Judges 19:24

_AND 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 IS COME INTO MINE HOUSE, DO NOT THIS FOLLY._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

Verse Judges 19:24. HERE IS _MY DAUGHTER, A MAIDEN_] Such a proposal was made by _Lot_ to the men of Sodom, Genesis 19:8, but nothing can excuse either. That the rights of _hospitality_ were sacred in the East, and most highly regarded we know; and that a man would defend, at the expense of his life, the stranger whom he had admitted under his roof, is true; but how a _father_ could make such a proposal relative to his _virgin daughter_, must remain among those things which are incomprehensible....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 19:1 WHEN THERE WAS NO KING (Judges 17:6; Judges 18:1; Judges 21:25). It appears from Judges 20:27, Judges 20:28 that the events narrated in these three last chapters of the Book of Judges happened in the lifetime of Phinehas, and while the ark was at Shiloh (see Judges 20:27, note). Phinehas evidently outlived Joshua ...

BEHOLD, HERE IS MY DAUGHTER, A MAIDEN, AND HIS CONCUBINE,.... His own daughter, a virgin, and the concubine of the Levite his guest: THEM I WILL BRING OUT NOW, AND HUMBLE YE THEM, AND DO WITH THEM WHAT SEEMETH GOOD UNTO YOU; those he proposed to bring out, and deliver to them, to lie with, to do with as they pleased to gratify their raging lust, which to do was more than he ought, or had power to do: he had no right to prostitute his own daughter, and much less the concubine or wife of another man, though perhaps it might be with the consent of the Levite; but all this he said in a hurry and surprise, in a fright and terror, and of two evils choosing the least, and perhaps in imitation of Lot, whose case might come to remembrance: BUT UNTO THIS MAN DO NOT SO VILE A THING; as he apprehended that to be which they were desirous of, whether to kill him, as he himself says,...

VILE the matter of this folly....

2. ISRAEL'S MORAL CONDITION AND THE WAR ON BENJAMIN CHAPTER 19 The Levite and His Concubine _ 1. The Levite and the unfaithful woman (Judges 19:1)_ 2. The fate of the concubine (Judges 19:22) The results of departure from God are now revealed in the awful corruption and violence so faithfully recorded in this chapter. The moral condition of Israel has gone down to the same level of the Canaanites; they sank even lower than the nations whom God had doomed to destruction. We do not repeat the horrible details of this deed of lust and violence. Apostasy from God, rejection of the truth is followed by moral corruption. Romans 1:26 shows the vileness of the Gentiles, who turned their backs to the

JUDGES 19-21. In the story of the outrage of Gibeah, there is a combination of history and midrash. Hosea (Judges 9:9) makes allusion to the days of Gibeah, as a time of notorious moral depravity in Israel, and the events which he had in view doubtless form the basis of the present chapter. But when Israel is called the congregation (Judges 20:18), when the elders of the congregation are introduced, and when the tribes come automatically together as one man (Judges 20:1; Judges 20:11), making a national army ten times as great as Barak's, it is apparent that this is a modernised version of the story, written in the language of the congregation. It is

The verse is clearly dependent on Genesis 19:8, and, as Bertheau and Moore think, may be an addition to heighten the resemblance between the two situations. It does not really fit into the context; _and his concubine_is out of place in view of Judges 19:25; while the Hebrew exhibits grammatical irregularities which raise a doubt as to the originality of the text. Reading Judges 19:25 as the sequel of Judges 19:23 the narrative becomes much more intelligible. As it stands, the verse illustrates the extravagant lengths to which the duties of hospitality could be carried. To save his guest the master of the house is prepared to sacrifice his

The Crime at Gibeah and Its Punishment Judges 19:1 to Judges 21:25 _The Levite and His Concubine Judges 19:1-30_ And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah. 2 And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Beth-lehem-judah, and was there four whole months. 3 And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet

THE WICKEDNESS OF GIBEAH A Levite and his concubine meet with foul treatment at Gibeah, a town of Benjamin. The indignation of the other tribes is roused against the Benjamites. This chapter gives the cause of the war between the rest of the tribes and Benjamin, with which the remainder of Judges is concerned. It is difficult to determine the period to which this war should be assigned. In Judges 20 there is no recognised leader or judge in Israel, but all the tribes (quite differently from elsewhere) act together 'as one man' (Judges 20:1); and the numbers given (Judges 20:2; Judges 20:15) imply a very large population; though an army app