The horrible incident at Gibeah
19
📚And it came about in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that a certain Levite staying in a remote place in the hill country of Ephraim, took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah. 2 📚And his concubine acted like a prostitute against him and went away from him to her father’s house to Bethlehem in Judah, and was there for four whole months. 3 📚And her husband arose and went after her to speak to her in a friendly way and to bring her back. He had his servant with him, and a couple of donkeys. And she brought him into her father’s house; and when the girl’s father saw him, he was glad to meet him. 4 And his father-in-law, the girl’s father, pressed him to stay, and he remained with him for three days. So they ate and drank and spent the nights there. 5 📚And it came about on the fourth day, when they got up early in the morning, that he rose up to leave, but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh your heart with a piece of bread, and afterwards go on your way”. 6 📚And they sat down, and the two of them ate and drank together; and the girl’s father said to the man, “Please be content to stay all night, and let your heart be merry”. 7 And when the man got up to leave, his father-in-law urged him to stay. So he spent the night there again. 8 And he got up early in the morning on the fifth day to leave, and the girl’s father said, “Please refresh your heart”. And they waited until afternoon, and both of them ate.
9 📚And when the man got up to leave, he, and his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, now the day is drawing toward evening. Please stay all night. See, daylight is coming to an end. Spend the night here and let your heart be merry. And tomorrow get away early on your journey to your home”. 10 📚But the man would not stay that night, but he rose up and left, and came opposite Jebus, which is Jerusalem. And with him there were two saddled donkeys. His concubine also was with him.
11 📚By the time they were near Jebus, daylight was almost over, and the servant said to his master, “Please come and let us turn into this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it”.
12 And his master said to him, “We will not turn aside here into the city of strangers who are not of the children of Israel. We will go on to Gibeah 📖”. 13 📚And he said to his servant, “Come on, and let us try to reach one of these places to spend all night: Gibeah or Ramah”. 14 And they passed on by and went on their way. And when they came near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, the sun set. 15 📚And they turned aside there to go in and spend the night in Gibeah. And when he went into the city, he sat down in a street, for no one took them into his house 📖 to spend the night.
16 📚And then an old man came in the evening from his work out of the field, which was also in the hill country of Ephraim. He was living in Gibeah, but the men of the place were Benjamites. 17 📚And when he raised his eyes, he saw a traveller in the street of the city. And the old man said, “Where are you going? And from where are you coming?”
18 📚And he said to him, “We are passing through from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote place in the hill country of Ephraim, from where I came. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD 📖. And no one has taken me to his house. 19 Yet there is both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and also there is bread and wine for me and for your maid servant and for the young man who is with your servants. There is no lack of any thing”.
20 📚And the old man said, “Peace be with you. However, I will see to all your needs. Only do not spend the night in the street”. 21 📚So he brought him into his house and gave fodder to the donkeys. And they washed their feet and ate and drank.
22 📚Now while they were making their hearts merry, suddenly some men of the city, wicked scoundrels, surrounded the house and pounded on the door and spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who has come into your house, so that we can know him”.
19:22 Notes at Gen 19:4-5. These men were Israelites who had picked up the vile ways of the Canaanites – Lev 18:22, 24. By their actions they were grinding God’s law beneath their unholy feet.⚜
23 📚And the man, the owner of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brethren, please, no! Don’t do such a wicked thing, since this man has come into my house, do not do this foolish thing.
24 📚Look, here is my daughter, a virgin, and his concubine. I will bring them out now, and you can humble them and do with them whatever seems good to you. But do not do such a vile thing to this man”.
19:24 Note at Gen 19:8. Surely it was also a disgraceful thing for this man to offer defenseless women to these vile men, even to save the life of the Levite.⚜
25 📚But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until morning, and when day began to dawn they let her go.
19:25 The Levite was willing to sacrifice the woman to save himself. Such is the way men may behave when they do only as they see fit.⚜
26 📚Then the woman came at the dawn of day and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light.
27 And her master got up in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way; and there was the woman, his concubine, fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were on the threshold. 28 📚And he said to her, “Get up 📖, and let us be going”. But no one answered. Then the man lifted her up onto a donkey, and the man rose up and went to his place.
29 📚And when he came into his house, he grasped a knife and took hold of his concubine and divided her into twelve pieces, along with her bones, and sent her into all the territories of Israel 📖. 30 📚And it came about that all who saw it said, “No such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day. Think about it, take advice, and speak your minds”.