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The accounts of the deplorable behavior of the Israelites and their Levitical religious leaders continues with the narrative of a Levite from one of the Levitical cities within the lands of the tribe of Ephraim and his concubine that will lead to civil war within the Promised Land. The conditions in Israel at the end of the era of the Judges puts the entire destiny of the chosen people in jeopardy, but God will not allow Satan and his influence to undo His divine plan for mankind's salvation, in which the nation of Israel has such a vital role.
Chapters 17-21 cover the third section of the Book of Judges: Israel's sins of immorality and civil war. This last section of the Book of Judges can be divided into three parts. We covered part one in last week's lesson. In this lesson, chapters 19-21 address:
The Sin of Immoral Conduct
- An Example of Personal Immorality (Judg 19:1-10)
- An Example of Tribal Immorality (Judg 19:11-30)
The Failure of Israel Through Disunity and Civil War
- War Between Israel and the tribe of Benjamin (Judg 20:1-48)
- Failure of Israel after the War (Judg 21:1-25)
Chapter 19: The Crime at Gibeah
Judges 19:1-10 ~ The Levite of Ephraim and his Concubine
The phrase: In those days, when there was no king in Israel, is repeated from 17:6 and will be repeated again in 21:25 at the very end of the Book of Judges narrative.
A concubine was purchased as property. There was no marriage covenant, there was no wedding feast, and there was no dowry to support her in the event her husband died. Concubinage was a common practice in the ancient Near East, and there were laws concerning concubines in many ancient law codes. However, in the Law of the Sinai Covenant, there is not a single mention of concubines and there are no laws for regulating the relationship between a man and a concubine. There are laws, however, that regulate protection for virgin daughters, for the inheritance of daughters, for the sexual violation of daughters, and the protection of wives. As Jesus made clear in His statement concerning marriage and divorce in Matthew 19:3-9, God intended marriage to be between one man and one woman (Gen 2:24). No story in the Bible concerning a concubine or plural marriage is presented in a favorable light.
It is significant that this Levite is from territory in Ephraim; it identifies him as a member of the clan of Kohath. The Levites from the clan of Kohath occupied ten towns in the territories of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (Josh 21:5-6). One of these towns would have been the ancestral home of Jonathan, the Levite in the earlier narrative since, as a descendant of Moses, he was of the clan of Kohath (Ex 6:18, 20; Judg 17:7-13). The Levites who were the servants of the chief priests and the teachers of the Law are not presented in a favorable light in these last five chapters of the Book of Judges.
The narrator does not tell us why the concubine decided to leave her master other than she was angry/distressed (19:2). Some other versions of this text add that "she was unfaithful to him," but this is probably a scribal addition to reflect badly on the concubine and favorably on the Levite. Her possible reasons for leaving him and returning to her home in Bethlehem will become evident as we learn more about the character of the Levite. He does not attempt to reclaim his concubine for four months and then journeys with a servant and two donkeys to the home of her father. Like the story of Samson, this narrative has the combination of threes and fours in the narrative.
Question: How long does the Levite stay with the girl's father?
Answer: He stays five days and four nights.
The girl's father seems to be enamored with the Levite, or perhaps he is just desperate for company. His favor does not seem to be extended to his daughter. The delay in leaving on the fifth day makes them late in starting out. They are traveling north from Bethlehem, and when they have traveled the five miles toward Jerusalem (Jebus), it is growing dark.
Judges 19:11-21 ~ The Levite Spends the Night in the town of Gibeah
The Jebusites occupied the ancient city of Jerusalem and were the original Canaanite inhabitants. The city was allotted to the tribe of Benjamin, but they had been unable to drive out the original inhabitants (Judg 1:21). As the narrative progresses, it becomes ironic that the Levite refused to rest in the town belonging to Canaanites because he believed he would be safer in an Israelite town.
