The Levite and His Concubine and the Decimation of the Tribe of Benjamin (Judges 19-21).
Judges 19. The Levite and His Concubine.
This chapter gives an account of the sad story of a Levite and his concubine, and of the evil consequences following it. It describes how she played the whore, and went away from him to her father's house, to which he followed her. There he was hospitably entertained by her father for several days, and then set out on his journey back to his own country. And passing by Jebus or Jerusalem, he came to Gibeah, and could get no lodging, but at length was taken in by an old man, an Ephraimite.
But the house where he was enjoying hospitality was beset by some evil men in Gibeah, with the same intent with which the men of Sodom beset the house of Lot (Genesis 19:1-11). And after some argument between the old man and them, the concubine was brought out to them and abused by them until she died. On this the Levite her husband cut her into twelve pieces, and sent the pieces into all the borders of Israel, as a shocking message to Israel of what had been done in their midst.
Why should such a story have been included in the sacred record? The first reason was because it demonstrated how far the people of Israel had fallen from what they once were. How they had been contaminated by the inhabitants of the land, with their sexually perverted ways, in which they had come to dwell. They no longer obeyed the commandments in the covenant, especially ‘you shall not commit adultery' and ‘you shall not kill'. Secondly it demonstrated that the leadership of Israel were failing, and that their attitudes of heart were wrong. Every man did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; Judges 21:25). The tribes were not as tightly bound in the covenant as they should have been, although this incident greatly contributed to the cementing of that unity. Thirdly it demonstrated that when the right occasion came along they could act together as Yahweh had intended. And fourthly it stressed the sanctity of Levites. We note that the man's name is never mentioned. That is because in a sense he represented all Levites. They were holy and not to be treated lightly.