesus gave the Church at Laodicea two solutions for their dilemma: zeal and repentance: 'Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with Me."   (Rev. 3:19-20)
   While not all zeal is good--we can certainly be passionate for wrong causes, Paul instructs us that zeal can be very beneficial when directed toward the things of God--loving God and loving people. "It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you." Gal. 4:18.  It is this zeal or passion that drives us to complete our repentance on a daily basis, redirecting our hearts away from what brings death and consequence and toward what brings us and those around us fruitful benefit--the result of a good conscience toward God: purity, peaceful relationships, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy (James 3:17).
    When God rebukes us in our spirit or through our conscience, we can rejoice that He loves us and embrace Him in repentance!  In our conversations with others, let's share our testimonies.  There are two basic ways of doing this: 

   A. Share what God has done in us; 
   B. Share what God has taught us or is currently teaching us.  

    Let's strive to include one or both as often as we are given the opportunity. "Neither the one who plants, nor the one who waters are anything, but only God who makes all things grow." (1st Cor. 3:7) He wants to cause growth through our conversations! 

     Some stories in the Bible are easy to simplify.  They generally follow a satisfying pattern with beautiful resolution at the end.  This is because God orchestrated the times and places in the Bible and finds pleasure in resolution and because every person and event in Scripture has lesson and purposes.  They are physical pictures of spiritual realities.  
        But this story seems the opposite in every way! 
      There was a beautiful young woman who belonged to the city of the house and line of Judah; she lived with her father in Bethlehem.  Her father cared deeply for her and wanted only the best marriage for his daughter.  This is deonstrated throughout the story in many ways. She was dearly loved.  
       In a small city like Bethlehem everyone would have known her.   If you lived in Bethlehem at the time, she would have been your friend.  She would have been known and loved.  You would have rejoiced with the rest of the city when you heard that she had been chosen by a husband.  And he was a Levite! He was a spiritual leader of the nation!  Later, she became furious with him and left him to return to her father’s house. (Masoretic texts likely insert that she played the harlot as an explanation of the remaining story. LXX A and B, Targumim, Josephus and other manuscripts do not. See Footnotes) I am sure her godly friends and relatives were praying for her and her marriage.   
       Suddenly, after 4 months, her husband showed up with a servant and 2 donkeys “to speak his heart” to her.  Scripture records that her father was greatly joyed to see her husband come to show he cared and was willing to make the journey to persuade her of his devotion.  Her husband spoke so kindly with her that she decided to return home with him.  Ahh, yes, and they rode off into the sunset.  The end … until the sun set.   
        I know this is the way that stories are supposed to end.   
       When the sun went down, they were staying at the house of a kindly old man who took them in as guests for the night on their journey to visit to the “house of God.” Even better, the old man had a young daughter for her to talk to.  They were enjoying themselves.   
        Then they heard a pounding on the door.   
     ​   Her heart must have been scared.  But at least she had her husband who had spent the last five days speaking kindly with her and persuading her of his love and devotion.   
      Some “men of beliyyaal” which means, “of no value” or “empty” demanded that the owner of the house to “bring out the Levite (that is, her husband) so they could rape him.”   
This young girl probably feared for her husband who over the last 5 days had thoroughly gushed with his passionate love and longing for her.  It would have been sickening to hear the old man suggest that the men at the door rape the old man’s virgin daughter as an alternative to the Levite.  Then, with no right or question, the old man added her to the barter.  Then she felt a clenched grip.  The Hebrew word here means “strength”.  Her husband decided to use his strength.  And he used it to seize his wife and throw her out the door! 
       Out there in the darkness, she was raped and abused for the entire night.  Feeling an unspeakable level of betrayal through a night that seemed without end.  The word used for this abuse is the Hebrew word, “to glean.”  It was a relentless atrocious attack that started with her being sacrificed by the one who had covenanted to protect her.   
       Though she felt everything, she was silent as a lamb through the entire narrative.  She never spoke a word. 
     In the morning, she came to the house where her husband was staying and died with her hands holding onto the threshold.  The threshold has a symbolic meaning throughout Scripture as a place of authority, responsibility and protection: Every right that was stripped and gleaned from her life she laid at the threshold where her husband was sleeping. 
      Her husband opened the doors in the morning “to go on his way.”  Hence, he was not expecting to take her with him.  But after he saw his “wife” on the threshold he walked over or past her body and told her to “get up and come” with him.  When she did not respond, he took her back home, cut her into 12 pieces and sent her body throughout the nation of Israel. 
     She was the silent sacrifice.  She was taken outside into the darkness and given to people of the nation of Israel to be mistreated.  She was betrayed by those who should have protected her.   
      The first reference to her in the story was called an Ish-ah, that is, a wife.  Whenever she was at her father’s house and under his protection she was referred to as the young woman or girl.  Whenever she was with her husband, she was his concubine.  However, once he had her away from her home, he introduced her to the old man as his maidservant.   
      Well, the story should be better now because, at least, she is dead and away from further pain, right?  Wrong!  The tribe of Benjamin would not allow trial, punishment, or prevention of the individuals responsible for the rape and murder.  The rest of the nation made war against Benjamin, massacred all the women and children and then sanctioned abduction and rape of hundreds more young women who were on their way to worship the Lord at Shilo to replace the wives of the Benjamites that they had massacred. 
       This story is so horrible that I always wanted to get past it as quickly as possible.   It is also a story that is so frustrating because the solution/resolution only made matters worse.    However, the story is also fascinating with many insights and prophesies.   
      First, her story introduces the Tale of Three Cities.  The two competing cities are Bethlehem and Gibeah with Jerusalem between them.  These two polar cities continue a life and death struggle for the nation of Israel and the people of God until the time of Jesus.  Jesus is the seed of Bethlehem and completed the story that was foreshadowed by each of these power-filled struggles of Bethlehem and Gibeah.  Gibeah is the arch nemesis of Bethlehem!   That study is for another time.  
 
