Judges 19:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And his master said to him, "We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will pass on to Gibeah."

NIV: His master replied, "No. We won’t go into any city whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah."

NASB: However, his master said to him, 'We will not turn aside into a city of foreigners who are not of the sons of Israel; instead, we will go on as far as Gibeah.'

CSB: But his master replied to him, "We will not stop at a foreign city where there are no Israelites. Let’s move on to Gibeah."

NLT: No,' his master said, 'we can’t stay in this foreign town where there are no Israelites. Instead, we will go on to Gibeah.

KJV: And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah.

NKJV: But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside here into a city of foreigners, who are not of the children of Israel; we will go on to Gibeah.”

Daylight is fading quickly, and the Levite is still on the road (Judges 19:4–11). He travels with his concubine, servant, and donkeys (Judges 19:1–3). As the road takes them past the city of Jebus, the servant suggests they find a place in the city to stay for the night. Traveling on foot in the dark is risky, and this was a particularly lawless era in that region (Judges 21:25). It would be much safer to find a home to stay at overnight.

The Levite refuses, because Jebus is a city of non-Israelites. The city at the time was occupied by the Jebusites. The tribe of Benjamin had famously failed to drive the Jebusites out of the city during the time of Joshua (Judges 1:21). Eventually, the city will be absorbed into Israel and renamed "Jerusalem."

Instead of stopping, the man decides to continue a few more hours to the Israelite town of Gibeah. It's likely the Levite assumes the Jebusites will not welcome three Israelite travelers for the night, or that they will not be safe there. Tragically, the attempt to seek safety leads the group into a horrific act of violence (Judges 19:22).

Judges 19:11–21 explains how the Levite, his concubine, and his servant came to stay in the Israeli town of Gibeah. The man refuses to stop in the city of Jebus. Instead, they continue after dark to Gibeah. Oddly, no one there is willing to take them in. An older migrant worker sees the group and insists they avoid the square overnight. This parallels the comments Lot made to a pair of angels he encountered in Sodom (Genesis 19:2–7), and for good reason (Judges 19:22). What happens next is one of the most stomach-turning incidents in the entire Bible.

A Levite man travels to reconcile with his runaway concubine. On their way back home, they spend the night in the city of Gibeah, in the home of an old man. The wicked men of the town form a mob, demanding the Levite be handed over to be raped. Instead, the Levite forces his concubine outside; the mob rapes and beats her until sunrise. The Levite finds her body, carries it home, and cuts it into twelve pieces. He sends these pieces throughout Israel. This shocks the entire nation into demanding some action be taken against Gibeah.

This chapter's stomach-turning depravity provides another example of the great wickedness in Israel, in an era when everyone did whatever they wanted to without regard for law or God (Judges 21:25). A mob of rapists murders a Levite man's concubine. He sends pieces of her body throughout the nation. This shocks the people into demanding justice. In the following chapters, the tribe of Benjamin refuses to hand over their guilty members. Israel is plunged into civil war.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).