Judges 19 Chapter Introduction

Structure and formatting

In this chapter, the author begins to tell a story that provides further evidence of the benefits of Israel having a godly king. He describes an outrageous crime that Israelite men in the city of Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin committed against a helpless person.

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Why did the Levite push his concubine out to the mob?

This chapter describes how a mob of men in the city of Gibeah wanted to rape a Levite man who was staying in the city overnight. While the men were going to use sex as a weapon, what they intended was ultimately a crime of power and violence. The Levite believed they were going to kill him (see 20:5). So to save his own life, he pushed his concubine out to the mob, and they raped and killed her. The author describes this crime as further evidence that Israel needed a godly king who would maintain order and justice and protect vulnerable people. The author is not presenting what the Levite did, or what his host offered to do (surrendering his daughter and the Levite’s concubine to the mob), as exemplary. The Bible is not saying through this story that a sexual crime against a woman is not as bad as a sexual crime against a man. It is not saying that men may or should sacrifice family members in order to save their own lives. The example that the Bible presents for us to imitate is that of Jesus, who sacrificed himself in order to save others.

Why did the Levite cut up the dead body of his concubine?

The author describes in 19:29 how the Levite brought the body of his murdered concubine home and cut it into twelve pieces and sent the pieces throughout the land of Israel. He probably had messengers carry pieces through the territory of each of the twelve tribes and explain what had happened. Cutting the woman’s body into twelve pieces was a symbolic action that called for collective vengeance by all twelve tribes of Israel. The implicit message was that this outrageous crime had defiled the entire land and that the Israelites corporately had a responsibility to cleanse the land by executing justice on the perpetrators. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could explain the significance of this action in your translation. You might say, for example, “and he cut her body into twelve pieces, one to send to each tribe of Israel to call for collective vengeance.”