As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain wicked fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we can have sex with him!”
The man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, “No, my brothers, please don’t act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, don’t do this folly. Behold, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them what seems good to you; but to this man don’t do any such folly.”
But the men wouldn’t listen to him; so the man grabbed his concubine, and brought her out to them; and they had sex with her, and abused her all night until the morning. When the day began to dawn, they let her go.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv22, 24 To the intent they might break it.
To the intent they might break it.
Hebrew, men of Belial, that is, given to all wickedness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv22–25 Jdg 19:22 [Now] as they were making their hearts…
Jdg 19:22 [Now] as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, [and] beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.
Ver. 22. Certain sons of Belial.] Yokeless, lawless, masterless monsters; breathing devils, {2Co 6:15} and such as differed from beasts, non ratione sed oratione tantum, by speech only, not by reason; men compact of mere incongruities and absurdities {a} {2Th 3:2} unreasonable wicked men; flagitious fellows.
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Beset the house round about.] Sodomite like. {Gen 19:4} Domus tutissimum cuique refugium atque receptaculum, saith the civil law. A man’s house is his castle, say we. But this old man could not be quiet in his own house for these beastly ruffians, qui gyraverunt circa domum, who beset the house and beat at the door, as though they would have broken it down.
That we may know him.] O faces hatched with impudence! "They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not," {Isa 3:9} they set it on the "cliff of a rock" to the view of all. {Eze 24:7-8} But it may be that then at Gibeah, as now in the Levant, {b} sodomy was not held a vice.
{a} Aποποι.
{b} Sir H. Blunt’s Voyage, 79.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv22–25 Making their hearts merry, i.e. refreshing themselves with the…
Making their hearts merry, i.e. refreshing themselves with the provisions set before them.
Certain sons of Belial; wicked and licentious men: see Deu 13:13.
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That we may know him; an ambiguous expression, whereby they pretended only a desire to know and see what person he had brought among them, and yet carry on their wicked design of knowing him carnally. Compare Gen 19:5, where the same phrase is used in that sense upon a like occasion. But though they name only the man, yet it is plain from the following relation that their design was principally upon the woman, and therefore under the name of the man, they comprehend those that belong to him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v22 Here is, I. The great wickedness of the men…
Here is, I. The great wickedness of the men of Gibeah. One could not imagine that ever it should enter into the heart of men that had the use of human reason, of Israelites that had the benefit of divine revelation, to be so very wicked. "Lord, what is man!" said David, "what a mean creature is he!" "Lord, what is man," may we say upon the reading of this story, "what a vile creature is he, when he is given up to his own heart's lusts!" The sinners are here called sons of Belial, that is, ungovernable men, men that would endure no yoke, children of the devil (for he is Belial), resembling him, and joining with him in rebellion against God and his government. Sons of Benjamin, of whom Moses had said, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him (Deu 33:12), have become such sons of Belial that an honest man cannot lodge in safety among them. The sufferers were a Levite and his wife, and that kind man that gave them entertainment. We are strangers upon earth, and must expect strange usage. It is said they were making their hearts merry when this trouble came upon them, Jdg 19:22. If the mirth was innocent, it teaches us of what uncertain continuance all our creature comforts and enjoyments are; when we are ever so well pleased with our friends, we know not how near our enemies are; nor, if it be well with us this hour, can we be sure it will be so the next. If the mirth was sinful and excessive, let it be a warning to us to keep a strict guard upon ourselves, that we grow not intemperate in the use of lawful things, nor be transported into indecencies by our cheerfulness; for the end of that mirth is heaviness. God can soon change the note of those that are making their hearts merry, and turn their laughter into mourning and their joy into heaviness. Let us see what the wickedness of these Benjamites was.
1. They made a rude and insolent assault, in the night, upon the habitation of an honest man, that not only lived peaceably among them, but kept a good house and was a blessing and ornament to their city. They beset the house round, and, to the great terror of those within, beat as hard as they could at the door, Jdg 19:22. A man's house is his castle, in which he ought to be both safe and quiet, and, where there is law, it is taken under the special protection of it; but there was no king in Israel to keep the peace and secure honest men from the sons of violence.
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2. They had a particular spite at the strangers that were within their gates, that only desired a night's lodging among them, contrary to the laws of hospitality, which all civilized nations have accounted sacred, and which the master of the house pleaded with them (Jdg 19:23): Seeing that this man has come into my house. Those are base and abject spirits indeed that will trample upon the helpless, and use a man the worse for his being a stranger, whom they know no ill of.
