Bible Study Guide.
7-BSG-19H (Judges 19)

[1] With what phrase does both Chapter 18 and 19 begin? (1) In those days there was no king in Israel.

[2] Why keep repeating that Israel had no king? (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) “This phrase, twice followed by everyone did as they saw fit (17:6; 21:25), reveals the character of the times. Spiritual life had declined. Rather than doing as God had commanded, people were following their own whims. These verses were written by someone who was living during the early time of the monarchy, when the spiritual life in Israel had improved.” (NIV Quest Study Bible Notes)

[3] What did the wicked men of Gibeah do to the Levite’s concubine? (25) They took the Levite’s concubine and brought her outside to them; and they had relations with her and abused her all night until morning; and when daybreak came, they let her go.

[4] Why would the host sacrifice his daughter to protect a stranger? (24) “The similarity between this verse and Gen. 19:8 is marked. Like Lot, with whose experience he was no doubt familiar, the old man offered to sacrifice his maiden daughter to the lust of these vile brutes rather than to have his guest treated in this shameful way. Although we can appreciate his desire to maintain the code of hospitality, yet the nature of his offer fills us with horror. It reflects the ancient low estimate of womanhood. The man must be judged, in part at least, by the conceptions of the times in which he lived (see on Gen. 19:8).” (SDABC 2:410)

[5] What dramatic thong did the Levite do, to protect himself? (25) He took his concubine and shoved her out. “The Hebrew verb translated “took” is chazaq. It signifies “to seize,” or “to take by force.” The husband seized the defenseless woman and forced her to go out. Naturally the concubine would resist so shameful an act. Such cowardice on the part of the Levite was reprehensible in the extreme.” (SDABC 2:410)

[6] What did the Levite do with his dead concubine? (29) He took a knife, and taking hold of his [dead] concubine, he cut her [corpse] limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her [body parts] throughout all the territory of Israel.

[7] Why would he send her concubine’s remains to each tribe in Israel? (29) To dramatize the shamefulness of the act perpetrated by the men of Gibeah.

[8] What did the response of the Israelites mean? (30) “The first part of their response—Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt—shows that they took the incident at Gibeah to be a horrible crime, the sort that would require severe punishment. The second part of their response—Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!—shows that they knew their retribution would have to be well crafted, since punishing a mob or (potentially) a whole city for a crime was far more complicated than punishing an individual.” (NIV Quest Study Bible Notes)