17) 'In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.'
A guy called Micah invites asks a Levite to be his live-in priest. 'And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”
18) 'In those days there was no king in Israel.'
The tribe of Dan have lost their land, so want to steal someone else's. They send out spies who meet with, and are blessed by, Micah's live-in priest. They go on to spy out the land of Laish and report back to their leaders.
The Danites set off to conquer Laish. On the way one of them points out that they saw a carved image in Micah's house. So they raid Micah's house (he is out) and take his priest for themselves.
When Micah finds out about this, he is understandably angry. He catches up to the Danites with his own army.
Danites: “What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?”
Micah: “You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’”
Danites: “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.”
'Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.' #anticlimax
The Danites conquer Laish.
19) 'In those days, when there was no king in Israel...'
A Levite visits his concubine's family in Bethlehem. It gets late, and the girl's father asks him to stay the night, but he doesn't want to. On the way home they decide to stay the night at the city of Gibeah, which belongs to the tribe of Benjamin: 'the men of the place were Benjaminites.'
An old man offers them shelter. Later on, the men of the city, 'worthless fellows', surround the house, beat on door, and ask the old man to bring out the Levite so they can rape him.
Old Man: “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing. Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do this outrageous thing.”
'So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was, until it was light.'
'And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold.'
'He said to her, “Get up, let us be going.”'
'But there was no answer.'
'Then he put her on the donkey, and the man rose up and went away to his home. And when he entered his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his concubine he divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. And all who saw it said, “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.”'
20) The people of Israel gather in outrage, 400,000 men and all the tribal leaders, and ask the Levite wtf happened.
He explains: “I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. And the leaders of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house against me by night. They meant to kill me, and they violated my concubine, and she is dead. So I took hold of my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel, for they have committed abomination and outrage in Israel. Behold, you people of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.”
They decide to attack Gibeah. 'So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man.' They ask the tribe of Benjamin to hand over Gibeah, so that its people may be executed. The Benjaminites refuse, and defend the relatives in Gibeah.
Fighting. Dying. Occasionally someone asks God what to do; he tells them to fight against Benjamin. Fighting. Gibeah is destroyed. 'And the men of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, the city, men and beasts and all that they found. And all the towns that they found they set on fire.' Most of the Benjaminites die.
21) The men of Israel swear never to let anyone marry into the tribe of Benjamin. But then they decide that they don't want the tribe die out, but they can't go back on their previous oath. What to do?
They notice that one of the minor sub-tribes didn't meet up with the rest of them, so didn't make the oath and didn't join the attack against Gibeah. Perhaps they just hadn't heard about what was going on.
The congregation decides to send a small army to attack this little sub-tribe. They slaughter its people, its men, children, and non-virgin women. They find 400 virgins in the sub-tribe, and give them to the men of Benjamin.
But that's not enough women. The congregation wonders what else it can do. Another bright idea occurs to them: they tell the Benjaminites to steal some wives from the people of Shiloh, where a festival is going on. So the Benjaminites kidnap a load of girls from a party.
'In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.'
END OF JUDGES
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