3. They designed in the most filthy and abominable manner (not to be thought of without horror and detestation) to abuse the Levite, whom perhaps they had observed to be young and comely: Bring him forth that we may know him. We should certainly have concluded they meant only to enquire whence he came, and to know his character, but that the good man of the house, who understood their meaning too well, by his answer lets us know that they designed the gratification of that most unnatural and worse than brutish lust which was expressly forbidden by the law of Moses, and called an abomination, Lev 18:22. Those that are guilty of it are ranked in the New Testament among the worst and vilest of sinners (Ti1 1:10), and such as shall not inherit the kingdom of God, Co1 6:9. Now, (1.) This was the sin of Sodom, and is thence called Sodomy. The Dead Sea, which was the standing monument of God's vengeance upon Sodom, for its filthiness, was one of the boundaries of Canaan, and lay not many miles off from Gibeah. We may suppose the men of Gibeah had seen it many a time, and yet would not take warning by it, but did worse than Sodom (Eze 16:48), and sinned just after the similitude of their transgression. Who would have expected (says bishop Hall) such extreme abomination to come out of the loins of Jacob? Even the worst pagans were saints to them. What did it avail them that they had the ark of God in Shiloh when they had Sodom in their streets - God's law in their fringes, but the devil in their hearts? Nothing but hell itself can yield a worse creature than a depraved Israelite. (2.) This was the punishment of their idolatry, that sin to which they were, above all others, most addicted. Because they liked not to retain God in their knowledge, therefore he gave them up to these vile affections, by which they dishonoured themselves as they had by their idolatry dishonoured him and turned his glory into shame, Rom 1:24, Rom 1:28. See and admire, in this instance, the patience of God. Why were not these sons of Belial struck blind, as the Sodomites were? Why were not fire and brimstone rained from heaven upon their city? It was because God would leave it to Israel to punish them by the sword, and would reserve his own punishment of them for the future state, in which those that go after strange flesh shall suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, Jde 1:7.
4. They were deaf to the reproofs and reasoning of the good man of the house, who, being well acquainted (we may suppose) with the story of Lot and the Sodomites, set himself to imitate Lot, Jdg 19:23, Jdg 19:24. Compare Gen 19:6-8. He went out to them as Lot did, spoke civilly to them, called them brethren, begged of them to desist, pleaded the protection of his house which his guests were under, and represented to them the great wickedness of their attempt: "Do not so wickedly, so very wickedly." He calls it folly and a vile thing. But in one thing he conformed too far to Lot's example (as we are apt in imitating good men to follow them even in their false steps), in offering them his daughter to do what they would with. He had not power thus to prostitute his daughter, nor ought he to have done this evil that good might come. But this wicked proposal of his may be in part excused from the great surprise and terror he was in, his concern for his guests, and his having too close a regard to what Lot did in the like case, especially not finding that the angels who were by reproved him for it. And perhaps he hoped that his mentioning this as a more natural gratification of their lust would have sent them back to their common harlots. But they would not hearken to him, Jdg 19:25. Headstrong lusts are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; they sear the conscience and make it insensible.
5. They got the Levite's wife among them, and abused her to death, Jdg 19:25. They slighted the old man's offer of his daughter to their lust, either because she was not handsome or because they knew her to be one of great gravity and modesty: but, when the Levite brought them his concubine, they took her with them by force to the place appointed for their filthiness. Josephus, in his narrative of this story, makes her to be the person they had a design upon when they beset the house, and says nothing of their villainous design upon the Levite himself. They saw her (he says) in the street, when they came into the town, and were smitten with her beauty; and perhaps, though she was reconciled to her husband, her looks did not bespeak her to be one of the most modest. Many bring mischief of this kind upon themselves by their loose carriage and behaviour; a little spark may kindle a great fire. One would think the Levite should have followed them, to see what became of his wife, but it is probable he durst not, lest they should do him a mischief. In the miserable end of this woman, we may see the righteous hand of God punishing her for her former uncleanness, when she played the whore against her husband, Jdg 19:2. Though her father had countenanced her, her husband had forgiven her, and the fault was forgotten now that the quarrel was made up, yet God remembered it against her when he suffered these wicked men thus wretchedly to abuse her; how unrighteous soever they were in their treatment of her, in permitting it the Lord was righteous. Her punishment answered her sin, Culpa libido fuit, poena libido fuit - Lust was her sin, and lust was her punishment. By the law of Moses she was to have been put to death for her adultery. She escaped that punishment from men, yet vengeance pursued her; for, if there was no king in Israel, yet there was a God in Israel, a God that judgeth in the earth. We must not think it enough to make our peace with men, whom by our sins we have wronged, but are concerned, by repentance and faith, to make our peace with God, who sees not as men see, nor makes so light of sin as men often do. The justice of God in this matter does not at all extenuate the horrid wickedness of these men of Gibeah, than which nothing could be more barbarous and inhuman.
