Judges 19:2 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And his concubine was unfaithful to him, and she went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there some four months.

NIV: But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents' home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months,

NASB: But his concubine found him repugnant, and she left him and went to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah, and remained there for a period of four months.

CSB: But she was unfaithful to him and left him for her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah. She was there for four months.

NLT: But she became angry with him and returned to her father’s home in Bethlehem. After about four months,

KJV: And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Bethlehemjudah, and was there four whole months.

NKJV: But his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there four whole months.

This story of the Levite and his concubine begins awkwardly and only becomes more tragic. This unnamed Levite man took a concubine: a woman he slept with and could have children with, but to whom he did not give the full rights and privileges of a wife (Judges 19:1). The Levite had brought this woman to live with him in Ephraim. While there, something happened between them.

Commentators disagree about how best to read the Hebrew text in this context. The Hebrew root word used to describe her action is zanah, typically associated with prostitution and fornication (Exodus 34:15; Leviticus 19:29; Hosea 4:10). The Septuagint, a Greek translation made by ancient Jewish scholars, says she was "angry with him." It's most likely she was sexually unfaithful, either habitually or by having an affair. Other interpreters suggest she was "unfaithful" only in the sense that she ran away and went back to her father's house. As far as this passage is concerned, the exact nature of their falling out is not important.

For his part, the woman's father allowed her to stay with him again. Four months passed before the woman's husband, the Levite man, came to take her back home.

Judges 19:1–10 describes a Levite's journey to retrieve his runaway concubine. For reasons not given, she leaves him and goes back to her father. Months later, the Levite arrives to retrieve her, seemingly with complete forgiveness. The woman and her father are glad, and the father pressures them to stay for several days. Finally, the Levite insists on leaving. He refuses to stay in the then-Gentile-controlled city of Jebus. Instead, they will continue after dark to Gibeah. Ironically, this will lead them into shocking danger.

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).