Judges 19

Chap. XIX. Ver 1—30. The Levite and his concubine.—How changeable are human affairs! Our brightest prospects are often taken. We should therefore learn to moderate our affections, to lower our hopes as to this world, and to stand prepared for the worst.—They who teach others, should put themselves to any inconvenience to enforce their precepts by their own example.—More inhumanity and villany may be found among degenerate professors of the diester, than among infidels: and in general, where we expect the most kindness, we meet with the greatest injuries, that we may learn to “cease from man.”—An unfeeling disregard to the wants of others generally accompanies sensuality and ungoverned lusts: and there are numbers who imitate the example of those, whose shameful crimes have been recorded in their punishment, to one who copies the examples of hospitality, integrity, and piety, mentioned with commendation in the Scriptures.

When men have cast off the fear of God, they are frequently given up to their own vile lusts, even to disgrace human nature, and to exceed the very beasts in brutishness: and Israelites especially, who rebel against the light, and are hardened under the means of grace, will become as abandoned as the inhabitants of Sodom, and far more inexcusable—When iniquity becomes generally triumphant, few will dare to protest against it; and it is safer to venture into a den of lions than into such recesses of iniquity. Yet in the worst of times, there are some who venture scorn and reproach, in being kind to the servants of God for his sake; and who do not grudge the expense of hospitality: for while idleness and sensual lusts waste a man’s substance, honest labour and frugality afford the means of being liberal.

But such persons live as strangers in this world, and must expect to be abused by their wicked neighbours, except when an equitable government affords them benign protection.—In imitating the good actions of God’s people, men are very liable to be betrayed into their faults, against which they need be doubly circumspect: and an unbelieving policy often induces them to make unwarrantable concessions; but committing sin to avoid danger will generally involve them in still greater difficulties—The righteous Lord permits transgressors to execute his just vengeance on one another: and if the scene described in this chapter appears exceedingly horrible, what will be the discoveries of the day of judgment!

Yet such is human nature! And though few believe the humbling truth, the seeds of all this wickedness are in every human heart! and if we have not committed such abominations in our lives, we owe the more gratitude to the Lord, for the restraints of his providence, or the influences of his grace. While therefore it behoves those in authority to consider, take advice, and speak their minds, “by what means crimes may be best prevented, or so punished that others may ‘hear, and fear, and do no more such wickedness;’” we may each of us consider, how to escape from the wrath to come, to mortify the sins of our own hearts, to resist Satan’s temptations, and to avoid the pollutions that are in the world; and how we may best be prepared for meeting temporal calamities, and enabled to extract benefit from them.

—T. Z. Scott.

Notes on the verses

Chap. XIX. Ver. 2. Played the whore.—A concubine was a secondary wife; infidelity in her, therefore, was adultery; the ancient versions, however, soften the crime, by representing her as having left her husband only from some “dislike,” or disgust. They, as well as many modern commentators, seem to be influenced by the idea, that if she had been criminal, her husband would never have gone after her, “to speak friendly to her, or comfort her.” This, however, is not certain; such instances have been known; and her crime might have been a single act of turpitude, and under some palliating circumstances: moreover, her husband might have heard of her showing signs of penitence, which his affection led him to cherish.

The conduct of her father, in wishing him to stay, seems to intimate an anxiety to have them perfectly reconciled before he parted with them. Ver. 9. Draweth toward evening—The day groweth to an end.—Hebrew, “It is pitching (time) of the day;” that is, when travellers pitch their tents or, as others, “The day (i.e. the sun) is about to pitch its tent.” See (Psalms 19:4). [Dr. Shaw observes, “Our constant practice was to rise at break of day, set forward with the sun, and travel to the middle of the afternoon; at which time we began to look out for encampments of Arabs; who, to prevent such parties as ours from living at free charges upon them, take care to pitch in woods, valleys, or places the least conspicuous.”]

—Bagster. Ver. 11. Jebus.—That is, Jerusalem, where the Jebusites held the stronghold of Zion. See note on Chap. i, 8. Sa