There were several towns named Gibeah in Israel. The Hebrew word gibeah means "hill" as opposed to mountain. There was a Gibeah in Judah (Josh 15:57) that was the hometown of Aaron's son and successor, the High Priest Eleazar. It was also the home town of his son and successor Phinehas, the high priest during this episode in Judges (Josh 24:33; Judg 20:27-28). The town named Gibeah in our story is in the territory of Benjamin. The towns of Gibeah and Ramah mentioned in verse 13 were among the fourteen towns allotted to the tribe of Benjamin (Josh 18:21-28). The town was located about five miles north of Jerusalem. Ramah was about three miles beyond Gibeah and will be the home town of Israel's last Judge, the prophet-judge Samuel (1 Sam 7:17). You may recall that Deborah judged between Ramah and Bethel (Judg 4:5).
The town square was the common place for travelers to wait for a kind person to take them in for the night, but the Levite finds that no one will welcome him. It is a situation in contrast to his reception at Bethlehem and suggests there may be problems with the Benjaminite population of Gibeah.
Question: Who finally takes in the travelers?
Answer: A man from the tribe of Ephraim who is living as a resident alien in Gibeah.
The old man who finally takes them in probably feels a bond with the Levite since he is also from the highlands of Ephraim. He provides for the Levite's donkeys, even though the Levite has provisions for both the animals and his companions, and the old man gives them water to wash their feet. It was the common practice for travelers to wash their feet upon entering a dwelling (Gen 19:2; 1 Sam 25:41; 2 Sam 11:8; Jn 13:5).
Judges 19:22-25 ~ The Crime of the Rabble of Gibeah
Question: How is the crowd of men characterized in verse 22 and what is their demand?
Answer: They are described as native Gibeonites who are "scoundrels," or literally "worthless sons of men." They demand to have sex with the Levite who is a stranger.
Question: What was God's law concerning homosexual acts? See Lev 18:22; 20:13.
Answer: Such acts of immorality were expressly condemned and the penalty for such acts committed by an Israelite was death.
The immoral practices of homosexuality and male and female prostitution were common among the Canaanites and were condemned and despised by God as an abomination (Gen 18:20-21; 19:5, 13; Lev 20:22-23). Homosexual acts were also condemned under New Testament moral law (Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:9-10; 1 Tim 1:10; 2 Pt 2:6-7; Jude 7). The Catechism of Pius X calls homosexuality a sin that "cries out to Heaven for vengeance, " and the universal Catholic Catechism states: "Basing itself on Sacred Scripture which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered" (CCC 2357, also see 2358-59).
Question: These events recall what similar event in the era of the Patriarchs when "worthless men" (same Hebrew word as in Judg 19:22) threatened strangers with homosexual rape? What are the similarities between the two events and what happened to the offending town and its men? See Gen 19:1-11.
Answer: The event that reveals the moral depravity of the some of the men of the Benjaminite town of Gibeah recalls an event in the city of Sodom told in Genesis 19 where the moral depravity of the men of Sodom led to God's judgment in the total destruction of the city. The two events are strikingly similar:
| Genesis Chapter 19:1-8 | Judges Chapter 19:11-24 |
| The travelers reach Sodom in the evening (Gen 19:1a). | The travelers reach Gibeah in the evening (Judg 19:11). |
| Lot invites the strangers to stay in his home for the night (Gen 19:1b-3). | A man invites the travelers to stay in his home for the night (Judg 19:20-21). |
| They wash their feet upon entering Lot's house and have a meal (Gen 19:2). | They wash their feet upon entering the man's house and have a meal (Judg 19:21b). |
| A crowd of "worthless men" demand to have sex with the guests in Lot's house: Send out the men who went into your house that we may know them (Gen 19:4-5).* | A crowd of "worthless men" demand to have sex with the guest in the man's house: Send out the man who went into your house that we may know him (Judg 19:22).* |
| Lot tries to dissuade them (Gen 19:6-7). | The man tries to dissuade them (Judg 19:23). |
| Lot offers his virgin daughters instead, placing the obligation of hospitality over the protection of his virgin daughters (Gen 19:8). | The man offers his virgin daughter instead, placing the obligation of hospitality over the protection of his virgin daughter (Judg 19:24). |
*The words Send out the man who went into your house that we may know him in the literal Hebrew text of Judges 19:22b is exactly the same wording as in Genesis 19:5b except "man" is in the plural.
