B. Perverted Covenant (19:1-21:25)

As 17:1-18:31 developed the theme of failed conquest begun in 1:1-2:5, so 19:1-21:25 returns to the question of Israel as a covenant community, initiated in 2:6-3:6. The narrative begins with a simple domestic dispute between a Levite living in Ephraim and his estranged concubine, who abandons him and returns to her home in Bethlehem (19:1-11). Signs of the collapse of Israel as an extended family of tribes appear as the Levite fails to find a hospitable reception in Gibeah, a town in Benjamin’s territory that later became the capital of Saul, Israel’s first king. Finally an old man of Ephraimite extraction takes in his fellow tribesman (vv.12-21). Gibeah’s indifference then erupts into outrage in a story manifesting remarkable affinities with the story of Sodom’s destruction (Ge 19), except that Jdg 19 ends in a mob’s gang rape of the Levite’s concubine, a crime that shatters covenant loyalty and brotherhood (vv.22-26). Moreover, the host participates in the outrage, saying to the mob, “Here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine” [emphasis mine]. Offering a guest’s lover, even a concubine, to a sadistic mob hardly constitutes hospitality. Nor is the Levite a hero, as witnessed by his peremptory command—“Get up; let’s go!”—while she lies lifeless on the doorstep having saved his skin by serving as his sexual surrogate in the unsavory doings of that grim night (vv.27-28).

The rape of the concubine plunges Israel into war. The Levite’s dismemberment of his concubine—another allusion to the Saul story (1Sa 11:6-8)—energizes the nation’s tribal judicial machinery to avenge the crime (19:29-20:13a). Benjamin’s refusal to turn Gibeah over to tribal justice prompts an all-Israelite civil war. Israel musters in classic holy war fashion but against one of its own tribes. Inspired by Yahweh’s repeated encouragement, the Judeans lead Israel against their Benjaminite brothers twice, both times being defeated (20:13b-25). The Israelites resort to frenzied offerings, prayers, and inquiry under the direction of Eleazar, an Aaronic priest, and ambush the Benjaminites much as Joshua defeated Ai (Jos 8). Twenty-five thousand Benjaminites die, and the victorious Israelites subject the territory of Benjamin to burning and annihilation as only six hundred survive (vv.26-48).

On the surface, the mechanisms of covenant justice appear to function flawlessly. The culprits in the original crime are never definitively identified and punished; however, the Levite, whose grievance began the whole episode, falls out of sight after 20:7. Most significantly, the system of tribal justice creates a problem by eliminating a tribe from Israel, a kind of social dismemberment. The same Israelites who asked Yahweh, “Who will go up first to fight against Benjamin?” now wail “Why should one tribe be missing from Israel?” (vv.1-3) Frenetic seeking of Yahweh brings no divine answer, despite the Aaronic pedigree of the officiating priest (cf. 20:27-28). On its own, Israel seeks to restore the tribe it has just annihilated by procuring wives for the few remaining Benjaminites. This ad hoc solution entails yet another atrocity, the slaughter of the men of Jabesh Gilead (21:4-12), the town later saved from destruction by Saul at the beginning of his reign (1Sa 11:1-11). When this proves inadequate, the elders of Israel authorize the kidnap and rape of the maidens of Shiloh—a grim reversal, considering how the episode began (21:13-24). In the end, the tribal judicial apparatus, even when operating correctly, no longer preserves Israelite unity. The traditional structures for redressing injury serve only to multiply it. The narrator’s last words recall Israel’s true problem: “Everyone did as he saw fit,” a situation possible because in those days Israel had no king. Unfavorable allusions to the Saul story clearly imply the writer’s preference for Davidic kings.

C. Summary of 17:1-21:25

The final section (17:1-21:25) probes beneath apostasy, discovering anarchic self-will, which the writer constantly blames on the absence of a king. The tribal confederation and its charismatics having failed, kingship deserves its chance.