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Judges 19:22-26
City men surround the house, reject the host’s pleas, and the account follows the concubine’s forced removal and abuse until dawn.
Meaning in context
Men described as “worthless” surround the house and pound on the door, demanding the guest be brought out.
The host goes out and pleads with them not to commit an outrage against a man who has entered his house.
He proposes his virgin daughter and the concubine as substitutes, attempting to avert harm to the guest.
The crowd refuses; the Levite forces his concubine out, and the men abuse her through the night until morning.
At daybreak she returns and collapses at the doorway of the house, remaining there until it is light.
Section 5 of 6
Mob assault and the night of violence
City men surround the house, reject the host’s pleas, and the account follows the concubine’s forced removal and abuse until dawn.
Movement
Life before Israel had a king
Artifact
Cycles of rebellion and deliverance
Biblical Timeline
Exodus & Settlement
Judges context: 1500 BC - 1000 BC
Biblical Timeline
Exodus & Settlement
Judges context
Exodus & Settlement / 1500 BC - 1000 BC
Judges context is set in the exodus and settlement period, where Moses, the exodus, wilderness, covenant instruction, conquest, and judges.
Scripture Text
Thesis
City men surround the house, reject the host’s pleas, and the account follows the concubine’s forced removal and abuse until dawn.
Plain Meaning
Men described as “worthless” surround the house and pound on the door, demanding the guest be brought out.
The host goes out and pleads with them not to commit an outrage against a man who has entered his house.
He proposes his virgin daughter and the concubine as substitutes, attempting to avert harm to the guest.
The crowd refuses; the Levite forces his concubine out, and the men abuse her through the night until morning.
At daybreak she returns and collapses at the doorway of the house, remaining there until it is light.
Literary Context
These verses occur in Judges 17–21, a concluding narrative block depicting escalating social disorder in the tribal period. Chapter 19 follows a Levite’s journey and the provision of hospitality in Gibeah; vv. 22–26 form the crisis at the door that drives the aftermath in the rest of the episode and into the wider inter-tribal conflict that follows.
Historical Context
The setting assumes a decentralized society without a strong national government, where local elders and households bore responsibility for protection and dispute handling. Hospitality and protection of guests were major social obligations, and violation at a household threshold signaled communal breakdown. The account also reflects patriarchal household structures in which women could be treated as dependents in negotiations among men.
Theological Significance
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