Prophetic Parallels with Jesus’ birth and death 
       These parallels are not intended to be exhaustive.  Rather, they are observations of prophetic pictures which have more packed into them.  

Parallels with Jesus Life 

1. O Little Town of Bethlehem.  This unnamed young woman was from Bethlehem; the town of David and the birthplace of Jesus.   

1. The Father’s house – She left her father’s house and went to a place where she had the right to be protected and loved.  Instead, she was abused and killed.  

1. She was betrayed.  This point has many factors of similarity.  First, she was betrayed by a Levite, and one who had sworn to protect her.  Jesus was betrayed the Levitical priests to protect themselves, they decided to kill Jesus because, “If we let Jesus go on like this, the Romans will come and take away our place and our nation.” (John 11:48) and Judas.  Judas’ name in Hebrew is also the same name from which we get the name “Jews.”  I believe Judas was simultaneously embodying both the betrayal of the nation of Israel and the betrayal of the priesthood.  This young woman endured a fate that points forward to the betrayal of a suffering Messiah as prophesied in Psalm 22, Isaiah 53 and other passages.  If that were not the case, many of these details would not have been recorded in an otherwise obscure story.  Many of Jesus’ parables dealt with these same aspects of his own betrayal and death. 

1. On the last day of her life, she was taken from Bet-lehem to Jebus (which is Jerusalem) then to Gibeah of Benjamin.  Gibeah was to become the seat of power of Saul.  and is often referred to in Scripture as Gibeah of Saul.  God draws a clear Juxtaposition between the choosing Israel’s first king, Saul (The rejected king), and his reign, in contrast with the selection of Israel’s second king, David.  This young lady was from Bethlehem and was abused and killed by the people of Gibeah after going to Jerusalem and leaving Jerusalem as darkness was rising. 

1. She came to Jerusalem gently and humbly, riding on a donkey. Later, Zechariah prophesies that this will be the manner and method of future King of Israel, when he comes. (Zechariah 9:9-10). This king will bring peace and salvation.  

