Judges 19:1-30 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Judges 19-21. In the story of the outrage of Gibeah, there is a combination of history and midrash. Hosea (Judges 9:9) makes allusion to the days of Gibeah, as a time of notorious moral depravity in Israel, and the events which he had in view doubtless form the basis of the present chapter. But when Israel is called the congregation (Judges 20:18), when the elders of the congregation are introduced, and when the tribes come automatically together as one man (Judges 20:1; Judges 20:11), making a national army ten times as great as Barak's, it is apparent that this is a modernised version of the story, written in the language of the congregation. It is the task of criticism to separate the original narrative from its accretions.

Judges 19. The Outrage of Gibeah.

Judges 19:1. On sojourning, see Judges 17:6. The farther side of the highlands of Ephraim meant the northern part. The relation of concubinage had the sanction of widespread custom (cf. Judges 8:31; Genesis 22:24, etc.), and the concubine's father became the man's father-in-law (Judges 19:4).

Judges 19:6-8. The repetitions are very awkward, and nothing is lost if the whole of Judges 19:6 b to Judges 19:8 is omitted.

Judges 19:10. It used to be supposed that Jebus was the old Canaanite name of the city. But the Amarna tablets, written before the coming of the Israelites, have the name Uru-salim. Jebus is a literary, not an historical name.

Judges 19:12. Stranger means alien, foreigner; and that refers to city, not to stranger. In Gibeah, an Israelitish city, a kindlier welcome was to be expected than among the Jebusites.

Judges 19:13. Gibeah is perhaps Tell el-Fû l, 3 m. N. of Jerusalem. Some seven Gibeahs are mentioned in the OT. The word means an isolated hill, as distinguished from the hill-country (har).

Judges 19:15. For street read broad place or market-place, the Rĕ? hṓ? b of an eastern town, corresponding somewhat to the Agora or Forum of Greek and Roman cities.

Judges 19:16. As in Sodom, so in Gibeah, the one hospitable man was a stranger. Judges 19:16 b is probably a late addition, for what early writer would require to tell his readers that the men of the place were Benjamites ?

Judges 19:22. Sons of Belial meant vile scoundrels. Belial (worthlessness) did not become a proper name till the apocalyptic period (Proverbs 6:12 *).

Judges 19:23. Folly is too weak; wanton deed comes nearer the sense. The Heb. fool was a person as devoid of moral as of religious feeling (p. 344, Proverbs 1:7 *).

Judges 19:24. This horrible detail is deliberately added for the purpose of making the picture of Gibeah as like that of Sodom as possible (Genesis 19:8). Happily nothing more is said of the maiden, and the whole verse seems to be an irrelevant addition.

Judges 19:25. To the modern mind the Levite, who throws his wife out into the dark street, is as guilty as the rabble to whom he surrenders her. But that was not the ancient point of view. This is the story, not of the avenging of a woman's violated honour, but of the vindication (1) of a man's sacred rights of property (in his wife), and (2) of the laws of hospitality.

Judges 19:27. The picture of the woman lying, when the day dawns, at the door of the house, with her hands upon the threshold, has a tragic pathos of which the narrator of the story seems but dimly conscious.

Judges 19:30. The LXX reads, and he commanded the men whom he sent out: Thus shall ye say to all the men of Israel, Did ever a thing like this happen, from the day. unto this day. And everyone who saw it said, Such a thing as this has not happened or been seen from the day. unto this day.

Related Commentaries of Judges 19:1

Judges 19:1-30

1 And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubinea out of Bethlehemjudah.

2 And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Bethlehemjudah, and was there four whole months.

3 And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendlyb unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

4 And his father in law, the damsel's father, retained him; and he abode with him three days: so they did eat and drink, and lodged there.

5 And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he rose up to depart: and the damsel's father said unto his son in law, Comfortc thine heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way.

6 And they sat down, and did eat and drink both of them together: for the damsel's father had said unto the man, Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thine heart be merry.

7 And when the man rose up to depart, his father in law urged him: therefore he lodged there again.

8 And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart: and the damsel's father said, Comfort thine heart, I pray thee. And they tarried until afternoon,d and they did eat both of them.

9 And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel's father, said unto him, Behold, now the day drawethe toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.

10 But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over againstf Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him.

11 And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.

12 And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah.

13 And he said unto his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah.

14 And they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin.

15 And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging.

16 And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites.

17 And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?

18 And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehemjudah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I: and I went to Bethlehemjudah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man that receivethg me to house.

19 Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no want of any thing.

20 And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street.

21 So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink.

22 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.

23 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.

24 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 vileh a thing.

25 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.

26 Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.

27 And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold.

28 And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place.

29 And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.

30 And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.