The inspired writer intends for us to compare the event at Gibeah with the event that occurred at Sodom centuries earlier and to understand the moral implications for the Levite, his host, and the city of Gibeah.
Question: What does the comparison to the events at Sodom demonstrate for this episode?
Answer: This episode demonstrates the gross misunderstanding among the unfaithful Israelites of what is considered moral conduct. They are behaving like the Canaanites just as God warned they would. The Israelite who is the host is so morally bankrupt that he cannot discern the difference between the obligations of hospitality and the obligation of a father to protect the lives of innocent women under his roof! He behaves like Lot when faced with the same crisis in Genesis 19:4-8. However, in that episode, the angels, who were guests in Lot's house, protected his daughters and intervened to prevent Lot's sin in sacrificing them for the sake of a misdirected sense of the obligation of hospitality (Gen 19:10-11).
Question: In what earlier episode in the Book of Judges did a man sacrifice his daughter because of a perverted sense of morality?
Answer: This is the second time in Judges that a virgin daughter has been sacrificed to a father's perverted sense of moral obligation. The Judge Jephthah sacrificed his daughter in order to keep an unholy vow that was in essence a bribe for God to give him victory.
The Levite is no better. He is supposed to be a teacher of God's laws and a protector of the innocent.
Question: What does the Levite do and why?
Answer: He pushes the concubine out the door into the hands of the mob. He is a coward trying to preserve his own life, and he is therefore willing to forfeit the life of his concubine to whom he has the obligation of protection. He purchased her as "property" and he treats her like property that can be used to his advantage and discarded when no longer useful.
Both men have broken the commandment against becoming an accomplice in the death or possible death of an innocent person (Ex 23:6; Dt 16:20). The woman in effect became a bribe to save the Levite's life in violation of the law (Ex 23:8; Dt 27:25). Instead of fearing the mob, both men should have feared God and His judgment in cursing them for their moral failure (Dt 27:26).
Question: The inspired writer spares us the graphic details but uses what three verbs in quick succession to describe the horror?
Answer: They "knew" her, they "abused" her, and they "discarded" her.
Judges 19:26-30 ~ The Levite Seeks Revenge
The Levite was prepared to leave in the morning as though nothing has happened. It does not appear that he intended to leave with the concubine until he saw her on the threshold. Notice that twice in this passage the Levite is referred to as her "lord" (adoneyha). In the beginning of the narrative the Levite was "her man" but now he is "her lord" and "the man." There is nothing personal about the relationship. He was no true "man/husband" to the woman.
Question: How does the inspired writer define the Levite's relationship with the girl now?
Answer: His relationship with her is defined in terms or rule and power, using the word "lord" twice. She is his property and nothing more.
Question: What is his attitude when he sees her and what additional information does his behavior tell us about his character?
Answer: His is completely callous concerning her condition. He is not only a coward but a heartless man. We now understand why she left him.
Question: What does he do with the concubine when he reaches his destination?
Answer: He cuts her body into twelve pieces and sends one piece to each of the tribes of Israel.
The question that remains unanswered is: did the violence of the gang rape kill her, or did the Levite kill her? The narrator does not say that she died on the threshold of the house or on the journey. In addition, the Levite would have considered her so "unclean" as to never have intimate relations with her again; therefore she had no value in his eyes. We must accept the possibility that it was the Levite who killed the concubine, and he has desecrated her body (compare with Adoni-Bezek's death in 1:8; Othniel in 3:11; King Eglon in 3:25; Sisera in 4:22; Gideon in 8:32; Abimelech in 9:55; etc). The story of Judges has come full circle: the violence in Judges began with the mutilation of King Adoni-Bezek (Judg 1:5-6) and now the events surrounding the mutilation of the body of an Israelite girl will conclude the violence in the Book of Judges. In sending the girl's body in parts to the twelve tribes of Israel with his message, the Levite is calling the tribes to a National Assembly with the intention of receiving a judicial verdict to punish the Benjaminites of Gibeah.
