Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 88
76
IMMERSE
•
KINGDOMS
19:25–20:11
concubine. I will bring them out to you, and you can abuse them and do
whatever you like. But don’t do such a shameful thing to this man.”
But they wouldn’t listen to him. So the Levite took hold of his concubine and pushed her out the door. The men of the town abused her all
night, taking turns raping her until morning. Finally, at dawn they let her
go. At daybreak the woman returned to the house where her husband
was staying. She collapsed at the door of the house and lay there until it
was light.
When her husband opened the door to leave, there lay his concubine
with her hands on the threshold. He said, “Get up! Let’s go!” But there was
no answer. So he put her body on his donkey and took her home.
When he got home, he took a knife and cut his concubine’s body into
twelve pieces. Then he sent one piece to each tribe throughout all the
territory of Israel.
Everyone who saw it said, “Such a horrible crime has not been committed in all the time since Israel left Egypt. Think about it! What are we going
to do? Who’s going to speak up?”
Then all the Israelites were united as one man, from Dan in the north to
Beersheba in the south, including those from across the Jordan in the land
of Gilead. The entire community assembled in the presence of the Lord at
Mizpah. The leaders of all the people and all the tribes of Israel—400,000
warriors armed with swords—took their positions in the assembly of the
people of God. (Word soon reached the land of Benjamin that the other
tribes had gone up to Mizpah.) The Israelites then asked how this terrible
crime had happened.
The Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, said,
“My concubine and I came to spend the night in Gibeah, a town that belongs to the people of Benjamin. That night some of the leading citizens
of Gibeah surrounded the house, planning to kill me, and they raped my
concubine until she was dead. So I cut her body into twelve pieces and
sent the pieces throughout the territory assigned to Israel, for these men
have committed a terrible and shameful crime. Now then, all of you—the
entire community of Israel—must decide here and now what should be
done about this!”
And all the people rose to their feet in unison and declared, “None of us
will return home! No, not even one of us! Instead, this is what we will do
to Gibeah; we will draw lots to decide who will attack it. One-tenth of the
men from each tribe will be chosen to supply the warriors with food, and
the rest of us will take revenge on Gibeah of Benjamin for this shameful
thing they have done in Israel.” So all the Israelites were completely united,
and they gathered together to attack the town.