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Judges Chapter
Nineteen
Judges 19
Chapter Contents
The wickedness of the men of Gibeah.
The three remaining chapters of this book contain a very
sad history of the wickedness of the men of Gibeah, in Benjamin. The righteous
Lord permits sinners to execute just vengeance on one another, and if the scene
here described is horrible, what will the discoveries of the day of judgment
be! Let each of us consider how to escape from the wrath to come, how to
mortify the sins of our own hearts, to resist Satan's temptations, and to avoid
the pollutions there are in the world.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Judges》
Judges 19
Verse 1
[1] And
it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was
a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a
concubine out of Bethlehemjudah.
A. concubine —
Heb. a wife, a concubine, that is, such a concubine as was also his wife:
called a concubine, only because she was not endowed. Perhaps he had nothing to
endow her with, being himself only a sojourner.
Verse 2
[2] 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.
Against him —
That is, against her faith given to him.
Went away —
Either for fear of punishment; or, because her heart was alienated from him;
wherein not only she sinned, but her father by connivance at her sin, and
neglect of just endeavours for her reconciliation to her husband.
Verse 3
[3] And
her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring
her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought
him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he
rejoiced to meet him.
Friendly — To
offer her pardon and reconciliation.
Verse 12
[12] 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.
A stranger —
That is, of a strange nation: which the Canaanites possess; for though the city
Jerusalem had been taken by Caleb, chap. 1:8, yet the strong fort of Zion was still in
their hands, whence it is likely they did much molest, and afterwards by God's
permission, drive out the Israelites who dwelt there.
Verse 15
[15] 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.
To lodge —
Though they were soft and effeminate in other respects, yet they were
hard-hearted to strangers, and at that time there were no public-houses in that
country.
Verse 16
[16] And,
behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was
also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place
were Benjamites.
Ephraim —
Whence also the Levite was, which enclined him to shew the more kindness to his
country-man.
Benjamites —
This was indeed one of the cities belonging to the priests; but the cities
which were given to the priests, and whereof they were owners, were not
inhabited by the priests or Levites only, especially at this time when they
were but few in number, but by many other persons of different professions.
Verse 18
[18] And
he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehemjudah toward the side of mount
Ephraim; from thence am I: and I went to Bethlehemjudah, but I am now going to
the house of the LORD; and there is no man that receiveth me to house.
House of the Lord —
Which was in Shiloh. Thither he went, either because he lived there, for that
was in the tribe of Ephraim; or, rather, because he would there offer prayers
and praises, and sacrifices to God, for his mercy in reconciling him and his
wife.
Verse 20
[20] And
the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me;
only lodge not in the street.
Let all, … — It
matters not whether thou wantest nothing or everything, I will take care to
supply all thy wants.
Verse 21
[21] So
he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they
washed their feet, and did eat and drink.
Washed — As
they used to do to travellers in those hot countries.
Verse 22
[22] Now
as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain
sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to
the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came
into thine house, that we may know him.
Merry —
That is, refreshing themselves with the provisions set before them.
Sons of belial —
Children of the devil, wicked and licentious men.
Verse 23
[23] And
the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay,
my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come
into mine house, do not this folly.
Into my house —
And therefore I am obliged to protect him by the laws of hospitality.
Verse 26
[26] Then
came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the
man's house where her lord was, till it was light.
Fell down —
Namely, dead; killed partly with grief of heart, and partly with excessive
abuse. Thus the sin she formerly chose, verse 2, is now her destruction; and though her
husband pardoned her, God would punish her, at least as to this life.
Verse 29
[29] And
when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his
concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and
sent her into all the coasts of Israel.
Sent — By
several messengers, with a relation of the fact.
Verse 30
[30] And
it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from
the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this
day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.
Speak —
Let us meet together, and seriously consider, and every one freely speak what
is to be done in this case.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Judges》
19 Chapter 19
Verses 1-30
Whither goest thou?
and whence comest thou?
