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Judges 20 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
The story we read from the Levite priest in Judges 20 is not the same story we read in the previous chapter. Here, the priest states that it was “the men of Gibeah” who rose up against him and specifically raped and killed his concubine. The word “men” is translated from the Hebrew word ba‛al which means master or owner. The word describes a certain type of man – a leader.
In Chapter 19, the description was “worthless fellows” who surrounded the house which came from the Hebrew word ‘belı̂ya‛al.’ This word is used in Scripture to describe unbelievably evil and wicked people. The Greek version is even used to describe Satan in the New Testament. The point is, the priest framed the situation to seem like the “leaders” of Gibeah were the ones to commit this act when really it was the scum of Gibeah (the worst of the worst) who raped and killed his concubine.
Furthermore, the priest says that these men desired to kill him. That’s certainly possible considering they ended up killing his concubine, but it’s not entirely true. To someone who had never read the story in Judges 19, it sounds as if leaders from Gibeah surrounded the priest attempting to kill him and he was able to escape, but his concubine wasn’t. Then, he came back to her dead body later.
He conveniently leaves out a critical part of the story; he slept soundly while his concubine was being repeatedly raped and abused right outside the door!
It would be this story that would lead to a holy war within Israel. Again, I can’t overstate the depraved condition of Israel. It was not just Benjamin, but all of Israel that was backsliding and needed to repent.