Judges 19 explained – a story of injustice and how godlessness turns all hearts cold

In those days there was no king in Yashar’el; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25)

For those who have not read all the books in the Scriptures, it might be a pre-conception that God’s Word would make sure only the good stories are there and that the Israelites for being ‘his chosen people’ would only be shown in a good light. This could not be farther from the truth.

The book of Judges has one of the most disturbing accounts of violence which can only be topped by the trial and murder of the Messiah. Our reflection here is on the story of the nameless concubine of Judges 19, who left her Levite man after a strife – or she runs away because of adultery. The interpretations vary, but in any case, she left him and the events that came next could easily be part of a terror movie script.

The concubine in a godless land

A concubine was a ‘lesser wife’ who was taken care of by her man but did not fully enjoy the status of an official wife. A wife normally cost the Israelite man a lot of money - especially for a high-class Levite whose expectation was probably for his wife to be likewise of a high-class family (or her father to be more specific).

So this low status woman decided to leave her man, went back to her father’s house and stayed there for a few months, until her man comes to bring her back to his house. The woman’s father was happy to host the Levite (it was a great honour to have the opportunity to have a high-class Levite in your house) and made sure the visit would extend as much as possible to show hospitality until one day the man decided to leave, but it was late in the afternoon. On their way back, his servant asked his master to stop in the nearest city to rest, but the man decided to proceed a little longer until they reached a city of the tribe of Benjamin, because for the man it was preferable to stay among his brethren than with the heathen.

Ironically, the Israelite city showed no hospitality, and they were about to sleep out on the streets when a man offered shelter. Once they arrived at the house and start 'feeling merry', they hear knocks on the door and the men described as 'sons of Belial' demand the man who was visiting to be given to them to be raped. The hospitable man answered them with a solution that sounds bizarre to us now, but he offered his own virgin daughter instead of the stranger man, or the Levite's concubine. But the men outside were not convinced. So, the Levite throws his concubine out the door and the group gang-rapes her the whole night.

It might be important here to spend a few words to examine what the host did from a Hebrew perspective. In the ancient Israelite world, hospitality was a huge responsibility and honour. To have a man raped when under your roof would be a huge dishonour and it would be preferable the pain of having his own daughter raped and killed than to allow this to happen with a male visitor. A raped man in Hebrew culture would be as good as dead. It was not only the physical and emotional dishonour, but it was a emasculative humiliation that no man could endure and even if he was killed, the humiliating circumstances would not spare his name, so while this is unacceptable in our current mindset, the host was doing things in the way he thought was correct. To understand the ancient Hebrew point of view also helps us 'rationalize' what seems counterintuitive, because the Levite ‘loved’ this woman enough to go through all the trouble to get her back, still he was so terrified of having his core masculinity destroyed, that he preferred to give his concubine a full night of terror.

The next morning, she barely makes it to the front door, where she dies. Sounding almost emotionless, the Levite brings his concubine to his house, cuts her body into 12 pieces and sends one piece to each of the Tribes of Yashar'el (Israel) which was a call to war.

A side note here is that we see a different account of the events from the Judges 19 and when the Levite tells his story in Judges 20. He omits the fact that the mob wished to rape him and he omits the fact that out of fear he threw his woman to the mob. Whoever wrote this account knew what had really happened or heard it directly from Him who is always there. 😉

And the people of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this evil happen?” And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. And the leaders of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house against me by night. They meant to kill me, and they violated my concubine, and she is dead. (Judges 20:3-5)

The Yashar'el of Judges: Moral collapse

Now let's pause here to reflect on the leadership of Yashar’el (Israel) in this point of the Biblical timeline. Yashar'el was ruled by Judges, who were like prophets with a direct line with Yahuah. As the tribes spread over a big territory, we can speculate that not all tribes had their own Judge, or not all judges were truly connected to Yahuah, so, many Israelite communities might have become lawless and drifted away from Yahuah. It eventually came to a point where a king was necessary.

The social and moral collapse was described with a sentence that is repeated four times in the book of Judges: ‘In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.’ The events in the book of Judges are symbolic of how in the end times love will grow so cold and there will be so much injustice and wars, that we will ask for our King of kings Yahusha Ha'Mashiach to come back and to rule with a rod of iron. When we do things as we think are right in our own eyes we forget our Maker and where our Maker is not, guess who's ready to fill the space we open!

Back to the story, the tribes decide to reason with their fellow Israelites, which was futile. All the Benjaminite had to do was deliver the 'sons of Belial' to justice, but they preferred to go for war against their own brethren even if they were only one tribe against eleven.