Lessons for Life 
        Jesus came to the earth the first time into the very deepest pain, the most debilitating shame and sin so dark that it can be felt. (Exodus 10:21)  Jewish sages have argued for over 2,000 years if the Messiah would come like Joseph (ben yosef) or David (ben David) from yudah; as a suffering servant or a ruling lion. Two Messiahs in Judaism: Ben David and Ben Joseph - Jews for Jesus..  Jesus came the first time as a servant to suffer.  He was abused, suffered and died.  He will come back next time as the King above all kings.  Jesus fulfills both.  But this story is a narrative reflecting His first coming; from Bet-Lehem to his death in the darkness outside the city of Jerusalem. 
       This story is a picture of what we did to Jesus when He came to us.  That is why it had to be the worst; it was a picture of Jesus’ birth, betrayal, suffering and death! 

Questions for Reflection 
       How do I treat Christ and His blood?  The people of Israel spoke very well of Christ at first.  But once He called them to follow Him in difficulty and in suffering, they turned back and no longer followed him. (John 6:66).  Are you “among those who turn back or among those who persevere and are saved!” (Hebrews 10:39)?   Jesus said, “As you have treated the least of these my brothers (and sisters) so you have treated me.”  Jesus loves his people with the passion of His suffering and death.  He cares deeply and violently how even the lowest of His people are treated.  The way you treat Jesus' people ought to be with value beyond measurement?  Do you treat Christ’s children with the contempt of their mere usefulness to your situation?   
        Do I fear people more than God? It often feels like we will do what is right whatever the cost. But when the circumstances get “scary,” it is easy to value our own safety, comfort or happiness above all else. When God shows you through circumstancs that your priorities are not a true reflection of His, thank him and ask for forgiveness and for grace to continue to grow in character and likeness of Him. 
 

     Long before Jesus was born that night in Bethlehem, this small city became synonymous with sorrow and pain, but also, even more importantly, with hope. 
     Our first glimpse into the little town of Bethlehem was when Jacob’s family was traveling to Ephrathah. Shortly before making it to that city, Jacob’s wife, Rachel, went into labor.  It was hard labor and resulted in her death. Rachel was Jacob's only wife that he loved. He had served her father for 14 years for her but had not even served one day for Leah, whom he had been tricked into marrying. (Genesis 29:1-33)
     Rachel was not comforted by the fact that she had given birth to a son. Instead, with her final breaths she named her son "Ben-oni," which means "son of my sorrow/pain." Jacob, however, called him Ben-jamin, which means "son of my right hand." (Gen. 35:16-21) 
     At that very same time, Jacob also was filled with the sorrow of losing his beloved Rachel! She was the only wife to whom he had devoted his love and attention through his marriages. Jacob had to bury Rachel beside the road at Bethlehem.  
     For the remainder of the Bible, Bethlehem is a reminder both of pain and sorrow ("Son of my Sorrow") but also of power and hope of Jesus ("Son of my Right hand").  
     This was the beginning of the perfect backdrop against which God chose to send His son into the world. Bethlehem would continue a story of unbearable suffering but also of unstoppable hope of the rescue to come.  "Look," Stephen said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." (Act 7:56)
     Jesus is the Man of Sorrows! Jesus is the Son of God’s right hand! This is why God chose to have this son of Israel be the dually named son; "They that live in the land of the shadow of death: (Pain and Sorrow) upon them light has dawned." (Hope) Isaiah 9:2.
     Unto us a child is born! Unto us a son is given! Jesus came into the world directly into pain and suffering. His suffering did not start in Gethsemane. It started in Bethlehem the night He was born! It was by this choice that He wanted the world to know that He had come to comfort those in every pain and sorrow.  
     He is not a by-standing observer. He is present with us when life is more than we can bear. He is the perfect priest who is able to sympathize with us in all our weaknesses. (Hebrews 4:15) We must, however, first come to Him for the comfort and hope that He offers. Whether you have never given your pain to Him or whether you have a new pain, sorrow, grief or crushing load of guilt, Jesus is the only complete comfort for your heart and soul.  
     Tonight, take some time to give the sorrow of this year to Him. He has proven that He loves you and wants to prove it to you again.  
     If you have not found Jesus' greatest gift of forgiveness, I encourage you to invite Him to be your Lord and Savior. His forgiveness and the grace to follow Him are the ultimate hope of the souls of all mankind. ​
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