II. The notice that was sent of this wickedness to all the tribes of Israel. The poor abused woman made towards her husband's lodgings as soon as ever the approach of the day-light obliged these sons of Belial to let her go (for these works of darkness hate and dread the light), Jdg 19:25. Down she fell at the door, with her hands on the threshold, begging pardon (as it were) for her former transgression, and in that posture of a penitent, with her mouth in the dust, she expired. There he found her (Jdg 19:26, Jdg 19:27), supposed her asleep, or overcome with shame and confusion for what had happened, but soon perceived she was dead (Jdg 19:28), took up her dead body, which, we may suppose, had all over it marks of the hands, the blows, and other abuses, she had received. On this sad occasion he waived his purpose of going to Shiloh, and went directly home. He that went out in hopes to return rejoicing came in again melancholy and disconsolate, sat down and considered, "Is this an injury fit to be passed by?" He cannot call for fire from heaven to consume the men of Gibeah, as those angels did who were, after the same manner, insulted by the Sodomites. There was no king in Israel, nor (for aught that appears) any sanhedrim, or great council, to appeal to, and demand justice from. Phinehas is high priest, but he attends closely to the business of the sanctuary, and will be no judge or divider. He has therefore no other way left him than to appeal to the people: let the community be judge. Though they had no general stated assembly of all the tribes, yet it is probable that each tribe had a meeting of their chiefs within itself. To each of the tribes, in their respective meetings, he sent by special messengers a remonstrance of the wrong that was done him, in all its aggravating circumstances, and with it a piece of his wife's dead body (Jdg 19:29), both to confirm the truth of the story and to affect them the more with it. He divided it into twelve pieces, according to the bones, so some read it, that is, by the joints, sending one to each tribe, even to Benjamin among the rest, with the hope that some among them would be moved to join in punishing so great a villany, and the more warmly because committed by some of their own tribe. It did indeed look very barbarous thus to mangle a dead body, which, having been so wretchedly dishonoured, ought to have been decently interred; but the Levite designed hereby, not only to represent their barbarous usage of his wife, whom they had better have cut in pieces thus than have used as they did, but also to express his own passionate concern and thereby to excite the like in them. And it had the desired effect. All that saw the pieces of the dead body, and were told how the matter was, expressed the same sentiments upon it. 1. That the men of Gibeah had been guilty of a very heinous piece of wickedness, the like to which had never been known before in Israel, Jdg 19:30. It was a complicated crime, loaded and blackened with all possible aggravations. They were not such fools as to make a mock at this sin, or turn the story off with a jest. 2. That a general assembly of all Israel should be called, to debate what was fit to be done for the punishment of this wickedness, that a stop might be put to this threatening inundation of debauchery, and the wrath of God might not be poured upon the whole nation for it. It is not a common case, and therefore they stir up one another to come together upon the occasion with this: Consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds. We have here the three great rules by which those that sit in council ought to go in every arduous affair. (1.) Let every man retire into himself, and weigh the matter impartially and fully in his own thoughts, and seriously and calmly consider it, without prejudice on either side, before he speaks upon it. (2.) Let them freely talk it over, and every man take advice of his friend, know his opinion and his reasons, and weigh them. (3.) Then let every man speak his mind, and give his vote according to his conscience. In the multitude of such counsellors there is safety.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv22–25 Now as they were making their hearts merry,.... With…
Now as they were making their hearts merry,.... With a glass of wine after supper, and conversing together in a cheerful manner about their country and friends:
behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial; very wicked, lawless, ungovernable, worthless, and unprofitable creatures, men under the influence of Satan, and their own lusts:
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beset the house round about: that none might escape out of it, especially the Levite, his wife and servant:
and beat at the door; to get entrance, either by those within opening to them, or by breaking it open:
and spake to the master of the house, the old man; who, upon this noise and clamour made, came to the door, to inquire what was the meaning of all this: to whom they replied, saying:
bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may know him; not what manner of person he was, of what country and profession, whither he was going, and what business he had here; but that they might have carnal knowledge of him in an unnatural way, or commit that sin with him which is commonly called sodomy; and the men of Sodom expressed their lust by the same word, Gen 19:5.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv22–23 Merry - That is, refreshing themselves with the provisions…
Merry - That is, refreshing themselves with the provisions set before them. Sons of belial - Children of the devil, wicked and licentious men.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv22, 24, 25 Verse 22. Sons of Belial] Profligate fellows. See Clarke…
Verse 22. Sons of Belial] Profligate fellows. See Clarke on De 13:13.
