FRAMEWORKS:
Judges 19: The Mishaps of a Levite
v.1-3
A Levite and his Concubine part and rejoin
v.4-9
His father-in-law keeps getting him to delay leaving
v.10-14
Eventually they leave and get to Gibeah by nightfall
v.15-21
An old man offers them hospitality
v.22-26
Men of the city demand the man but are given the concubine
v.27
The Levite cuts up the dead concubine and calls out Israel
v.1-3
A Levite and his Concubine part and rejoin
v.1 In
those days Israel had no king.
Now
a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim
took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
v.2
But
she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents'
home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months,
v.3 her
husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him
his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her parents' home,
and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.
[Notes:
We appear to have another Levite story, but this one is about
a relationship that goes wrong and leads on the other massive
wrongs. His concubine leaves him and goes home and some time later
he goes to her parents' home to persuade her to go back with him.
He was welcomed by his father-in-law.]
v.4-9
His father-in-law keeps getting him to delay leaving
v.4
His
father-in-law, the woman's father, prevailed on him to stay; so
he remained with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping
there.
v.5
On
the fourth day they got up early and he prepared to leave, but
the woman's father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself with
something to eat; then you can go.”
v.6
So
the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterward
the woman's father said, “Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself.”
v.7
And
when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so
he stayed there that night.
v.8
On
the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the woman's
father said, “Refresh yourself. Wait till afternoon!” So the two
of them ate together.
v.9
Then
when the man, with his concubine and his servant, got up to leave,
his father-in-law, the woman's father, said, “Now look, it's almost
evening. Spend the night here; the day is nearly over. Stay and
enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning you can get up and be on
your way home.”
[Notes:
For five days his father-in-law persuades him to remain there
and when eventually he feels he can stay no longer his father-in-law
keeps on so that they eventually only leave in the afternoon.
A lesson how small things can have big consequences. ]
v.10-14
Eventually they leave and get to Gibeah by nightfall
v.10 But,
unwilling to stay another night, the man left and went toward
Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his
concubine.
v.11
When
they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant
said to his master, “Come, let's stop at this city of the Jebusites
and spend the night.”
v.12
His
master replied, “No. We won't go into any city whose people are
not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.”
v.13 He
added, “Come, let's try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the
night in one of those places.”
v.14
So
they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah
in Benjamin.
[Notes:
Eventually he gets away from Bethlehem and on their route back
home pass near Jerusalem and when his servant suggests they stop
overnight there, he refuses because the Jebusites were not Israelites
and so kept going until they are out of Judah's territory and
in Benjamin's.]
v.15-21
An old man offers them hospitality
v.15
There
they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city
square, but no one took them in for the night.
v.16
That
evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was living
in Gibeah (the inhabitants of the place were Benjamites),
came in from his work in the fields.
v.17
When
he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man
asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”
v.18 He
answered, “We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote
area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been
to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord.
No one has taken me in for the night.
v.19
We
have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine
for ourselves your servants—me, the woman and the young man with
us. We don't need anything.”
v.20
“You
are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever
you need. Only don't spend the night in the square.”
v.21
So
he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had
washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.
[Notes:
They reach Gibeah and sat in the square until an old man living
there, but from their own territory of Ephraim, sees them and
offers them a roof for the night. Eventually they go in and eat
with him.]
v.22-26
Men of the city demand the man but are given the concubine
v.22
While
they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city
surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the
old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your
house so we can have sex with him.”
v.23
The
owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends,
don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this outrageous
thing.
v.24 Look,
here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them
out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you
wish. But as for this man, don't do such an outrageous thing.”
v.25
But
the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine
and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her
throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.
v.26 At
daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was
staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.
[Notes:
Word gets out that there is a stranger in town and some men come
demanding they have sex with the Levite. The old man goes out
and tries to dissuade them but they will not be put off. Out of
desperation, presumably, the Levite pushes his concubine outside
where she is gang raped and then abandoned. In the morning she
totters to the house and collapses.]
v.27-30
The Levite cuts up the dead concubine and calls out Israel
v.27
When
her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house
and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine,
fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold.
v.28
He
said to her, “Get up; let's go.” But there was no answer. Then
the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.
v.29
When
he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb
by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of
Israel.
v.30
Everyone
who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never
been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out
of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!”
[Notes:
When the Levite opens the door in the morning he finds her dead.
He heaps her on his donkey and leaves. It is a most terrible incident
from every aspect and there can be no excuses for it. When he
gets home, he is so angry that he cuts up her body and sends the
twelve parts, presumably by twelve servants, to all the tribal
areas. Every tribal leader is, understandably, utterly shocked.]