Judges 19:1

CHAPTER XIX

A Levite and his concubine disagree; and she leaves him and

goes to her father's house, 1, 2.

He follows to bring her back, and is kindly entertained by her

father five days, 3-8.

He returns; and lodges the first night at Gibeah, in the tribe

of Benjamin, 9-21.

The men of Gibeah attack the house, and insist on abusing the

body of the Levite; who, to save himself, delivers to them his

concubine, whose life falls a victim to their brutality, 22-27.

The Levite divides her dead body into twelve pieces, and sends

one to each of the twelve tribes; they are struck with horror,

and call a council on the subject, 28-30.

NOTES ON CHAP. XIX

Verse Judges 19:1. There was no king in Israel] All sorts of disorders are attributed to the want of civil government; justice, right, truth, and humanity, had fallen in the streets.

Took to him a concubine] We have already seen that the concubine was a sort of secondary wife; and that such connections were not disreputable, being according to the general custom of those times. The word פילגש pilegesh, concubine, is supposed by Mr. Parkhurst to be compounded of פלג palag, "to divide, or share;" and נגש nagash, "to approach;" because the husband shared or divided his attention and affections between her and the real wife; from whom she differed in nothing material, except in her posterity not inheriting.