That we may know him.] See Ge 19:5. These were genuine sodomites as to their practice; sons of Belial, rascals and miscreants of the deepest dye; worse than brutes, being a compound of beast and devil inseparably blended.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv22, 24 Jdg 19:22-23. As they were making their hearts merry…
Jdg 19:22-23. As they were making their hearts merry — That is, refreshing themselves with the provisions set before them. Behold, certain sons of Belial — Children of the devil, wicked and licentious men. Bring forth the man, &c. — They wanted the Levite brought forth, that they might satisfy their unnatural lusts. This man is come into my house — And therefore I am obliged to protect him by the laws of hospitality. As several circumstances of this horrid wickedness resemble those of the affair recorded Genesis 19., we refer the reader to the notes on that chapter.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v23 This man is come into mine house - He…
This man is come into mine house - He appeals to the sacred rights of hospitality, just as Lot did Gen 19:8. Both cases betray painfully the low place in the social scale occupied by woman in the old world, from which it is one of the glories of Christianity to have raised her.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv22, 24, 25 That is, &c. An interpretation of the Vulgate. Belial…
That is, &c. An interpretation of the Vulgate. Belial is sometimes rendered "devilish, apostate," &c. Septuagint, "lawless, or transgressors." (Menochius) --- Aquila, "rebels." Symmachus, "libertines," without education or restraint. (Calmet) --- Josephus lays the blame on some young men, who had been captivated with the charms of the Levite’s wife, whom they had seen in the street. But they seem to have had designs still more criminal, though they were prevailed upon to desist, when she was abandoned to them. (Haydock) --- The demanded the Levite himself. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v22 The wicked deed of the Gibeathites, and the measure…
The wicked deed of the Gibeathites, and the measure taken by the Levite to invoke the judgment of the nation on the perpetrators.
Jdg_19:22-30
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22Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain [omit: certain] sons of Belial [worthless fellows], beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. 23And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man Isaiah 24 come into mine house, do not this folly. Behold, here is my daughter, a maiden [virgin], and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing 25[lit.the matter of this folly]. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. 26Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord was, [and lay there] till it was light. 27And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. 28And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an 29[the] ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with [according to] her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts [country] of Israel. 30And it was so, that all that saw it, said,14 There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children [sons] of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
[1 Jdg_19:30.—“The perfects וְהָיָה ,וְאָמַר, Jdg_19:30, do not stand for the imperfects with vav consecutive, וַיְהִי ,וַיּאֹמֶר, as Hitzig, Bertheau, and others suppose, but are perfecta consequentiœ, expressive of the result which the Levite expects from his action. It is only necessary to supply a לֵאמֹר before וְהָיָה, which in lively narration or agitated discourse is frequently omitted (cf. e.g. Exo_8:5 with Jdg_7:2). The narrator uses the perfects, instead of the imperfects with simple ו, usual in clauses expressive of design, quia quod futurum esse prœvidebat tanquam factum animo suo obversabatur (Rosenmüller). The Levite’s expectation that the moral indignation of all the tribes will be roused against such wickedness, and will lead them to resolve on punishment, is thus represented not as a doubtful conjecture, but as the confident anticipation of a certainly ensuing fact” (Keil). It is impossible to imitate this exactly in English, but the better rendering of the passage would be: “sent her into all the territory of Israel, saying [or, as we would say, thinking] it shall be that all who see shall say. There was no such deed done or seen,” etc. Chapter 20 shows, as Keil remarks, that the Levite was right in his anticipations. Dr. Cassel translates as the E. V.—Tr.]
EXEGETICAL AND DOCTRINAL
Jdg_19:22 ff. The narrator is aware that he has to relate a history similar to the one that occurred in Sodom in the days of Lot; for at suitable points his language takes the same turns of expression (cf. Gen_19:5; Gen_19:7-8). Lot was only a resident in Sodom, just as here the aged Ephraimite is in Gibeah. He, like the latter, had invited the guests to his house. The Sodomites surrounded the house, and demanded the surrender of the strangers, as the Gibeathites do here. Lot proposes to bring forth his daughters, and the aged host of our history makes the same proposition. The dissimilarities, it is true, are equally conspicuous. The guests of Lot were angels, who frustrated all sinful designs: here, the entertainer receives but an imperfect Levite. Although the aged host cannot be compared with the hospitable nephew of Abraham, it must be admitted that he acts like a good Israelite. The men of Gibeah were personally sinners even beyond those of Sodom, for they had a God who does not tolerate such abominations. But their sin was the outbreaking of individual depravity; in Sodom it was the fruit of the national life. Hence, both were punished according to their guilt. Benjamin perished almost; Sodom was wholly destroyed. In Sodom all sinned, from the youth to the gray head (Gen_19:4): in Gibeah, the criminals were “sons of wickedness,” who, however, by being called אַנְשֵׁי הָעיר, “men of the city,” are shown to belong to the higher classes, which circumstance also accounts for their unchecked attainment of such great proficiency in evil. This nightly vagabondizing of wanton youth was but too well known to antiquity, even in Roman times, when Roman emperors took part in it. Here, however, unholy, idolatrous usages seem also to have come into play, according to which strangers were abused for purposes of sensuality, as, contrariwise, in the service of the Syrian Goddess natives were given up to the stranger. It was a night-riot, which began with sundown and ceased with the morning. Hence, the Levite probably remained unmolested until night had fully set in, and could depart unhindered when the day broke.