Chapter 20: Civil War
Judges 20:1-11 ~ The Israelites Vow to Avenge the Crime at Gibeah
Question: Did all twelve tribes answer the summons to a national assembly?
Answer: Apparently all the tribes with the exception of Benjamin sent representatives to the National Assembly at Mizpah.
All the tribes respond except Benjamin who only "hears" about the call to assemble. Their failure to attend is the beginning of their separation from Israel.
The tribes assemble at Mizpah ("watchtower"). There were several sites that bore this name: Mizpah of Judah, Mizpah of Gilead, Mizpah of Gad, the land of Mizpah, and Mizpah of Moab for example. They are probably meeting at Mizpah in Judah (Josh 15:38). It will also be the site of future National Assemblies in 1 Samuel 7:5-15 and 10:17.
Question: When questioned by the tribal representative, how does the Levite "spin" his story?
Answer: He tells the basic story but omits that the men sought to have sex with them, that he gave his concubine over to the crowd to save his own life, and he says that it was all the men of Gibeah who threatened him and not just "worthless sons of men" of the town. He says she "died" (which the narrator did not include), but then says that "he took/seized his concubine and cut her up" instead of saying he cut up her corpse or lifeless body.
Question: What plans do the Israelites make for the coming battle?
Answer: The Israelites decide that ten percent of the assembled troops are to provide logistical support for the warriors while the rest will go into battle to punish the sin of the Benjaminites of Gibeah.
Judges 20:12-13 ~ The Refusal of the Benjaminites to Punish Gibeah
Question: Why did the Benjaminites refuse to listen to their brother Israelites?
Answer: Benjaminites had a misdirected greater allegiance to their kinsmen at Gibeah despite their crimes than to either the Law of Yahweh or to their Israelite kinsmen as a whole.
According to the Law, the death penalty required the testimony of two or more witnesses (see Num 35:30; Dt 17:6-7; 19:1), but perhaps the ruling council of the Assembly questioned the Levite's servant. There is no mention of an attempt to save the old man who was the Levite's host; his life was obviously not important to the Levite. Like Abimelech, the Levite is an anti-judge whose actions almost destroy Israel instead of saving Israel. The call to action is not only a National Assembly and a judicial hearing but a military muster and a call to war that will divide the tribes of Israel.
The War Against the Tribe of Benjamin
Judges 20:14-25 ~ The First Two Engagements Against Benjamin at Gibeah
Verse 16 is another mention of the left-handedness of the Benjaminites (see Judg 3:15) and a comment on their military expertise. For the third time, the Israelites again assemble at the Sanctuary at Bethel, and for the second time they consult Yahweh (Judg 1:1; 2:1).
Question: Which tribe is selected by Yahweh to be the vanguard of the attack?
Answer: The tribe of Judah is selected out of the tribes to be the vanguard of the attack.
Since the rendezvous with Yahweh at Mt. Sinai, the tribe of Judah, the largest of the twelve tribes, has been regularly singled out to have a prominent role. The tribe of Judah led the march in the forty years spent in the wilderness, and they were chosen by Yahweh to renew the conquest in chapter one (see Judg 1:2; also see Num 2:5-4; 7:11; 10:13-14). King David, his descendants who are the Davidic kings of Judah, his descendants Joseph and Mary of Nazareth, and Mary's son Jesus are all from the tribe of Judah.
Twice the Israelite forces attack the Benjaminites and are soundly defeated. Twice they inquired of Yahweh through His High Priest Phinehas and are told to engage in battle.(3)
Question: Why is it that God gives no other directions for the attack or the promise of victory as He provided for Moses and Joshua in their battles?
Answer: Perhaps it is because in the previous attempts to consult Yahweh they offered no sin sacrifices to prepare themselves as holy warriors.
