SERIES H --- THE JUDGES --- LESSON 20

AN EVIL CITY

A SAD DAY IN ISRAEL

From Judges 19

In the days when Israel had no king, a Levite who lived in the remote hills of Ephraim brought home a girl from Bethlehem to be his concubine. Before long she had a quarrel with him, so she ran away and went back to live with her father in Bethlehem. About four months later, her husband took a servant and two donkeys and went down to Bethlehem to persuade her to come back with him. The girl’s father was overjoyed to see him and persuaded him to stay for a few days. The next three days were filled with eating and drinking. On the fourth day the man rose early to leave, but his father-in-law said, ‘eat first; then you may go.’ But the eating and drinking lasted much beyond breakfast! ‘Now you must spend the night,’ his father-in-law said. The man got up as if to leave, but his father-in-law insisted and he stayed. On the fifth day, the man rose early to leave, but the girl’s father again said, ‘eat first; then you may go.’ The man and his servant stayed to eat. But when he got up to leave, the girl’s father insisted, ‘It’s too late! You must not leave so late in the day! Stay here tonight and you can get up early and be on your way.’ This time the man would not stay, but made plans to leave. By late afternoon he had come to Jerusalem with the two donkeys, his servant and his concubine. ‘We should stay here with the Jebusites tonight,’ the servant suggested. ‘It’s getting too late to go on.’ ‘We can’t stay here!’ the man said. ‘These people are not Israelites. No, we must go on to Gibeah or Ramah.’ They had come almost to Gibeah, a city of Benjamin, when the sun was setting, so they went there to spend the night. But because not one Israelite invited them home to spend the night, they had to set up camp in the city square. About that time an old man was coming home from the fields where he had been working. Although he now lived in Gibeah, he had once lived in the hill country of Ephraim. ‘Where are you going and where have you come from?’ the old man asked when he saw the travellers. ‘We’ve been to Bethlehem in Judah,’ said the man. ‘And we’re going home to the hill country of Ephraim where we live. But nobody invited us home for the night, even though we have straw and food for the donkeys as well as bread and wine for the three of us. In fact, we have everything we need.’ ‘You must come home with me,’ said the old man. ‘You must not stay here in the square all night.’ The old man brought them into his house and gave the donkeys something to eat. After the travellers’ feet had been washed, they all ate and drank together. But while they were having a good time together, some wicked men of the city surrounded the house and beat on the door. ‘Bring out that man, who came into your house,’ they shouted to the host. ‘We want to molest him.’ ‘No! No!’ the old man said when he went out to talk with these fellows. ‘You must not do such wickedness. This man is my guest! I’ll bring out my own daughter and this man’s concubine for you to molest, but not my guest.’ When it became apparent that these evil men would not listen, the Levite made his concubine go outside with them. All night long they molested her and abused her. They finally let her go at daybreak and she fell down at the doorway of the house. When the Levite arose to go home, he found the concubine lying by the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. ‘Let’s go home now,’ he said. But she could not answer, for she had died that morning. The Levite threw the girl’s body across the donkey and took her to his house. When he arrived, he took a knife and cut her body into twelve pieces and sent a piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. ‘We’ve never had such an experience since we came from the land of Egypt,’ the people said. ‘We must think about it, talk about it and come to some decision!’”

COMMENTARY

THE WAR THAT ALMOST DESTROYED A TRIBE

The terrible death of the concubine at Gibeah left its mark on the people of Israel. When her Levite husband reached his home in Ephraim, he informed the Israelites of the cruel murder by cutting the woman’s body into twelve pieces and sending a part to each of the twelve tribal leaders. Shocked into response, the tribes recognized their responsibility to each other. If they had not replied to the Levite’s call for justice, all of Israel would have borne the guilt of the woman’s death. From all over Israel men formed an army at Mizpah. From there they moved to Bethel; the sanctuary of the Ark of the Covenant; where they fasted and prayed. And then they fought. The first two attacks of their battle against the Benjamites failed. But on the third day, at Michmash, the Israelite army defeated them. The destruction was very great. Livestock were killed, crops were destroyed and over twenty-five thousand Benjamites were slaughtered. Almost the entire tribe was eliminated. In the end, the Israelites were shocked and horrified at the ruin and huge waste of human life. After this war, special effort must have been made to keep the tribe alive. Those efforts were successful, because Benjamin became one of the more strong and well-ordered tribes of Israel.