It was at all events a fearful crime in Israel. The Mosaic law punished it with death (Lev_20:13; cf. Jdg_18:22, etc.). Even the infringement of the rights of hospitality was in Hesiod’s opinion, which was followed by the later Greeks, a crime of equal magnitude with adultery or the defilement of a father’s bed (Nägelsbach, Nachhom. Theol. 252 f.). The aged host was, therefore, right in speaking of the matter as a נְבָלָה, an abominable crime. But the savage Benjamites are no more willing to hear reason than the men of Sodom were. Their violent thundering at the door (מִתְדַּפְּקִים), and their language (cf. Gen_19:9), afforded sufficient occasion to the host to fear that they would soon break into the house itself. He is most especially concerned to shield the Levite, for in this direction lay the chief crime. Hence, no requisition is made upon the servant to give himself up for his master—for that would not have changed the nature of the crime,—but the host, like Lot, offers them women,15 his own daughter being one. But he is not called upon to make this sacrifice: the Benjamites will not have his daughter; for she is no stranger, and belongs to their neighbor. It is especially to this offer of his daughter that the opening words of Jdg_19:25 apply: “they would not hearken.” Hereupon the Levite takes his resolution, and leads forth his concubine. Her beauty pacifies the violent wantons; but she herself falls a victim to their horrible lusts. The beastly treatment she receives deprives her of life. What an awful lesson! The same woman, whose sensuality was heretofore unsatisfied, is now killed by excess of illicit intercourse. The Levite who, notwithstanding her wanton disposition, runs after her, is now obliged to give her up to others.16 She who would not live for him, must now die for him.—In Christendom, also, similar horrors have occurred. Who could bear to write the history of licentiousness! At the close of the fourteenth century a Thuringian knight abducted a maiden. Placing her on his horse behind himself, he intended to reach Erfurt the same evening before the closing of the city-gates. He failed, and was compelled to seek shelter with the maiden in the hospital situated outside of the city. The inmates, when they saw the beautiful woman, murdered the knight, and abused her until she died. The crime being discovered, the house was burned down, together with the criminals (Falkenstein, Hist. von Erfurt, p. 277).
Jdg_19:29 f.. And he came into his house. It must have been a fearful night for the Levite, knowing that his concubine was in the power of the wanton mob, and it was a terrible morning when he found her dead on the threshold of the house. He had risen early, and made better haste to get away from the house of his host than he had done to leave that of his father-in-law, in order to avoid a meeting with the inhabitants.17 His journey was a sad one; for his second ass carried the lifeless body of the dishonored woman. Filled with these horrors, perpetrated against him in Israel, he appeals to all the people of Israel. He cuts the corpse into twelve pieces, and sends them out in every direction. Expositors have one after another spoken here of Lucian’s narrative (in Toxaris) of the Scythian custom of sitting on the hide: “if any man is injured by another, and is unable to revenge himself, he sacrifices an ox, cuts up the flesh, and dresses it; then spreading the skin on the ground, he sits down on it, etc. Whoever pleases then comes, takes a part of the flesh, and placing his right foot on the hide, makes a solemn promise to assist him to the utmost of his abilities.” It must be said that there is no analogy whatever between this usage and the act of the Levite. The Scythian usage is the symbolical formula of an oath, by which all who take part in it promise to unite themselves into one body with the supplicant. But such is not the idea in our passage, nor yet in 1Sa_11:7. Saul sends out the pieces of the divided oxen with the threatening message, that thus it shall be done to the oxen of every one who does not take the field after him. The Levite has no right to do anything of this kind. He issues no threat which he himself can execute. Nor does he place Israel under oath18 to avenge his wrong. But he shows the nation what is possible within its borders, and what may happen to any one in Israel as well as it has happened to himself. Hence, he sends not a divided ox, but the divided woman. Saul threatens that the oxen of those who do not follow him, shall be cut to pieces. The Levite intimates that unless such practices are abolished in Israel, the same fate may befall any woman. He points to the anarchy which breaks out in Israel, when the rights of hospitality are no longer respected, and the rights of the householder no longer secure, and when heathen abominations like those of Sodom are practiced in the land.19 The woman cut in pieces speaks more loudly than any other language could do. Of course, a message accompanied the pieces of the body, the contents of which are given in verse 30. Every one who saw must say that anything like this had not occurred in Israel since the nation dwelt in Canaan. It closed with the words: “Take the matter to heart, advise, and speak.”
