Judges 19:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: and they turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. And he went in and sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night.

NIV: There they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no one took them in for the night.

NASB: They turned aside there to enter and spend the night in Gibeah. When they entered, they sat down in the public square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night.

CSB: They stopped to go in and spend the night in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one took them into their home to spend the night.

NLT: so they stopped there to spend the night. They rested in the town square, but no one took them in for the night.

KJV: And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging.

NKJV: They turned aside there to go in to lodge in Gibeah. And when he went in, he sat down in the open square of the city, for no one would take them into his house to spend the night.

The sun has already set as the Levite, with his servant and concubine and two donkeys, arrives in Gibeah to spend the night. They are on their way from Bethlehem to Ephraim and plan to be gone in the morning (Judges 19:9–14). The Levite decided not to stop for the night in Jebus, which at that time was controlled by non-Israelis (Judges 1:21). Either he felt hospitality would not be offered, or that they would be in real danger. It's also possible the Levite simply objected to staying with Gentiles.

Instead, he continued a few more hours, after dark, to a town populated by fellow Israelites. As it happens, nobody in Gibeah offered these strangers any hospitality, at all, even though they are also Israelites. This is a subtle, chilling warning that Gibeah is not as safe a place as the Levite had assumed it to be.

The Levite and his party give up and sit down in the city square, which would have been located just inside the gates of the city. Spending the night in the city square would have been both uncomfortable and unsafe. Travelers would be exposed to the weather, as well as to those with criminal motives. It would be less dangerous than camping in open terrain, however.

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).