Appendix II. Chs. 19 21 The war against Benjamin The First Appendix deals with the early fortunes of Dan, the Second with an episode in the history of Benjamin. In consequence of an abominable outrage committed by the Benjamites of Gibeah, all Israel determines to take vengeance on the offending tr... [ Continue Reading ]
_The outrage at Gibeah_ 1 _.when there was no king_ See on Judges 17:6. _on the farther side_ or _recesses_, probably meaning the northern parts of E.; cf. _the recesses of Lebanon_2 Kings 19:23, also Isaiah 14:13; Jeremiah 6:22 etc. Like his fellow in App. i, this Levite is a _sojourner_, and he... [ Continue Reading ]
_played the harlot against him_ The text is open to suspicion. LXX. cod. A reads _was angry with him_; this suits the context, which implies a quarrel, but not unfaithfulness, on the woman's part; she left him in anger and returned to her father's house, whither the Levite followed to pacify her (Ju... [ Continue Reading ]
_to speak kindly unto her_ See marg., and cf. Genesis 34:3; Genesis 50:21; Isaiah 40:2. _to bring her again_ More natural than the alternative reading given in the marg. _a couple of asses_ for the necessaries of the journey; by Eastern custom the woman would be expected to walk, Judges 19:10. _a... [ Continue Reading ]
_retained him_ or _laid hold on him_to prevent him from going away, cf. Judges 7:8. The pressing and rather boisterous hospitality of the girl's father has a tragic significance in view of what follows, hence it is emphasized from the beginning. There is no need to add _and brought him in_with some... [ Continue Reading ]
The doublets and repetitions in this and the following verses may at first sight appear to be due to the carelessness of a narrator who did not pay much attention to literary correctness; more probably, however, they are to be accounted for, as in similar cases elsewhere, by the combination of two s... [ Continue Reading ]
_urged him_ In spite of the entreaty (Judges 19:6), the Levite determines to go; he only yields to strong pressure; cf. Genesis 19:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_on the fifth day_ See note on Judges 19:5. _and tarry ye_ or _wait_, to avoid confusion with the different word rendered _tarry all night_in Judges 19:6_; Judges 19:9_. Some mss. of the LXX read _and he enticed him_; hence Moore suggests that the text originally ran _and he enticed him and he_(or... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, now the day draweth toward evening … behold, the day groweth to an end_ lit. _the day sinks to become evening … the camping-time_(_?) of the day_. The doubling of phrases points to a conflation of sources, while the phrases themselves are too high-flown for a prose narrative. Some mss. of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jebus_ Only here and in 1 Chronicles 11:4-5 as the old name of Jerusalem. Long before the Israelite occupation, however, the Amarna tablets _c._1400 b.c. refer to the city as Urusalim (Nos. 180, 181, 183, 185 Winckler); and the O.T. itself gives early evidence for the antiquity of the name, Judges... [ Continue Reading ]
The text is to be preferred to the marg.; but _that is not_should be construed with _a stranger_rather than with _the city_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gibeah_ Here, as in Isaiah 10:29 b, clearly south of Ramah, now er-Râm; it may well have occupied the ruined site called Tell el-Fûl, 2¾ miles N. of Jerusalem. This is the Gibeah of Saul mentioned in 1 Samuel 10:26; 1 Samuel 11:4; 1 Samuel 15:34, Is. l.c. (see Jos., _Wars_Judges 19:2; Judges 19:1),... [ Continue Reading ]
_and he went in, and sat him down_ The verbs should probably be read as plurals. _the street_ Rather BROAD PLACE (Judges 19:17_; Judges 19:20_), Genesis 19:2 b, usually near the gate, 2 Chronicles 32:6; Nehemiah 8:1; Nehemiah 8:3; Nehemiah 8:16 etc. At this point we begin to notice parallels with... [ Continue Reading ]
_and he sojourned_ Cf. Judges 17:7 _n._The only person that paid any attention to the travellers was not a native of the place: it was the same at Sodom, Genesis 19:1 f. The last words of the verse are a topographical gloss, cf. Judges 21:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the farther side_ See on Judges 19:1. _the house of the Lord_ The marg. is to be preferred; the last letter of _bêthî = my house_was taken as the initial of the divine name _Yahweh_. A converse mistake occurs in Jeremiah 6:11, _where fury of Yahweh_has become _my fury_in the LXX There is nothing i... [ Continue Reading ]
_straw and provender_ Similarly Genesis 24:25. After _straw, provender_probably denotes grain. _there is no want of any thing_ Cf. Judges 18:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_sons of Belial_ Marg. _sons of worthlessness_, as in Judges 20:13; Deuteronomy 13:13; 1 Samuel 25:17; 1 Samuel 25:25 etc., taking Belial (_belîy-ya-al_) as compounded of _belî = not_and _ya-al_=? _profit_, though a noun _ya-al_does not occur; _worthlessness_is not strong enough: the expression deno... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nay, my brethren … wickedly_ Similarly Genesis 19:7. _do not … folly_ This translation is only a makeshift. The Hebr. _nebâlâh_means much more than _folly_; it implies moral insensibility, repudiation of the claims of morality and religion, particularly, in this phrase, an outrage against the laws... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse is clearly dependent on Genesis 19:8, and, as Bertheau and Moore think, may be an addition to heighten the resemblance between the two situations. It does not really fit into the context; _and his concubine_is out of place in view of Judges 19:25; while the Hebrew exhibits grammatical irre... [ Continue Reading ]
If the offer of the host strikes us as immoral, the conduct of the Levite makes an even worse impression: he sacrifices his concubine-wife to save himself. The same despicable behaviour appears in the stories of Abraham and Isaac, Genesis 12:10 ff. J, Genesis 12:20 E, Genesis 26:6-11 J; no blame or... [ Continue Reading ]
With instinctive art the Hebrew story-teller leaves much to the imagination (cf. Judges 11:39); but at the end of the verse he adds a detail which betrays the pathos of the tragedy.... [ Continue Reading ]
The sheer brutality of the Levite's words prepares us for his savage appeal for vengeance. _but none answered_ The LXX spoils the effect by adding _for she was dead_. Josephus tries to palliate it: -her husband thought that she was overcome by deep sleep," _Ant._Judges 19:2; Judges 19:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and divided her … and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel_ The same words in 1 Samuel 11:7, possibly implying that the present description has been copied from the other. But the two accounts differ in meaning: Saul's summons was intended to convey a threat, the Levite's to call forth hor... [ Continue Reading ]
After _unto this day_the LXX. cod. A etc. contains an addition which no doubt formed part of the original text. Restoring this addition to its proper place at the beginning of the verse we may read: AND HE COMMANDED THE MEN WHOM HE SENT, SAYING, THUS SHALL YE SAY TO ALL THE MEN OF ISRAEL, DID EVER S... [ Continue Reading ]