The Historical Writings by Gale A. Yee

Author:Gale A. Yee
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-5064-1582-6
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 2016-10-06T04:00:00+00:00

The Text in Its Ancient Context

The editors of the final set of episodes in Judges recast the story of Lot in Sodom (Genesis 19; Lasine) using an unnamed Levite and his concubine as the narrative catalyst for a horrific tragedy. The Levite is presented as a failed husband (19:2), a traveler who exercises poor judgment (19:11-14), an ungrateful guest (19:16-20), and a coward who sacrifices the life of his concubine to preserve himself from a mob of lawless men in Gibeah (19:22-25). Hospitality protocols are turned upside down throughout the narrative (Matthews, 181–88). When the long night is over, the Levite shows no concern for his concubine’s brutal gang rape, not even crying out after finding her body lying on his host’s doorstep (19:27-28; Yee, 154–56). Instead, he bundles her onto his donkey, and when he arrives home he gruesomely carves her body into twelve pieces (cf. Saul’s butchering his oxen in 1 Sam. 11:7). Then the Levite sends these grisly items “throughout all the territory of Israel” with the inflammatory message “Has such a thing ever happened? . . . Consider it, take counsel, and speak out” (19:29-30).

Without questioning the Levite’s claims, all of the Israelite tribes gather at Mizpah, creating the only instance in the book when they are all gathered together (20:1; cf. 1 Sam. 7:5-7; 10:17). The Levite uses this opportunity to condemn Gibeah and the tribe of Benjamin while painting himself as a helpless victim. Similarly, the Benjaminites, when asked to “hand over those scoundrels in Gibeah” in order to “purge the evil from Israel” (20:13; cf. the stoning of Achan’s household in Josh. 7:16-26), absolutely refuse to comply and proceed to gather their own army (20:14-15). There is a mad dash to judgment and intemperate action on both sides. The result is a series of three battles, none of which need have occurred if wiser and cooler heads had intervened (cf. the negotiations in Josh. 22:10-34).

Two military defeats lead to the sole appearance in Judges of the ark of the covenant and a cameo appearance by Phinehas, a contemporary of Joshua, as the Levite in charge (see Num. 25:7-11; 31:1-12; Josh. 22:13-34). However, the Israelites’ desperation and the editors’ efforts to draw the combatants back to proper cultic procedures require the tribes to seek God’s help through proper channels (Judg. 20:19-25; cf. Num. 14:39-45; Butler, 445–47). Duly chastised, they receive not only the command to “Go up” but also the divine assurance that this time “I will give them into your hand” (cf. Josh. 7:8-9).

In the end, the tribe of Benjamin is decimated and is only able to survive through an artful avoidance of the stipulations of the tribal oath and the capture of women from Jabesh-gilead and Shiloh (Judges 21). These female captives, unable to protect themselves from the desperate Benjaminites who pursue them, form an inclusio with the Levite’s concubine, whose rape served as the cause célèbre for this destructive civil war (Keefe, 85–86).

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