Judges 19:22-30
22 As they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally!”
23 But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter and the mans concubine; let me bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!” 25 But the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until morning; and when the day began to break, they let her go.
26 Then the woman came as the day was dawning, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was, till it was light.
27 When her master arose in the morning, and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was his concubine, fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. 28 And he said to her, “Get up and let us be going.” But there was no answer. So the man lifted her onto the donkey; and the man got up and went to his place.
29 When he entered his house he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and divided her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. 30 And so it was that all who saw it said, “No such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, confer, and speak up!”
22 As they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally!”
23 But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter and the mans concubine; let me bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!” 25 But the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until morning; and when the day began to break, they let her go.
26 Then the woman came as the day was dawning, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was, till it was light.
27 When her master arose in the morning, and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was his concubine, fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold. 28 And he said to her, “Get up and let us be going.” But there was no answer. So the man lifted her onto the donkey; and the man got up and went to his place.
29 When he entered his house he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and divided her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. 30 And so it was that all who saw it said, “No such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, confer, and speak up!”
Gibeah's apostasy in turning from the LORD is clearly demonstrated here in their gross immorality. When the Levitical priest and his companion were given shelter in Gibeah by a hospitable old man from the mountains of Ephraim where the Levite was from, the perverted men of Gibeah came asking for him to perform homosexual acts on the priest. The house owner told them not to do such a reprehensible and vile thing, and offered his own daughter and the man’s concubine in his place, but they would not listen, being driven by their vile immorality and perversion. The man ended up sending out the concubine alone and they raped her all night long, leaving her for dead in the morning. The priest therefore cut her body in twelve pieces, one for each tribe of Israel, and sent them with the message of what had taken place in Gibeah. Since such a vile thing had never yet been seen among God’s people, he called for accountability of action in response. He wanted them to take this to heart (hence the dramatics of sending the body parts), assemble together, and decide what to do in response to stop the immoral apostasy of Gibeah who acted opposite to God’s commands and their call to holiness as His people. We learn here how the Lord considers homosexuality how the depths of immorality its actions bring deserve to be dealt with and not tolerated. Granted, this in no way is to be a violent response as in that time of the Law, but in this age of grace in Christ it must be dealt with by a united front of intolerance among His people. It does not mean those committing such vile acts outside the church, for they are already under the condemnation of God’s judgement through His word (1 Corinthians 5:9-13, John 12:48). Those outside need the grace of forgiveness for salvation, while those inside need church discipline to afford the chance to repent (1 Corinthians 5:4-5) and be reconciled to God and restored to fellowship. As C.H. Spurgeon said, “Right is right though all condemn, and wrong is wrong though all approve.” As written here, “Consider it, confer, and speak up!”
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