Today’s passage: Judges 19:1-21
Helpful thoughts:
- The use of the word “Concubine” styles this marriage differently than God’s purpose for the unity of husband and wife. This was a second class kind of marriage, perhaps similar to what Samson desired with the Timnite woman.
- The unfaithfulness of the woman should not automatically be assumed as sexual. She may have simply not wanted to remain with the Levite, for whatever reason, and left him.
- The repetitive hospitality of her father toward the Levite seems strange but was quite hospitable. It might seem stranger when we see the rest of the context tomorrow.
- The Levite rejects the idea of spending the night in Jebus because he didn’t expect to receive hospitality there…not like the hospitality he would expect to receive from his own countrymen.
Questions to consider:
- What have you come to expect when you see the opening line, “In those days, when there was no king in Israel…”? What should we be expecting to see in this narrative?
- What kind of hospitality did the Levite and his party receive in Gibeah? Who ended up actually helping them?
- How do verses 16-21 compare to what happened in Genesis 19:1-4? Why might this comparison give us cause for concern?