Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Judges - Chapter 19

Runaway concubine, vs. 1-9

In the last three chapters of the Book of Judges is the account of one of the most sordid and wicked events to be recorded in all the Bible. It gives an indication of conditions among many of the people of Israel in the days of Judges when Israel had no king. This fact, often mentioned in these last chapters, is not the reason for the immorality and ungodliness of Israel. The fact is they had a King, but not an earthly one; the Lord was to be their King, and they did not acknowledge it.

Another misconception of some should be set straight here. This man, though a Levite, is certainly not the one of chapters 17 and 18. His name is not given, nor that of any other character involved in the episode, except for the high priest (Judges 20:28).

Why should the Lord lend notoriety to such an affair by recording the names of the persons? This Levite also lived in the tribe of Ephraim, but he had taken a concubine from Bethlehem in the tribe of Judah.

The facts are these. The concubine was a young woman, still a damsel, but she left the Levite and ran away with another man, eventually returning to her father’s house in Bethlehem.

When the Levite learned that his concubine had returned to her father’s house he took his servant and two donkeys to go and bring her back. When the girl’s father met the Levite he liked him, and they spent three days together, wining and dining with one another.

On the fourth day the Levite tried to leave, but was retained by the coaxing of his father in law to remain another day and half spent in the same fashion. He would still have had him stay, if he could, for he was enjoying his company.

When this sorry affair is examined it appears that the girl’s father was an immoral scoundrel himself. His drunken ways may have brought him to such poverty he had been compelled to sell his daughter into concubinage, for that is often how men got concubines.

Likely the Levite was an older man than the girl. wished to marry. The moral condition of the Levite appears low as well in, his carousel with his father-in-law. That he was every bit as bad as the girl’s father will soon appear.

Lodging in Gibeah, vs. 10-21

The old father-in-law was unsuccessful in his attempt to keep the Levite with him overnight again. He insisted on beginning his homeward journey, though it was already afternoon. The party did not get far before the sun began to go down. In -fact, they had only arrived at Jerusalem, which was still inhabited by the Jebusites, whom the Israelites had allowed to repossess the city. The false piety of the Levite is apparent in his shunning to spend the night in a city of pagan strangers, obviously because he felt he might be contaminated thereby, (Matthew 7:5).

The Levite proposed that they should proceed on to one of the Benjamite cities. So they arrived at Gibeah, the chief city of Benjamin, at the time the sun set. They took their seat in the street, expecting that the people would obey the injunction of the law which stated that Israelites should befriend both neighbors and strangers (Leviticus 19:18; Leviticus 19:33). But no one did, showing again the low esteem in which the Israelites were, even then, respecting the law God gave them. There was another sojourner in the city, an old man of the tribe of Ephraim, who had a field in the vicinity which he was cultivating, and from which he was returning. It seems he had a temporary home among the people of Gibeah.

When the old man saw the party of the Levite, seemingly prepared to spend the night in the street, he inquired of the circumstances. The Levite told him of the journey he was on, having been to Bethlehem in the tribe of Judah and now returning, he said, to the house of God. Perhaps this last information was a lie to commend himself to the old man, for nothing has previously been said about the Levite living at the tabernacle. The old man promptly offered to share his hospitality with the Levite, his concubine, and the servant, and to feed the asses, though the Levite had said they had with them the things they would need.

Abuse of Concubine, vs. 22-30

It was soon apparent that the Levite had found another of his kind in the old Ephraimite. While they ate and drank, getting drunk, the men of Gibeah known as "sons of Belial" came and surrounded the house and beat on the door. The name "Belial" means "worthlessness," and is from the original Hebrew which means "to waste". They were a mob of wicked and worthless characters, wasting their lives in sinful practices. These were homosexuals. They had seen the Levite go into the old man’s house and doubtless knew he had been left in the street. They were obviously disappointed that their "easy victim" had found shelter in a house.

The utter lack of morals was not in the street mob alone, for the old man, to protect the "virtue" of his guest, offered his virgin daughter and the concubine to them, saying, "humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you." But they wanted the Levite and seemed about to break in when the Levite took his concubine to save his own worthless hide and threw her to the wolves.

All night long they raped and abused the concubine and did not let her go until day was breaking. Meantime, the men in the house seem to have rested uncaring, sleeping off their party. Then when he got up the Levite gathered his things to resume his homeward path as though nothing untoward had taken place. As he left the house of his host he found the poor girl lying inert on the threshold of the house. It is not said that she had died yet. But the Levite put her on an ass and carried her to his house.

In his house the Levite took a knife and proceeded to dismember the body of his concubine. He cut her up into twelve pieces, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and sent them by messengers into every tribe. It thoroughly aroused the people, who immediately felt that vengeance was in order . They said that nothing worse had happened since they had come from Egypt! It seems that the Levites message was vague as to what had occurred, and they began to consult one another what to do.

Surely a study of this chapter reveals some pertinent lessons for today, when homosexuality and other sexual promiscuity is so readily apparent and its legalization so eagerly sought by many. Let us learn that; 1) when God’s laws are ignored there is no real King in the land; 2) indulgence in alcohol will lead to far worse things; 3) abuse of sex is one of the most degrading things in humankind; 4) a cloak of self-piety will not cover up a sinner’s guilt.