Judges 19--The Evil of Gibeah

Judges 19
English Standard Version

A Levite and His Concubine
19 In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. 2 And his concubine was unfaithful to him, and she went away from him to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there some four months. 3 Then her husband arose and went after her, to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys. And she brought him into her father's house. And when the girl's father saw him, he came with joy to meet him. 4 And his father-in-law, the girl's father, made him stay, and he remained with him three days. So they ate and drank and spent the night there. 5 And on the fourth day they arose early in the morning, and he prepared to go, but the girl's father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and after that you may go.” 6 So the two of them sat and ate and drank together. And the girl's father said to the man, “Be pleased to spend the night, and let your heart be merry.” 7 And when the man rose up to go, his father-in-law pressed him, till he spent the night there again. 8 And on the fifth day he arose early in the morning to depart. And the girl's father said, “Strengthen your heart and wait until the day declines.” So they ate, both of them. 9 And when the man and his concubine and his servant rose up to depart, his father-in-law, the girl's father, said to him, “Behold, now the day has waned toward evening. Please, spend the night. Behold, the day draws to its close. Lodge here and let your heart be merry, and tomorrow you shall arise early in the morning for your journey, and go home.”

10 But the man would not spend the night. He rose up and departed and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him. 11 When they were near Jebus, the day was nearly over, and the servant said to his master, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.” 12 And his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will pass on to Gibeah.” 13 And he said to his young man, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah.” 14 So they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, 15 and they turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. And he went in and sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night.

​16 And behold, an old man was coming from his work in the field at evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning in Gibeah. The men of the place were Benjaminites. 17 And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city. And the old man said, “Where are you going? And where do you come from?” 18 And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to the house of the LORD, but no one has taken me into his house. 19 We have straw and feed for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and your female servant and the young man with your servants. There is no lack of anything.” 20 And the old man said, “Peace be to you; I will care for all your wants. Only, do not spend the night in the square.” 21 So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys feed. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

Gibeah's Crime
22 As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.” 23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing. 24 Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do this outrageous thing.” 25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. 26 And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was, until it was light.

​27 And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up, let us be going.” But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey, and the man rose up and went away to his home. 29 And when he entered his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his concubine he divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. 30 And all who saw it said, “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.”

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The end of this story will read much like the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and I think it is the author's intent to let us know just how wicked the Israelites had become.  First, the Levite should not have taken a concubine for himself as this implies that he was already married to a woman and wanted to take another woman as his wife and treat her as a wife, but not call her his wife.  While that was definitely something that was culturally acceptable among the Gentile nations and there were many of the Israelites that went along with it, it was never something that was taught by the LORD.  The story begins with this Levite's concubine being unfaithful and him going after her when she had returned to her father's house and how the father-in-law and concubine schemed to keep him there at the father-in-law's house, but he eventually would no longer delay (most likely because he needed to complete his trip home before the Sabbath).

Since the journey was long from Bethlehem in Judah to the hill country of Ephraim where the Tabernacle (the house of the LORD) was located, they would have to spend the night somewhere.  The servant of the Levite suggested that they stay in the city of Jebus (that would later be called Jerusalem), but the Levite refused to spend the night in a Canaanite city among their enemies and pressed on to make it to one of the cities of the tribe of Benjamin before nightfall.

The Law required that the people of that city should have shown them hospitality and taken them in, but no one did, so they prepared to spend the night in the city square, however an older man came by and offered them shelter and fodder for their donkeys and food for all of them and he even washed their feet (a sign of hospitality).  Yet the people of the city, the city of Gibeah, when they heard about it formed a rape mob like the people of Sodom did, coming to the door and trying to break it down insisting that the visitors be brought out so that they may know them (in the biblical sense of the word know like a husband knows his wife intimately through sexual relations).  This is no welcoming committee.  They are not there to show hospitality of any kind to their visitors.

Like Lot in Sodom, the master of the house tries to go out and plead with them and offer them his virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine so that they will leave the men of the house alone. So they took the Levite's concubine outside and raped and abused her all night long until the sun started to come up and then they let her go (none of them wanted their wickedness to be seen in the light of day).  In the morning she was laying there on the doorstep, and the Levite tells her to get up so that they can go on their way--he likely wants to get himself and her out of that city as quicly as possible.  When she did not respond (probably indicating that she died from the abuse) he put her on the donkey and took her home with him.  When he got there, he took a knife and divided her into 12 pieces and sent one piece to each of the twelve tribes along with a message, "Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.” (his intent was to call the other tribes to war with the tribe of Benjamin, which we will see happen in the next chapter).

Do not miss the "irony" that the Levite thought that it was in the Canaanite city of Jebus that he would face such dangers and that he would be safe in any city that belonged to the children of Israel because they were his brothers, yet it was from these people of Benjamin that he probably faced even more danger than from among the Jebusites (who were a relatively peaceful people who lived among the Jews for a long time and lived under the authority of King David). It's a sad commentary on the state of affairs in the land of Canaan at that time to say that he and his companions might have actually fared better staying among the Canaanites that evening.