Doubtless, the divided body spake loudly to all the tribes of Israel. But it spoke not of repentance, but only of the necessity of taking prudent measures against the recurrence of similar outrages, of which any one might himself become the victim. And yet the thing needed was not merely the removal of the abomination which was manifest, but the conversion of the heart, whose hidden wickedness had produced the abomination. The Levite points to the sins that had been committed; but does he also confess the share he himself had in them, and in the guilt that attached to them? The same self-righteousness is revealed by the whole people, as is shown by Judges 20.
Footnotes:
[14][Jdg_19:30.—“The perfects וְהָיָה ,וְאָמַר, Jdg_19:30, do not stand for the imperfects with vav consecutive, וַיְהִי ,וַיּאֹמֶר, as Hitzig, Bertheau, and others suppose, but are perfecta consequentiœ, expressive of the result which the Levite expects from his action. It is only necessary to supply a לֵאמֹר before וְהָיָה, which in lively narration or agitated discourse is frequently omitted (cf. e.g. Exo_8:5 with Jdg_7:2). The narrator uses the perfects, instead of the imperfects with simple ו, usual in clauses expressive of design, quia quod futurum esse prœvidebat tanquam factum animo suo obversabatur (Rosenmüller). The Levite’s expectation that the moral indignation of all the tribes will be roused against such wickedness, and will lead them to resolve on punishment, is thus represented not as a doubtful conjecture, but as the confident anticipation of a certainly ensuing fact” (Keil). It is impossible to imitate this exactly in English, but the better rendering of the passage would be: “sent her into all the territory of Israel, saying [or, as we would say, thinking] it shall be that all who see shall say. There was no such deed done or seen,” etc. Chapter 20 shows, as Keil remarks, that the Levite was right in his anticipations. Dr. Cassel translates as the E. V.—Tr.]
[15]He imitates the example of Lot. Therein lies his excuse. He seeks to prevent one sin, and commits another without knowing whether he can prevent the first.
[16]This act of his also testifies to the degeneracy of the Levitical body. He has not moral strength enough to die in order to preserve himself from defilement, and hence thinks himself obliged to surrender his concubine. His own head, therefore, shares in the guilt of the crime done on the woman.
[17][He probably gave up all idea of recovering his concubine, as being hopeless. So Bertheau and Keil. He may have entertained plans for rescuing her in some more effective way. There is at all events nothing in the text that justifies us to suppose that he went on his way, “as if he did not once think what had become of his unhappy companion,” and was “reminded of her only by stumbling upon her lifeless corpse,” as Bush rather wildly comments—Tr.]
[18]It might be thought that an analogy is afforded by the singular oath on the sacrificial pieces of a boar, a ram, and a bull, which Demosthenes mentions as taken by the accuser in cases of murder (adv. Aristocratem, p. 642); but here also none exists.
[19]This sense is also contained in the words of the Levite in Jdg_20:6.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v22 THE GIBEAHITES ABUSE HIS CONCUBINE TO DEATH. (Jdg 19:22-28)
THE GIBEAHITES ABUSE HIS CONCUBINE TO DEATH. (Jdg 19:22-28)
certain sons of Belial beset the house--The narrative of the horrid outrage that was committed; of the proposal of the old man; the unfeeling, careless, and in many respects, inexplicable conduct of the Levite towards his wife, disclose a state of morality that would have appeared incredible, did it not rest on the testimony of the sacred historian. Both men ought to have protected the women in the house, even though at the expense of their lives, or thrown themselves on God's providence. It should be noted, however, that the guilt of such a foul outrage is not fastened on the general population of Gibeah.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv22, 24 22. Making their hearts merry — By eating, drinking,…
22. Making their hearts merry — By eating, drinking, and conversation. This indicates the warmth and cheer of ancient friendship and hospitality.
Sons of Belial — Low, lewd, worthless fellows, such as their conduct showed them to be. See note on 1Sa_1:16.
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Bring forth the man — Most shameful and impudent demand, the revived voice of wicked Sodom. Compare Gen_19:1-11.