Judges 20:26-28 ~ Yahweh Promises Israel Victory Over the Benjaminites
Judges 20:29-48 ~ The Defeat of the Tribe of Benjamin
The story is told in such amazing detail that the inspired writer may have heard the account from an eyewitness to the events or had access to an account written down by one of the Israelite warriors that was passed down in his family.
Here is another of the "threes" that are so prominent in the Book of Judges (i.e., the three sons of Anak, , the three hundred men in the Gibeon narrative, the three Danite cities named in the Samson narrative, the series of threes as in the three unsuccessful attempts of Samson's wife to learn his riddle, Samson's three hundred foxes/jackals, Delilah's three unsuccessful attempts to learn the secret of Samson's strength, the three thousand Philistines killed in Samson's last defiant act, and the first three days the Levite stayed in Bethlehem just to name some of the threes and not including the threes in fighting men (thousands or units).
Baal-Tamar ("lord of the palm/lord of palms") in verse 33 was the staging area for the assault on Gibeah. The inspired writer does not say that the ambush strategy was Yahweh's, but since the success was promised by Yahweh and the Israelites acknowledge God achieved their victory, it is likely that the plan was told to them as it was as in the way Yahweh gave the strategy for the battle to Joshua at Jericho and Ai. In fact, the ambush strategy is very like the strategy Yahweh gave them at Ai (Josh 8:1-8, 18-25).
In the war against Benjamin, the other tribes put the towns of the Benjaminites under the ban of herem, the "curse/judgment of destruction" (total destruction in the death of every living thing). It was a curse of destruction that was only supposed to be applied against the Canaanites living in the Promised Land, but herem has been wrongly applied to Israelites own kinsmen and kinswomen (see herem applied to Jericho in Josh 6:17-21).
Condemning Gibeah was one thing. The "worthless sons of men" of the town were guilty of murder and the people shared in that guilt for protecting the guilty. However putting all the citizen of Gibeah under the ban of herem as well as the other towns in the territory of Benjamin was an act of barbarism.
Only six hundred men survived from the tribe of Benjamin. The Rock of Rimmon was evidently an easily defensible height in the wilderness to the southeast. Gideon is an unknown site.
At this point in the era of the Judges they have suffered about a 30 percent decline in the population of fighting men. This is a direct result of Israel's covenant failures. Yahweh promised Israel blessings for covenant obedience including numerous children and the health of the population (Lev 26:9; Dt 28:1-8).
Chapter 21: The Israelites' Grief for Benjamin
Chapter 21:1-7 ~ The Tribes Vow to Refused to Give their Daughters as Wives to Benjamin
After their victory the warriors returned to the Sanctuary at Bethel. Bethel had special significance for the Israelites. It was at Bethel that Jacob (the grandson of Abraham) had his dream-vision of angels ascending and descending and received a revelation of Yahweh. God revealed Himself to Jacob and promised to continue the covenant He made with Abraham through him, repeating two of those covenant promises: to greatly increase the numbers of his descendants and to give them the land of Canaan (Gen 28:10-18).
Chapter 21:8-14 ~ The Abduction of the Daughters of Jabesh in Gilead
Question: Without breaking their vow, how did they decide they could find wives for the surviving Benjaminites? What does this decision imply?
Answer: They decide to put the town of Jabesh in Gilead under the ban of herem and to only spare the virgins who they will give to the Benjaminite bachelors. This is another indication that an immoral people are incapable of making moral decisions. The people of Jabesh-Gilead were not summoned to present their defense.
Jabesh-Gilead was about 22 miles south of the Sea of Galilee, and one mile east of the Jordan River. The Israelites reason if they were justified in putting to death the Benjaminites who sided with the town of Gibeah, then all who aligned themselves with the Bemjaminites must also be subject to the same punishment. This reasoning works to their advantage in their present dilemma because they will be able to secure virgins as brides for the Benjaminites. The inspired writer makes his readers fully aware of the contrast between the Israelite's compassion for the Benjaminite men and their hard-heartedness concerning the Israelites of Jabesh-Gilead on the east side of the Jordan River. They go forward in shedding even more Israelite blood and we, the readers, are fully aware of the casuistry and moral blindness of the Israelites as they go from bad to worse.
