What a Horrific Story
Judges 19:30
“And all who saw it said, ‘Such a thing has never happened or been seen…’”
Sometimes, it is overwhelming to watch the news. Evil is everywhere. How can humans be so corrupt, wicked, and self-centered? How can they do horrible things to each other? How can they abuse another person so perversely? It is perplexing.
Perhaps you may think that things are getting worse in the world, that evil is taking over. And then you read Judges 19–21, and you are left baffled by the darkness of the account.
The people in the story are not pagans; they are the people of God. And yet, it is the gravity and horror of the events that leads them to say, “Such a thing has never happened or been seen…” (Judges 19:30).
A man from the tribe of Levi, the tribe set apart by God to serve and minister, takes a concubine. She cheats on him and leaves. Eventually, he travels miles to reconcile with her, and on his journey back home, night falls when they are near a Benjaminite town. A hospitable old man offers him and his concubine shelter for the night.
The men of the city, worthless fellows, surround the house, beating on the door and asking the master of the house to bring the man out so they can rape him (19:22). The old man goes out and tells them, “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” (19:23–24).
What! That is so twisted! So warped!
But the wicked men would not listen, so the Levite, becoming extremely fearful, cowardly seizes his concubine and makes her go out to them. They rape and abuse her all night until the morning (19:25).
The whole scene makes you want to throw up.
The next morning, the Levite puts his unresponsive concubine on a donkey and goes home. Then he slices her with a knife, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sends them throughout all the territory of Israel (19:28–29).
It is at that point that the people say, “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” (19:30).
This generates a civil war against the tribe of Benjamin. As recounted in chapters 20 and 21, literally tens of thousands die senselessly. The tribe of Benjamin is almost completely wiped out. It is a national disaster, one of the lowest points in Israel’s history.
And the whole book of Judges ends there, with the following observation:
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)
They did not have a leader. They had lost their moral compass and foundational uprightness.
They needed a King to bring them back to the path of righteousness.