Judges 19:1

The outrage at Gibeah

1 .when there was no king See on Judges 17:6.

on the farther side or recesses, probably meaning the northern parts of E.; cf. the recesses of Lebanon2 Kings 19:23, also Isaiah 14:13; Jeremiah 6:22 etc. Like his fellow in App. i, this Levite is a sojourner, and he has a connexion with Beth-lehem of Judah. See on Judges 17:7. No doubt he was serving a local sanctuary in some remote quarter of Ephraim.

a concubine The relationship was sanctioned by custom, cf. Judges 8:31; Genesis 22:24; Genesis 25:6 etc.; it was regarded as a real marriage, as the sequel shews. The Hebr. word (Gk. παλλακίς, Lat. pellex) appears to be foreign and not of Semitic origin; we may infer that originally it was applied to female slaves captured from foreigners, or not of native race.