In the final five chapters of the book of Judges (17-21), a couple stories of Israel’s disobedience are described so that future readers could understand the extreme apostasy and immorality that characterized this time in Israel’s history. There are two main stories which comprise the conclusion to this book: Micah and the Danites’ idolatry (Judges 17-18) as well as the immoral actions of a priest and certain men of Gibeah (Judges 19-21). The first story focused more on Israel worshiping false gods while this second story focuses more on the immorality plaguing the people of God. Instead of speaking generally about the immorality in Israel during the time of the judges, the author provides a specific example of a Levite from the mountains of Israel who “…took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah” (19:1). Priests were permitted to marry (Leviticus 21:7, 13-14), but a concubine was typically a slave woman whose purpose was to carry on the duties of the household and provide sexual pleasure for her husband. Having a concubine implied that the man had multiple wives, but the concubines were often treated unfairly and did not possess the same privileges as a wife; therefore, this Levite was not living in a way that was acceptable to God. This Levite’s concubine was eventually unfaithful to him and she departed for her father’s house where she resided for four months (19:2). After four months of separation, the Levite visited her father’s house and brought his wife back with him after he had lodged there for five days (19:3-10). On their journey home they stopped in the city of Gibeah and were invited to lodge in the home of a man, who knew that the Levite and his wife would not be safe in the city square (19:11-21). ”As they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally!” (19:22). The man of the house refused to release his male guest to the perverted men of the tribe of Benjamin (19:23), so in a disgusting compromise the host offered to release his virgin daughter and the man’s concubine to fulfill their sexual desires (19:24). The men of the city rejected this offer but the Levite became fearful of the men, presented his wife to them, and they sexually abused her all night long (19:25). The men let her go in the morning and then she returned to the door of the host’s home where her master was lodging (19:26). ”When her master arose in the morning, and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was his concubine, fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. And he said to her, ‘Get up and let us be going.’ But there was no answer. So the man lifted her onto the donkey; and the man got up and went to his place” (19:27-28). The actions of this priest and these men are unfathomable and represent the extreme immorality plaguing the nation of Israel during this time.
Even though the Levite was ultimately responsible for the death of his wife, he was angered by the actions of these Benjamite men of Gibeah so “…when he entered his house he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and divided her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel” (19:29). Along with the parts of her body the Levite man probably sent a message describing what had been done to this woman by the men of Benjamin. When the territories received the body part and message, their anger against the men of Benjamin was kindled and they vowed revenge on them (19:30). An army of 400,000 men gathered together against these perverted men of Gibeah (20:1-11) and requested that the people of Gibeah hand over the men who were responsible for the death of this woman (20:12-13). Rather than surrendering these men to the army of Israel, they formed an army of 26,000 men and to fight against Israel (20:14-17). Two times the army of Israel went up to defeat the men of Benjamin but they were defeated (20:18-25). Israel’s defeat was most likely a punishment for the nation’s tolerance of such immorality. Following their second defeat by the hands of the people of Gibeah, Israel cried out to God and He gave them the victory over the tribe of Benjamin and only 600 Benjamite men survived the slaughter of the Israelites (20:26-48). Although Israel had made an oath not to allow anyone to give their daughters in marriage to the remaining 600 Benjamite men (21:1), the rest of Israel cried out at the reality of one tribe’s extinction from the twelve (21:1-7). This dilemma resolved itself when Israel discovered that no soldiers from Jabesh Gilead had come to help in the battle against Gibeah, so they killed everyone in that city except 400 virgins and gave them to the men of Benjamin so that their tribe would remain (21:8-18). This still left 200 Benjamite men without wives so they found a “loophole” in their oath and instead of giving them wives, they commanded them to steal wives from the daughters of Shiloh (21:19-24). The concluding words of the book of Judges read like this: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (21:25). This is an unfortunate description of the people who were supposed to be worshiping and obeying God alone.
Dear God, keep me from doing what is right in my own eyes.
