1In 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.
In the first verse of this story, we see a few problems. First, Israel has no king. This means that there is no leadership in Israel. During the time of the Judges, God would raise a man or woman to rise up and lead Israel back into alliance with God. These stories reflect Israel’s heart during the time Israel strayed from God. Since there was no definitive power in these times, the Israelites used their own moral judgment. Unfortunately, because they did not drive out the Canaanites front he Promised Land, there was always a snare waiting for them, something to tempt them away from God’s rule.
In this story we see a problem with the religious rule in Israel. A Levite priest is a leader in his community and tribe. But this one has taken a concubine. A concubine is a legal mistress. A concubine is also a cultural invention. Although many of the figures of the bible had a mistress, it is not condoned in God’s view of how a family should operate (Matthew 19:4-6).
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, 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. 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. 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.” 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.” 7 And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. 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. 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.” 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.
The concubine, unfaithful to her Levite priest, runs home, but the priest follows. It seems as though the father of the concubine would rather have the Levite stay, and there is a delay in the Levite leaving. He was to stay three days but leaves on day five, with his concubine. 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.” 12 His master replied, “No. We won’t go into any city whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.” 13 He added, “Come, let’s try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places.” 14 So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. 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.
The Jebusites were one of the tribes the Israelites were supposed to drive from the land. Considering this too dangerous a place for them to stay, they instead go onto a place where Israelites live, Gibeah. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anyone in this Israelite city to take them in. This shows that something is wrong in this town, for hospitality, one of the cornerstones of the Israel faith as well as a cornerstone of a follower of God, is missing.
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. 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?” 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. 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.” 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.” 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.
The only person to take them in was an old man coming from the fields, a man who lived in their own area. Notice none of the townspeople chose to extend kindness to him.
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.”
This passage should sound familiar. It is quite similar to Genesis 19:5, when the people of Sodom and Gomorrah demand this same thing from a pair of angels taken in by Lot. Why so similar? The writer of Judges was perhaps using this as a metaphor to show us just how bad Israel had become. It was similar to Sodom and Gomorrah in its moral character. Of course, Sodom and Gomorrah was ultimately destroyed due to its wicked character. It seems that, if this is a literal account, times had gotten just as bad in Israel.
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. 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.” 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. 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.
As we track Israel’s moral erosion, we see each character guilty of the different moral issues:
The men of Gibeah are obviously wicked, their perversion out of control to the point of hysteria. This displayed that the moral character of the entire place is most likely corrupt, since the author is comparing it to Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Master of the House is also guilty of corruption. Although he was kind in allowing them to stay, he is also ready to give up his own daughter to the crowd. This shows us the misguided man who is mostly good but a slave to the culture.
The Levite Priest is corrupt because, after chasing after his concubine and getting her back, he doesn’t seem to have any real care for her. He flings her into the crowd to save his own skin. As a priest, his duty should primarily be for others. It shows that even the priestly class of this time had forgotten the very basics of faith.
The only innocent one in the story is the concubine.
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. 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. 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. 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!”
Why did the Levite cut up his concubine? He wanted to send a message to the rest of Israel. It was meant for Israel to wake up from their moral ambivalence and marshal their forces in order to take care of the mess he had been in while in Gibeah. It is the first time something this cruel had been done in Israel, but Saul would do something similarly sinister in 1 Samuel 11:7, when he cut up an oxen and sent it to parts of Israel as a threat.
Although the Levite strove to do something righteous, he ignored his own unrighteousness. The whole story hinges on his own lack of moral credibility. If he hadn’t taken a concubine originally, the story would not have concluded as it did. As in chapter 18, the small decisions made in isolation have large-scale results. If we are willing to make those small choices for evil, their far-reaching effects could be deadly for others.