Judges 19: 22 – 25: Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.
This passage in the Book of Judges is among the Bible’s most graphic scenes, and yet it gives us an important lesson at the same time. The setting of the story begins in the evening, whereby a certain Levite with his servant and wife travelled to Gibeah and were taken in for the night at the house of a hospitable elderly gentleman. Whilst they ate and enjoyed one another’s company, certain homosexuals of the city came to the house of the elderly man and beat upon the door, demanding that the Levite be brought out unto them so that they could have their way with him.
The elderly gentleman, being unsuccessful to dissuade the homosexuals from their lust-fueled demands, his Levite guest then came to the door and gave to them his own wife, whom they sexually abused and roughly treated all the night. When the morning dawned, these men then let the woman go, who, returning to the door of the house, collapsed and died. After this, her husband (the Levite) cut her body into twelve pieces and sent the severed parts throughout all of Israel, after which all of Israel gathered against the tribe of Benjamin, and a series of battles ensued.
Interestingly, a similar account occurs in Genesis 19, where the homosexual men of Sodom approached the home of Lot in the evening, and beat upon his door, demanding that the two angels be brought out to them, that they might have their wicked way with them. So perverted had the age become, that these men were about to break down the door in order to get hold of the ones who were undefiled. We see from this that night is a time where the sinful tendencies of man become more explicit and pronounced.
It is at night when the nocturnal creatures become active. These creatures are representative of devils whose activity and influence are especially strong at night. The bars, the nightclubs and the all-night parties are filled with people chasing late night excitement and indulging in all kinds of sinful practices. It is because there are spirits moving in the streets of the cities, to exploit the fallen nature of man when he is especially vulnerable at these times. Furthermore, for those who work the night shifts, they too are more susceptible to spiritual attack and other dark forces than those who work a regular day schedule.
The prophet of God would also make mention of this in the message “Former and latter rain” (March 3, 1960), speaking of how he read in a magazine where a movie star said that the night was made to live in. It is from this that he speaks of how the night was actually made for sleep, and that it is at night when demonic creatures start to move. As strange as this would seem at first glance, yet it is surprisingly true, for when we look again at Judges 19, as soon as the morning rays of light began to dawn, then the demons retreated back into the shadows, and the homosexual men let the woman go and quickly dispersed.
The light and the darkness of day and night in the physical world are only a shadow of the spiritual Light and spiritual darkness. The Bible tells us that God is Light (1 John 1: 5) and that in Him is no darkness at all; but by contrast, Satan is darkness, and in him is no Light at all. The physical night of the physical world is a time when Satan and his devils are especially active, for the absence of light becomes a cloak of concealment for those who desire the wrong, and that, coupled with the body’s lessened energy and the minds lessened resolve, makes for a much easier target to exploit by the spiritual forces of the darkness.