The past and the future
These two questions were usually proposed of old to the
traveller, by the inhabitants of any district through which he might be
passing; nor were they unnatural in a state of society wherein the infrequency
of journeying must have rendered the appearance of a stranger a matter of
curiosity, and where, owing to the want of houses of public entertainment,
hospitality was an important and necessary duty. What are we all, in truth, but
wayfaring men--journeying towards a city of habitation? We are, like this
Levite, sojourners passing through the streets--guests that tarry but a night,
and who require only a temporary shelter. Whence come we? and whither are we
going?
1. The former of these questions, if generally considered, might be
answered by remembering that we have no reason to vaunt of our origin, since
that is but of yesterday, and of the earth. “Why is dust and ashes proud?“ If a
recollection of our lowly origin might thus subdue the imperious, and
liberalise the selfish, a sense of our sinful extraction ought in no less measure
to abase the self-dependent. “Whence come we?” Some among us have come from the
suffering of affliction. Have we been purified in that furnace? Has the storm,
pelting on the wayfaring man, accelerated his homeward pace? Others have come
from experiencing remarkable instances of the Divine mercy. They have come from
some of the smooth plots of greensward, the isles of palm-trees in the waste.
How have they profited by the blessing? Have they thanklessly attributed their
success to good fortune, or boldly to their own arm, instead of acknowledging
the hand of the Father of lights? Have they tithed the bounty to poverty and
distress?
2. It has been said (though the remark is a quaint conceit) that the
heathen deity Janus, from whom the first month in our year derives its name,
was described in the ancient mythology as having two faces, the one looking on
the past, and the other on the future. But there hardly needs so fanciful an
allusion as this to advance our contemplations from the irrevocable past to the
solemn future. On that future let us next direct our forethought, turning our
attention from our origin to our destination, “Whither goest thou?” We are
travelling in a circle. We are hastening back to the earth, from whence we
proceeded. Dust we are, and unto dust we shall return.
3. Place now these two questions together; view the line of life from
its commencement to its termination; consider the past with reference to the
future, and the future as a continuation of the past. If there be any who have
arrived at the present season from a year, or a life, which they can review
only with shame and sorrow--who, to the question, “Whence comest thou? “ can
only reply, like Satan to Jehovah, “We come from going to and fro in the earth,
and from wandering up and down in it”--let them think of the end of those
hitherto squandered days, to which they are ever speeding, and know not how
near they are come, that they may, if possible, redeem the time that is past,
and improve that which is passing. (J. Grant, M. A.)
Let all thy wants be upon
me.
Helping others
1. This old man’s practice commends to us a double duty: the one that
we should be ready to remove grief from our brethren, and to quiet their
troubled minds as we may. For grief and heaviness do much hinder the mind from
doing any duty; especially they being deeply seated in the heart, and turbulent
passions of themselves, and therefore the easing it of them is a setting of it
at liberty.
2. The second duty we learn is more particularly the duty of
hospitality; which as far as need required he did unto this Levite. The like
kindness is to be showed by us to strangers sad in heart, being known to be
brethren, that they be used of us kindly and in all courtesy, but in no wise to
grieve them, being already heavy-hearted. (R. Rogers.)
Consider of it, take
advice, and speak your minds.--
Deliberation
I. There are some
actions so shocking that all men do, upon the first hearing of them, without
taking time to consider, without asking the opinion of others, unanimously agree
to condemn them. Now, amongst those truths which do thus gain our assent upon
the first view I think we may justly reckon those judgments which we form
concerning the essential differences of moral good and evil. For our sight is
not more quick in discerning the variety of figures and colours, nor more taken
with the beauty of some, or displeased with the deformity of others; the nicest
ear hath not a more distinct perception of the harmony or discord of sounds;
nor doth the most delicate palate more accurately distinguish tastes than our
intellectual faculties do apprehend the plain distinction between right and
wrong, honest and dishonest, good and evil, and find an agreeableness and
satisfaction in the one, a disagreeableness and dissatisfaction in the other.
And it is for very wise and good reasons that God hath so formed our faculties
that concerning such actions as are extraordinary in either kind, such as are extremely good or
extremely wicked, all men should be able to judge thus readily and thus truly.
