Judges 19

Chapters 17–21, the final section of Judges, contain two narratives bound together by the phrase "when there was no king in Israel." The first narrative, concerning Micah's idol and the migration of the tribe of Dan, appears in Judges 17 and Judges 18. Chapter 19 opens the second narrative, and its events lead to the war against the tribe of Benjamin recounted in Judges 20 and Judges 21.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 A Levite living in the hill country of Ephraim takes as his concubine a woman from Bethlehem in Judah. The concubine leaves her husband and returns to her father's house, where she stays four months.
• Verses 3–9 The Levite sets out to bring her back, taking a servant and two donkeys. His father-in-law urges him to stay, so he remains three days, and on the fourth and fifth days he is still unable to leave.
• Verses 10–15 On the fifth day, as the day is waning, they set out and arrive opposite Jebus (Jerusalem). The servant suggests lodging there, but the Levite refuses because it is a city of foreigners rather than of the children of Israel, and he goes on to Gibeah of Benjamin. After sunset they sit down in the street of the town, but no one takes them into his house.
• Verses 16–21 An old man returning from his work in the field takes them into his home. He is from the hill country of Ephraim and is sojourning in Gibeah.
• Verses 22–26 Worthless men (scoundrels) of the town surround the house and demand that the guest be brought out. The old man offers his virgin daughter and the guest's concubine instead, but the mob will not listen. The Levite seizes his concubine and sends her out to them, and they abuse her all night and let her go at dawn. The woman falls down at the door of the house.
• Verses 27–30 When the Levite opens the door in the morning, he finds the woman lying there with her hands on the threshold. He tells her to get up, but there is no answer, so he loads her body onto his donkey and returns home. He divides her body into twelve pieces and sends them throughout all the territory of Israel. Those who see it say that nothing like this has happened since the day Israel came out of Egypt.

Key Verses

• Judges 19:1 "In those days, when there was no king in Israel" — a recurring expression in chapters 17–21 that frames the disorder of the period.
• Judges 19:22 "Bring forth the man that came into thine house" — closely resembles the account of Sodom in Genesis 19 in both wording and structure.
• Judges 19:30 "There was no such deed done nor seen" — the occasion that prompts all Israel to respond to the event.

Characters and Places

• The Levite: An unnamed Levite sojourning in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim.
• The concubine: A woman from Bethlehem in Judah. The text gives her neither a name nor any words.
• The concubine's father: Detains his son-in-law for several days.
• The old man: A man from the hill country of Ephraim sojourning in Gibeah, who takes in the travelers.
• The worthless men of Gibeah: A gang of scoundrels from a town belonging to the tribe of Benjamin.
• The hill country of Ephraim: The home region of the Levite and the old man.
• Jebus: The text identifies it as Jerusalem. At that time it was a city that did not belong to Israel.
• Gibeah and Ramah: Towns in the territory of Benjamin. Gibeah later appears as the hometown of Saul.

Interpretive Considerations

• Translation differences in verse 2: The Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Hangeul) says the concubine left after playing the harlot. Some manuscripts of the Septuagint, however, read that she "became angry with her husband," and some modern translations follow this reading.
• When the woman died: The text does not state when the woman died, recording only "But none answered" (Judges 19:28). Interpretations differ on this point.
• The Levite's account: In Judges 20, the Levite's report of the incident differs in some respects from the narrative of chapter 19. For this reason, interpreters assess him in various ways.
• Relationship to the Sodom narrative: The events at Gibeah resemble the account of Sodom and Gomorrah. Some therefore read the chapter as an indictment declaring that something like Sodom had occurred within Israel itself. The two accounts are also treated together under the theme of failed hospitality.
• Interpretations linking the chapter to King Saul: The act of dividing the body and sending out the pieces is compared with the scene in 1 Samuel 11 in which Saul cuts up oxen and sends the pieces throughout Israel. Some interpretations also contrast Bethlehem, David's hometown, with Gibeah, Saul's hometown.
• Elsewhere in the Old Testament: Hosea 9 and Hosea 10 refer to "the days of Gibeah" as an example of deep corruption.
• Modern readings: Feminist theological interpretations focus on the violence suffered by the unnamed woman and read this chapter as one of the Bible's "texts of terror."
• Relationship to the New Testament: The New Testament does not directly quote this chapter.