The Wicked Nature of Men
By James Donahue
In all of the stories found in the Old Testament, the tale of the traveler and his concubine found in Judges 19 has been the most troubling to understand. It involves an unnamed man who found himself in the town of Gibeah, occupied by the ostracized Tribe of Benjamin at nightfall. He accepted the invitation of an elderly occupant of Gibeah to spend the night safely under his roof.
That night a group of men came to the door and demanded to have the traveler come out of the house so they could have sex with him. The old man considered this to be a poor way to treat his guest. He offered up his virgin daughter to the men instead. When she was rejected he offered him his guest’s concubine and the gang agreed. They ravaged this woman throughout the night, leaving her bleeding and dying at the door the following morning. When he found her the traveler chopped her body into twelve pieces and send the body parts to each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Before attempting to pen any wisdom about this gruesome tale I took this story to heart. I studied the story, the various written analysis’s, and looked at the historical events surrounding Gibeah at that distant time. It appears that the story was a record of the severe wickedness that the men of Israel reached at that moment in history.
It was the year 1410. There was no king, no judge and Phinehas was recorded as the high priest. The Book of Judges is a record of the idolatry of the people and the immorality of the Benjamites.
And it is all intensely outlined for us in Judges 19:22-30. It is an ugly story but apparently considered by the Biblical authors as a necessary account to help us understand the events to follow.
Early in Judges 19 we learn that the traveler was a Levite who lived at the base of Mt. Ephraim. The woman he was traveling with is identified as his concubine although he also was identified as her husband. She was from Bethlehem. Something caused her to run back to her father’s home where she remained for four months. But then the Levite went after her and obviously persuaded her to travel with him back to his home. It was during this trip that the incident in Gibeah occurred.
The gruesome decision to cut up his concubine’s body and send the parts to all the tribes of Israel was apparently very politically and morally significant. It was not a gift they would soon forget.
In his study of these verses the Rev. Bob Deffinbaugh wrote: “It is almost impossible for the reader of this text to miss its connection to the study of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. In both texts, the sin of homosexuality and its judgment is a primary theme. . . There is no doubt that the author is informing the reader that Israel has now stooped to the moral level of the Canaanites.”
By James Donahue
In all of the stories found in the Old Testament, the tale of the traveler and his concubine found in Judges 19 has been the most troubling to understand. It involves an unnamed man who found himself in the town of Gibeah, occupied by the ostracized Tribe of Benjamin at nightfall. He accepted the invitation of an elderly occupant of Gibeah to spend the night safely under his roof.
That night a group of men came to the door and demanded to have the traveler come out of the house so they could have sex with him. The old man considered this to be a poor way to treat his guest. He offered up his virgin daughter to the men instead. When she was rejected he offered him his guest’s concubine and the gang agreed. They ravaged this woman throughout the night, leaving her bleeding and dying at the door the following morning. When he found her the traveler chopped her body into twelve pieces and send the body parts to each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Before attempting to pen any wisdom about this gruesome tale I took this story to heart. I studied the story, the various written analysis’s, and looked at the historical events surrounding Gibeah at that distant time. It appears that the story was a record of the severe wickedness that the men of Israel reached at that moment in history.
It was the year 1410. There was no king, no judge and Phinehas was recorded as the high priest. The Book of Judges is a record of the idolatry of the people and the immorality of the Benjamites.
And it is all intensely outlined for us in Judges 19:22-30. It is an ugly story but apparently considered by the Biblical authors as a necessary account to help us understand the events to follow.
Early in Judges 19 we learn that the traveler was a Levite who lived at the base of Mt. Ephraim. The woman he was traveling with is identified as his concubine although he also was identified as her husband. She was from Bethlehem. Something caused her to run back to her father’s home where she remained for four months. But then the Levite went after her and obviously persuaded her to travel with him back to his home. It was during this trip that the incident in Gibeah occurred.
The gruesome decision to cut up his concubine’s body and send the parts to all the tribes of Israel was apparently very politically and morally significant. It was not a gift they would soon forget.
In his study of these verses the Rev. Bob Deffinbaugh wrote: “It is almost impossible for the reader of this text to miss its connection to the study of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. In both texts, the sin of homosexuality and its judgment is a primary theme. . . There is no doubt that the author is informing the reader that Israel has now stooped to the moral level of the Canaanites.”