Having lately taught Judges 19 (the story concerning the Levite and his concubine) to a bunch of ladies who have been eager to check their Bibles, I used to be requested afterward why the Levite would reduce up his concubine. Additional, what was the explanation the Levite despatched the items of the concubine to the opposite tribes? These are good questions, and after having achieved slightly extra analysis on the difficulty I needed to offer a few of my ideas.
First, it’s evident that the story of the Levite and his concubine in Judges 19 is among the most grotesque and tragic chapters in all of Scripture! The small print of the story are deliberately crafted to chronicle the Canaanization of Israel for the reader. After studying the chapter, one can not assist however be struck by the wickedness of the individuals of Israel. They don’t seem to be simply depraved, however they’ve reached the utter depravity that characterised the Canaanites and led to their expulsion from the land (cf. Lev 18:26-30). Until Israel receives divine assist, the ebook of Judges is telling us they’re in main hassle!
What concerning the Levite’s actions of
chopping up his concubine?
To start with, the Levite chopping up his concubine is supposed to be seen as a grotesque and heinous act! Nowhere in biblical legislation or narrative do you’ve got something resembling this grotesque act. In reality, this disregard for correct burial of the concubine would have been egregious to these within the historical Close to East and may have particularly been so for Israelites who have been to bury even criminals (cf. Deut 21:23). The truth that this man was a Levite (a religious chief) is all of the extra surprising! The best way through which he handled his concubine is sort of instructive to the reader about how depraved and calloused Israel has change into.
Second, though the chopping up of the concubine is nowhere defined, the closest biblical parallel is present in 1 Samuel 11. In 1 Samuel 11, Saul is overcome by the Spirit of God when he heard concerning the struggling of Jabesh-gilead (1 Sam 11:5-6). Consequently, he cuts up two oxen and sends their items all through Israel. Nonetheless, we aren’t informed that there was one piece despatched to every tribe (as is implied with regard to the concubine in Judges 19). Relatively, evidently Saul merely despatched out a number of items all through the territory of Israel.
An extra distinction within the narratives is that in 1 Samuel 11 Saul features a threatening message with the items of oxen—“Whoever doesn’t come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it’s achieved to his oxen!” (v. 7). This message could also be implied in Judges 19, however it’s not explicitly acknowledged.
Primarily based on the comparability of Judges 19 and 1 Samuel 11, maybe we will say that the motion of dismembering and sending out 12 items of the concubine was meant to induce shock and anger. It actually appears that in each Judges 19 and 1 Samuel 11, the individuals reply with shock and unity. On the very least, the individuality of the act grabs the individuals’s consideration in a method nothing else may.
Maybe we get extra understanding into why the Levite reduce up his concubine from an extrabiblical parallel. We appear to have such a parallel to Judges 19 discovered within the texts from the excavations at Mari (Inform Ḥarı̄rı̄). The textual content is a letter from Baḫhdi-Lim to a king, Zimri-Lim (ca. 1800–1775 BC).
To my lord, converse. Baḫhdi-Lim your servant [speaks] as follows: For 5 full days I’ve waited for the Hanaeans however the individuals don’t collect. The Hanaeans have arrived from the steppe and established themselves among the many settlements. As soon as, twice, I’ve despatched [word] to the settlements and the attraction has been made. However they haven’t gathered collectively, and for the third day they haven’t gathered. Now, if I had my method, a prisoner in jail needs to be killed, his physique dismembered, and transported to the world between the villages so far as Hudnim and Appan so that the individuals would concern and collect rapidly, and I may make an try in accordance with the command which my lord has given, to hold out the marketing campaign rapidly.
(Cited in Block, Judges, Ruth, 546).
We are able to readily observe the similarity right here with the account of the concubine in Judges 19. Importantly, this extrabiblical textual content offers the aim for this motion—the expectation that “the individuals would concern and collect rapidly.”
What this appears to speak is that the follow of dismemberment was a minimum of recognized within the ANE. In 1 Samuel 11, oxen (official sacrificial animals) have been reduce up and despatched out as official sacrificial animals. Nonetheless, in distinction, by dismembering his concubine (a human being made within the picture of God), the Levite seems to be appropriating a follow from the pagan nations—in the same vein to human sacrifice!
Thus from begin to end the
story of the Levite and his concubine is a discouraging story of the
paganization of Israel. It’s fascinating that all through the story the
concubine stays silent, by no means saying a phrase. But, it’s the concubine who
tells the story so clearly—Israel is in hassle and is in determined want for
God’s sovereign and gracious intervention.
