Judges 19 · a question people ask
What does the text say about the Levite and the old man?
It tells what they did and said, and in this chapter it passes no verdict on either man. The Levite "went after her to speak kindly to her, to bring her again" (19:3). He would not stay in Jebus (19:12). In Gibeah he tells the old man, "I am going to the LORD’s house" (19:18). The old man takes them in (19:20-21). When the men of the city come, he goes out and calls what they want "folly" (19:23), and what he says next is in 19:24. What the Levite does at the door is told in 19:25. In the morning he opens the doors "to go his way" (19:27), and says to her, "Get up, and let’s get going!", "but no one answered" (19:28). What he then does is told in 19:29. In the next chapter the narrator calls her "the woman who was murdered" (20:4), and the Levite tells the assembly what happened in his own words (20:4-7); his account can be read beside this chapter's when you reach chapter 20. Christians weigh the two men in two main ways. Both agree on what the text says: it approves nothing that either man did at the door, and it ends with what "all who saw it said" (19:30).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The telling is the verdict
Those who hold this view note what the text sets side by side and leaves without comment. The Levite went "to speak kindly to her" (19:3), and the next words he says to her in the chapter are "Get up, and let’s get going!" (19:28). The old man says, "don’t do this folly" (19:23), and his offer comes in the next verse (19:24). They read the book's last line, "Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes" (21:25), as taking in these two men as well as the men of the city. On this reading the narrator's silence is not approval; the facts are laid down plainly for the reader to see.
Judges 19:3 · Judges 19:23-24 · Judges 19:28 · Judges 21:25
Say only what the text says
Those who hold this view note that the chapter's words of judgment are spoken of the men of the city, "certain wicked fellows" (19:22), whom Israel later calls "the wicked fellows who are in Gibeah" (20:13), and of the deed itself (19:30). They are careful not to say more about the Levite or the old man than the text says, and they read the chapter's last words, "Consider it, take counsel, and speak" (19:30), as handing the weighing to Israel and to every reader, with the rest of Scripture. On this reading the narrator's silence is not approval either; it leaves the verdict to be reached, not supplied.
Judges 19:22 · Judges 20:13 · Judges 19:30
The verses
“Her husband arose and went after her to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his servant with him and a couple of donkeys. She brought him into her father’s house; and when the father of the young lady saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.”
“His master said to him, “We won’t enter into the city of a foreigner that is not of the children of Israel; but we will pass over to Gibeah.””
“It was so, that all who saw it said, “Such a deed has not been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day! Consider it, take counsel, and speak.””
“The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, “I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. The men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house by night. They intended to kill me and they raped my concubine, and she is dead. I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. Behold, you children of Israel, all of you, give here your advice and counsel.””