Chapter 21:15-24 ~ The Abduction and Rape of the Daughters of Shiloh
1
Notice that again the inspired writer indicates that the Israelites held Yahweh responsible for the destruction of the tribe of Benjamin. The festival at Shiloh was probably originally a Canaanite harvest festival (see 9:27) that was adopted by the Israelites living in the region. Once again, the Israelites seek to ease their consciences in the decimation of the tribe of Benjamin by breaking the law in illegally securing brides for the unmarried men of Benjamin.
Question: In the rape of the daughters of Shiloh, what law of the covenant was all of Israel implicated in breaking?
Answer: Virgins were protected under the law. If the Benjaminites took a virgin who was betrothed, the penalty should have been death. If they took a virgin who was not betrothed, the law stated that the man could never divorce her and he must pay her father double the bride price, but they father also had the right of refusal to a marriage.
Having successfully arranged the rape of the virgins of Shiloh, the other tribes and their elders are satisfied that they have done all they can to preserve the tribe of Benjamin, and they return to their ancestral lands.
The statement that "everyone did what was right in his eyes" (literal translation) closes the history of the Judges of Israel. It is the summary statement of the failure of Israel in this period of salvation history:
- In the beginning of the Book of Judges, Israel does "what is evil in the eyes of Yahweh" (Judg 2:11).
- The statement is repeated seven times in Chapters 3-16.
- Samson does what is "right in his eyes" (Judg 14:4).
- In the days of the Judges every man was doing "what was right in his own eyes" (Judg 17:6).
- The "worthless men" of Gibeah do "what is good" in their "own eyes" (Judg 19:24).
- The book concludes with everyone doing what is "right in his own eyes" (Judg 21:25).
In doing what each man saw was "right in his eyes", the Israelites are in direct violation of their covenant obligation to act as God commanded: Faithfully keep and obey all these orders which I am giving you, so that you and your children after you may prosper for ever, doing what is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God (Dt 12:28; also see Dt 12:25; 13:19/18, underlining added).
CHALLENGE: “Jesus is disqualified from being the Messiah since he descends from the last king of Judah, Jeconiah (Matt. 1:12). God judged Jeconiah so that ‘none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David, and ruling again in Judah’ (Jer. 22:30).”
DEFENSE: There are multiple flaws with this argument. Here are several.
First, Jesus was not descended from David only by the line of Jeconiah. He was also descended through the line of Nathan (Luke 3:31; see Day 85). It may have been questions among some Jews about whether a descendant of only Jeconiah could be the Messiah that prompted Jesus’ family to preserve the memory of the Nathan line. The presence of both genealogies in Scripture shows that, regardless where a Jew fell on the Jeconiah question, Jesus had a qualified lineage either way.
Second, the prophecy need mean no more than Jeconiah’s immediate sons wouldn’t be kings because the Babylonian Exile would go on for too long (cf. Jer. 22:25–28).
Third, one of Jeconiah’s grandsons—Zerubbabel—received ruling authority in Judah, being made its governor (Hag. 1:1). (On Zerubbabel’s lineage, see 1 Chron. 3:17–19; there may be a levirate marriage involved since Zerubbabel’s father is usually said to be Shealtiel, though here he is said to be son of Pediah; both were sons of Jeconiah, and thus Zerubbabel was his grandson).
Fourth, the language used concerning Zerubbabel suggests a reversal of God’s judgment. God told Jeconiah, though you “were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off” (Jer. 22:24), but he told Zerubbabel he will “make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts” (Hag. 2:23).
The image of making one of Jeconiah’s descendants again like a signet ring suggests a restoration of the family to divine favor.
Fifth, multiple Jewish sources indicate Jeconiah (also called Jehoiachin) repented and the curse was lifted.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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