That we may know him — “These,” says Clarke, “were genuine Sodomites as to their practice; rascals and miscreants of the deepest dye; worse than brutes, being a compound of beast and devil inseparably blended.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv22–25 22. sons of Belial] Marg. sons of worthlessness, as…
22. sons of Belial] Marg. sons of worthlessness, as in Jdg_20:13, Deu_13:13, 1Sa_25:17; 1Sa_25:25 etc., taking Belial (belîy-ya‘al) as compounded of belî = not and ya‘al =? profit, though a noun ya‘al does not occur; worthlessness is not strong enough: the expression denotes low-minded, unprincipled characters, vile scoundrels (Moore), and this is how the LXX understands it. But a different interpretation is given in some ancient versions; Theodotion here and the LXX. cod. A in Jdg_20:13 take the second word as a proper name, sons of Beliam; so occasionally the Vulgate, filii Belial, followed by the AV., RV. In the N.T. Belial has become a synonym for Satan, 2Co_6:15, and in this sense the word is used in apocalyptic literature, e.g. Jubilees, Test. xii. Patriarchs, Sibylline Oracles. Although Belial is not interpreted as a proper name till a late period, yet originally perhaps it had this significance. Cheyne (Encycl. Bibl. col. 526 f.) seeks the origin of the name in popular mythology, and adopts the derivation belî-ya‘aleh = ‘(that from which) one comes not up again,’ i.e Sheol, or the demon of the abyss; cf. the Babylonian name for the underworld irṣît la tari = ‘land without return.’ This explanation is certainly appropriate in Psa_18:4 = 2Sa_22:5 floods of Belial, and, with an extension of meaning, in Psa_41:8; Psa_101:3 lit. a thing of B., Nah_1:11 RVm.; we have then to suppose that the abyss, or the demon of the abyss, came to represent a power or quality of gross wickedness. Cheyne’s view is ingenious and we must allow that the usual explanation rests upon a doubtful etymology.
beset the house … know him] The same words in Gen_19:4-5. It looks as if the present narrative had been deliberately conformed here and there to the description of the immorality of the Sodomites. This is certainly the case in Jdg_19:24, where the phrases are identical with those in Gen_19:8. Some scholars think that the present verse originally read Bring forth the woman … that we may know her, chiefly on the ground that in Jdg_20:5 the Levite does not allude to the particular crime mentioned in the text as it stands, but declares that the men of Gibeah wanted to slay him. The inconsistency may be more apparent than real. After what happened to the woman, the Levite might well assert that the intention was to kill him, while he would hardly repeat the expression used here.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv22–24 (22) Sons of Belial.—It is only by a deeply-rooted…
(22) Sons of Belial.—It is only by a deeply-rooted misconception that Belial is written with a capital. The word is not the name (as is supposed) of an evil spirit, but an ordinary noun, “sons of worthlessness,” i.e., “worthless fellows.” (See Deu_13:14; Psa_18:5.) Later (comp. 2Co_6:15) it became a kind of proper name. Josephus dishonestly suppresses all the darkest features of the story (Antt. v. 11, § 7).
Beset the house.—There is a close resemblance to the equally hideous narrative of Gen_19:8.
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Beat at the door.—The word implies continuous knocking and gradual increase of noise (Son_5:2). We cannot wonder that the intense horror excited by this scene of infamy lasted for centuries afterwards. “They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah” (Hos_9:9). “O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah” (Hos_10:9).
“And when night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.
Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night
In Gibeah, when the hospitable door
Exposed a matron to avoid worse rape.”—Milton.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv22, 23, 25 Making their hearts merry as in vers. 6, 9,…
Making their hearts merry as in vers. 6, 9, and in Jud_1:16:25 Rth_3:7. But there is nothing in the expression implying any excess in drinking. Bring forth the man. The abandoned character of the men appears in this, that not only did they offer no hospitality to the stranger themselves, but were ready to violate the sanctity of the hospitality of the old man"s house by their brutal violence. There must have been a fearful absence of all law and order and government when such deeds could be done without any interference on the part of magistrate or elder or ruler of any kind. The singular resemblance of the whole narrative to that in Genesis 19 suggests that the Israelites by their contact with the accursed Canaanites had reduced themselves to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah. Surely this shows the wisdom of the command to destroy utterly the workers of abomination. Sons of Belial. See Jud_1:20:13, where the same Hebrew phrase is rendered children of Belial. Belial in this common phrase is not a proper name, but a noun meaning worthlessness. Sons or men of Belial means worthless fellows.
Vers. 22-28. Monstrous wickedness.
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Now and again the world is horrified by the news of some frightful atrocity before which ordinary sin looks almost virtuous. How is such wickedness possible?