For, in human life, it often happens that an occasion is given us of doing some
great good, or a temptation laid before us to commit some great evil, when
there is no leisure allowed us of entering into a long deliberation, in which
cases it is necessary that we should act according to our present light; and
therefore by Providence wisely ordered that we should enjoy such open daylight
that there should be no danger of our stumbling. By this method God hath made
the same wholesome provision for the security of our souls as He hath done for
preserving the health of our bodies. To such meats as might prove noxious to
us, and being once taken down, digested, and mingled with the mass of our blood
might quickly destroy our lives, we have often so strong an antipathy that we
refrain from them merely on account of this natural aversion, without
considering the mischievous consequences
that might arise from our indulging ourselves in them; and in the like manner,
those sins which carry with them the greatest malignity, and which are most
perilous to the souls of men, do create in our minds an utter abhorrence.
II. Although such
actions do at the first view appear very odious, yet in order to confirm or
rectify our first judgments it is proper to consider them farther, and to take
in the advice of others, When a thing appears crooked to the eye upon the first
view, we cannot but pay so much deference to the testimony of our senses as to
presume it such; but because this appearance may sometimes proceed from a defect
in the organ, and not from any real crookedness in the object, for our better
satisfaction we measure it by a rule, and then pronounce with more certainty
concerning it. And the same method we ought to observe in judging of moral
actions; if they, at the first sight, appear notoriously wicked, we cannot but
entertain a violent suspicion of their being such; but because this appearance
may arise from some corruption of our judgment, when there is no obliquity in
the actions themselves, the best way to prevent all possibility of error will
be to examine them by the only infallible test, the law of God. But this
sentence will carry still more weight if we do not depend too much upon our own
judgments, but call in the advice of others. Men are so apt to differ in their
opinions, and take so great a delight in contradicting each other, that those
truths must carry with them a more than ordinary degree of evidence in which
all or most men do agree. He who considers what a wide difference there is in
the ways of men’s thinking and judging, from the difference of their
complexions, tempers, education, character, profession, age, religion, and
other innumerable specialities by which they are distinguished one from
another, and disposed to form very different judgments concerning the same
persons or things, will not be surprised to find that several men do seldom
concur in the verdict which they pass upon those actions that fall within their
observation. Some speculative truths there are in which the interests of men
being not at all concerned all may unanimously agree; some rules of life there
may be, though these much fewer than the other, which most men may join in the
approbation of; some virtues and vices which, considered abstractedly and
without regard to persons, they may agree to praise or to condemn, but when
they come to judge of actions, not as they are in idea and theory, but as they
are in reality and fact, nor as they are in books, but as they are performed by
such and such men, here several things will offer themselves to influence and
bias their judgments. When, therefore, notwithstanding there are so many and
strong obstacles to hinder men from concurring in their opinions, any actions
are condemned by a general consent, this unanimity of judgment is, though not a
demonstrative proof, yet a very strong presumption, that such actions are
notoriously wicked, and in reality such as they do universally appear.
III. When any
actions do, both at the first view and also upon farther inquiry, appear very
flagitious, we should then, without any reserve, openly and freely speak our
minds concerning them. A mark of infamy hath, by the universal consent of all
civilised nations, been set upon some actions, tending either to the great
disparagement of human nature, or to the great disturbance of civil societies,
that a sense of shame and fear of disgrace might be powerful curbs to restrain
men from doing such vile things as would be sure to stain their reputations, and to fix an
indelible blot of ignominy upon their memories. The greatest mischief that can
possibly be done to the souls of men is to discourage them from doing their
duty by speaking evil of what God hath commanded, and to encourage them in the
commission of sin by speaking well of what God hath condemned, and therefore a
woe is justly denounced by the prophet Isaiah against those who call good evil
and evil good. But the interests of virtue and piety are also very much
endamaged by those who, though they do not go so far as to call evil good, do
yet, by a criminal silence, forbear to call it evil; and therefore those
priests are accused by God of violating His laws and profaning His holy things
who put no difference between the holy and profane, neither show the difference
between the clean and the unclean. (Bp. Smalridge.).
──《The Biblical Illustrator》