And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What evil is this that has taken place among you? Now therefore give up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and purge evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel. Then the people of Benjamin came together out of the cities to Gibeah to go out to battle against the people of Israel. Judges 20:12-14)

How about Yahuah?

Make no mistake, once the tribe of Benjamin decided to defend the wicked and took weapons against Yashar'el, Yahuah was fully supportive of Yashar'el's cause and ready to destroy a whole tribe because of their wickedness.

And Benjamin went against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed 18,000 men of the people of Israel. All these were men who drew the sword. Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before Yahuah and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Yahuah. And the people of Israel inquired of Yahuah (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, ministered before it in those days), saying, “Shall we go out once more to battle against our brothers, the people of Benjamin, or shall we cease?” And Yahuah said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand.” (Judges 20:25-28)

This was a lesson for the tribe of Benjamin. Not only had they wicked people in their midst, but they were also protected! The tribe of Benjamin was known for their great precision skills in battle, especially with their left hand, so maybe they got too confident? Even all their might was not enough to defeat Yahuah and it almost cost them their extermination.

The bloody war decimated the tribe of Benjamin until only 600 men were left. Even the women and the children were killed. So, for those men who decided not to fight anymore and left for protection, it was their responsibility to repopulate the tribe. While the other tribes were sorry for what had happened, they could not help by giving their own daughters, for they had sworn an oath not to do so. The solution found was not less barbaric than all the events up to this point: the towns which had not sent soldiers to the war against Benjamin were invaded, all the people killed except the virgins, who were then given to their Benjaminite brethren to be their wives. Unfortunately, they only managed to gather 400 women, so they were still short on virgins. The solution? To kidnap the daughters of Shiloh who were dancing around the vineyard during a local feast. According to the elders, if their fathers complained, they should explain that there was no problem, because technically they didn't give their daughters willingly, they were taken by force, so it would not be a break of their oath. Do you feel the nausea yet? Anyway, they rebuilt the tribe out of 600 new couples, the tribe of Benjamin survived and now the story is here for us to learn from it.

As hard as it is to read these passages, it is in the Scriptures for one important reason: to show us that when we decide to make our decisions without Yahuah, the aftermath will inevitably be destruction and pain. The events described in Judges and the books of Samuel will eventually bring us up to the point where Yashar’el (Israel) asks for a king to rule over them.

The Benjaminite did not follow the Torah and protected perverted murderers; the Israelite elders killed women and children of their brethren and did not think ahead. Yahuah told them to go to war against Benjamin and promised to deliver them, but was his instruction to utterly destroy women and children? Whenever this was the case, Yahuah made it very clear, so I leave this here up for debate. Because all women and children were dead, they felt sorry when it was too late and had to come up with a solution that involved more killing and forced marriage. Wherever there is no fear of Yahuah, the worst of our nature will eventually rule.

Folly of the Godless

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good.

God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. (Psalm 53:1-3)

Conclusion

“The Levite had preferred Gibeah over Jebus to avoid the dangers of Canaanism, only to discover that Canaan had invaded his own world.”[1] Sadly, Canaanism is invading our world and some western countries appear to be far worse than the tribe of Benjamin. They do not even seek Yahuah for direction. At least the other eleven tribes sought Yahuah. [2]

One of the reasons the Scriptures are so reliable is exactly because it shows human nature and all its nuances no matter who. David sinned, Salomon sinned, Israel sinned not only against Yahuah, but also against their own brethren and children. Yahuah leaves no stone unturned and when you read the events in Judges 19-21, notice how the account shows different points of view. The Levite, when giving his testimony about the death of his woman, tells the story from his point of view and carefully omits what would be shameful to him. On the other hand, when the Scripture tells us what happened from a witness' point of view, it shows us what really happened and how each one responded. If there are three sides to every story, one can easily capture the third side of the story (the truth) by the language of the accounts in the holy Books.

As for Benjamin, it was important that Yahuah humbled them. From the blessings received by his father Yacob, Benjamin was compared to a wolf. Wolves are strong, wilful and defend their own to their deaths. The Benjaminite were a fierce military power and their faithfulness and courage, though positive traits, made them behave in a stupid way in this case - first because they were wrong and second because they did not consult with Yahuah before going to war against their own brethren.

We can rest assured that the fact that Benjamin became the smallest tribe was also part of the plan. Out of Benjamin came important figures such as Saul, the first king of Yashar'el, Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai, Ehud, and of course, our beloved Apostle Paul.

Additional reading:

1. Daniel I Block.Daniel I Block. Judges, Ruth. The American Commentary. B&H Publishing. 1999. p. 536.

2. https://www.neverthirsty.org/bible-qa/qa-archives/question/what-are-lessons-in-story-of-levite-and-his-concubine/