I MONSTROUS WICKEDNESS IS A FRUIT OF SELFISHNESS. The men of Gibeah were abandoned to gross self-indulgence till they utterly ignored the rights and sufferings of others. Nothing is so cruelly selfish as the degradation of that most unselfish affection love. When selfish pleasure is the one motive of conduct, men are blinded in conscience more than by any other influence.
II MONSTROUS WICKEDNESS IS ATTAINED THROUGH SUCCESSIVE DEGREES OF DEPRAVITY. NO man suddenly falls from innocence to gross licentiousness and heartless cruelty. The first step is slight; each following step seems but a small increase of sin, till the bottom of the very pit of iniquity is reached almost unconsciously. If the wicked man could have foreseen the depth of his fall from the first he would not have believed it possible. Men should beware of the first step downward.
III MONSTROUS WICKEDNESS IS MOST ADVANCED IN THE SOCIETY OF MANY BAD MEN. As fire burns most when drawn together, vice is most inflamed when men are companions in wickedness. Each tempts the rest by his example. Guilt appears to be lessened by being shared. Men excuse their conduct by comparing it with that of their neighbours. Thus the greatest depravity is most often seen in cities in the concourse of many men. In the excitement of a mob men will commit excesses from which they would shrink in solitary action. Yet responsibility is still individual, and each man must ultimately answer for his own sins.
IV MONSTROUS WICKEDNESS IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE VERY GREATNESS OF MAN"S NATURE. Human nature has a wide range of capacities. Man can rise infinitely above the brute, and he can fall infinitely below the brute. He can rise to the angelic, he can fall to the devilish. His originality of imagination, power of inventiveness, and freedom of will open to him avenues of evil as well as pathways of good which are closed to the more dull life of the animal world. The greater the capacity of the instrument, the more horrible is the discord which results from its getting out of tune. Those men who have the highest genius have the faculty for the worst sin. So tremendous is the capacity of the soul both for good and for evil, that the wise and humble man, fearing to trust it alone to the temptations of life, will learn to "commit it to the keeping of a faithful Creator". A. (1Pe_4:19)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v24 the matter of this folly.
vile
the matter of this folly.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v22 The Shameful Act of the Men of Gibeah
The Shameful Act of the Men of Gibeah
v. 22. Now, as they were making their hearts merry, as they became better acquainted during the evening meal, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, worthless, profitless, vicious fools, among whom, apparently, were also the leaders of the city, beset the house round about, to prevent escape, and beat at the door, becoming more insistent right along, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house that we may know him. They wanted to commit the same revolting crime of Sodomy or pederasty upon the Levite which had brought destruction upon Sodom, Gen 19:6-8.
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v. 23. And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, as Lot had done in the same situation, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, being protected by the ancient rules of hospitality, do not this folly.
v. 24. Behold, here is my daughter, a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, in making them objects of their lust, and do with them what seemeth good unto you; but unto this man do not so vile a thing, in committing an act of infamous immorality.
v. 25. But the men would not hearken to him, for even ordinary fornication did not satisfy their depraved desires; so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them, hoping thereby to save himself, to prevent one sin by committing another; and they, turning their wantonness upon the woman, since no other victim seemed available, knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning, in an orgy of devilish lust; and when the day began to spring, at the first dawn of morning, they let her go.
v. 26. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, just as it was getting light, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord, her husband, was, till it was light, deprived of her life by the beastly treatment accorded her by the mob.
v. 27. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way, considering the idea of ever recovering his concubine as being utterly hopeless in this den of iniquity; and, behold, the woman, his concubine, was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold, her arms stretched out, as though seeking help.
v. 28. And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. His wife was dead. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up and gat him unto his place.
v. 29. And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, divided after the manner of slaughtered animals, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel, messengers going forth to explain the meaning of their gruesome burden, according to an ancient custom of inviting men to join in wreaking vengeance upon the perpetrators of such a beastly act.
v. 30. And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day. Consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds; they were to think over the case, to take counsel one with another, and get ready to act in the matter, for it was out of the question that such a horrible deed should go unpunished. That is the result when men forget and forsake the living God—every form of uncleanness and immorality, the most unnatural horrors: Let the heart of every man be firm in the fear of the Lord, lest he take part in deeds of darkness and become a slave of the Prince of Darkness.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv22, 24 they were making their hearts glad
they were making their hearts glad
The phrase "making their hearts glad" is an idiom that means to have a good time with someone else. AT: "they were have a good time together" or "they were enjoying themselves" (See: Idiom)
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some men of ... surrounded the house
Some men stood on all sides of the house.
translationWords
evil
had relations with
lord
brother
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.