The Ephraimite tries the same tactic Lot tried when the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were beating on his door demanding that he release to them the two men (who were actually angels) that were lodging at his house. The Ephraimite offers to send women out to the mob instead of his guest. We'll discuss this disturbing offer in a moment. "The owner of the house went outside and said to them, 'No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this outrageous thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don't do such an outrageous thing.'" (Judges 19:23-24) You'll recall from our study of Genesis that Lot offered his two unmarried daughters to the mob at his door, adding, "Don't do anything to these men, who have come under the protection of my roof." (Genesis 19:8)
While it was apparently true in ancient times that a homeowner was expected to defend and protect guests in his home, that should have been done only at the expense of his own safety. Giving one's daughter to a violent crowd should have been as unthinkable in those times as it would be today. When we discussed Lot's offer of his daughters, we talked about the possibility that he knew the men would not accept such an offer (as indeed they did not) and that he may have been trying to stall them while he and his guests tried to think what to do. There's no proof, however, that Lot would not have placed more value on his male houseguests than he placed on his own daughters. Many scholars believe that women were so poorly valued in the culture of Sodom and Gomorrah, and in Gibeah in Chapter 19 of Judges, and in most of the ancient world as a whole, that Lot in Genesis and the Ephraimite and the Levite in Judges considered them expendable. For evidence of this, we don't find the Levite protesting the homeowner's offer that his concubine be sent out for the crowd to abuse. No wonder the prophet Hosea would later refer to Judges 19 when speaking out against the wickedness of the people of his own day: "They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins." (Hosea 9:9) Just because it was culturally acceptable "in the days of Gibeah" for a man to send his daughters or his wife out to be sexually assaulted doesn't mean it was acceptable to the Lord. On the contrary, as the prophet says, "God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins". Even when it doesn't appear to us as if wicked people are punished in this life, we can be certain that the Lord will read His charges against them in the judgment and that He will hand down the appropriate sentences.
The men of Gibeah aren't interested in the women of the household and keep insisting that the Levite be sent out. But eventually the concubine is thrust through the doorway against her will and the men give up pounding on the door and take their frustrations out on her. "But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight." (Judges 19:25-26) Everything about this is shocking and shameful. Two able-bodied men hide behind the door and throw a defenseless woman to the mob. Instead of taking up weapons to protect themselves and the women in their care, these men not only throw the concubine out the door but are unconcerned enough about her that they are able to sleep while she's being assaulted all night long! We know they went on to bed during her long night of torture because we are told next that the Levite "got up" and found her on the doorstep.
"When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold." (Judges 19:27) The Levite doesn't expect to see this woman again, dead or alive. When he wakes up in the morning he has no intention of going to look for her. He's already written her off. In his mind, if she's still alive she belongs to the men of Gibeah who will continue to use her as a sex slave. He callously puts the whole incident behind him and gets ready to finish his journey home. He's surprised to see his concubine lying on the doorstep but, since she's there, he's willing to take her with him. "He said to her, 'Get up; let's go.' But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home." (Judges 19:28) I can't help picturing him prodding her with his toe or even lightly kicking her when he says, "Get up; let's go." But she doesn't respond because she can't respond; she died after reaching the doorway.
How do we know she's dead? In Chapter 20 he will give his testimony before the assembled elders of Israel regarding everything that took place in Chapter 19, saying, "They raped my concubine, and she died." What the Levite does, after getting his dead concubine home, is this: "When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, 'Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!'" (Judges 19:29-30)
He cuts her body into twelve pieces to send a gruesome message to all the tribes of Israel. His message is a call to arms. He wants the fighting men of Israel to take action against the wicked men of Gibeah, not only to avenge the death of his concubine but to make a stand against "this lewd and outrageous act in Israel", as he will call it in Chapter 20. If only he'd stood up for righteousness in Chapter 19, some portions of this lewd and outrageous act would not have taken place! He couldn't help it that the men of Gibeah had sunk into such lawlessness that they'd want to sexually assault a guest in a man's home but he could have at least tried to defend the woman whose affections he'd traveled a far distance to win back. He didn't stand up for his wife but now, after her death, he wants the soldiers of Israel to stand up for her and for the honor of the Lord's name in Israel. If this seems hypocritical that's because it is, at least on his part, because he has certainly been no hero of the faith. But the assembly in our next chapter will be horrified by what took place in Gibeah and will vote to go up and attack the city.
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