came into thine house, that we may know him. But he knew their wicked intentions and led manner; probably it was a 23 usual thing with them; And therefore, the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, [nay,] I pray you, do not [se] wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly; expostulating with them from the laws of hospitality, and the great24 ness of the sin; and he adds, Behold, [here is] my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. This was quite an improper and unwarrantable offer; but probably he was in confusion and terror, and knew not or did not consider 25 what he said, like Lot in a similar case. But the men would not hearken to him; and, as we find in the next chapter, threatened to kill the Levite if he did not bring out his wife; so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning and when the day began to spring, they let her 26 go. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord [was,] till it was light; those wretches had treated her so ill that she 27 died. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down [at] the door of the 28 house, and her hands [were] upon the threshold. And, supposing her to be in a deep sleep, having come too late to be let in, he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her [up] upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place; he returned home as fast as he could, without going to Shiloh.

29

And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, [together] with her bones, into twelves pieces, and sent her into all the coast of Israel. There was no king in Israel to revenge such a crime, but the heads of the tribes met and consulted together on extraordinary occasions. In order to engage their help in this case, he sent a part of the dead body to every tribe, that the mournful story and the horrid spectacle might incense them 30 against the authors of this execrable wickedness. And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak [your minds.] It had the desired effect; they were highly incensed, and exhorted one another not to pass over such an horrid crime, but to consider how it ought to be punished.

1.

IT

REFLECTIONS.

T becomes all men, and especially God's ministers, to be frugal of their time. This Levite, though well entertained, and upon a joyful occasion, wanted to be at home, and suffered greatly through the foolish importunity of his father in law. An honest man's heart is where his calling is; and no one who has business to do, and understands the value of time, will trifle on a journey, and stay to oblige his friends, without necessity. The kindness of friends is very often a great injury, by obliging people to travel late, and thereby exposing them to danger, as well as wasting a great deal of time. It is good hearing when Levites are willing to make haste home to their proper business; and those friends do them harm who press them for frequent and long visits.

2. When we are in the most agreeable circumstances of life, we know not what evil may be before us, and therefore should never be secure. This Levite was pleased in having regained the affections of his wife; she was pleased to return to him; the father in law was pleased that the breach was made up; and they were cheerful together in an hospitable house, when this calamity came upon them. If she was guilty of adultery, as our translation intimates, God was righteous in punishing her, though her husband had forgiven her. However, the story teaches us, that we know not what danger may be before us, nor how soon the end of our mirth may be heaviness. When we expect most comfort, God may be writing bitter things against us. Our creature comforts and enjoyments are all uncertain; and therefore we should be as though we possessed them not, and prepare for disappointments.

:

3. What horrible wickedness were these Benjamites guilty of! And it is matter of lamentation that such creatures should be found in Israel. They were undoubtedly acquainted with the fate of Sodom; nay, not many miles from them was that lake, where the city was buried and yet so intolerably wicked were they, that the Levite had better have lodged among the Jebusites; they could not have used him worse. The first sign of their wickedness, was leaving a stranger, yea, a Levite, to lodge in the street. If the fear of God had been in any of their houses, his servants had not been excluded. But,' as Bp. HALL says, 'the worst of pagans were saints to these Israelites. What availed it to have Shiloh in their neighbourhood, and Sodom in their streets? to have God's law in their hands, and upon their fringes, and the devil in their hearts? Nothing but hell can yield a worse creature than a depraved Israelite.' See what wretched creatures God's professing people are, when they are led away by fleshly lusts, and lose their purity and holiness. Let it teach us VOL. II. Bbb

to stand in the greatest dread of all the lusts of the flesh, which war against the soul. Once more,

4. The exhortation of the Israelites, on their hearing this melancholy story, suggests a good hint to us what to do in every difficult case. Let us consider of it, revolve the matter in our thoughts, view it in every light with calmness, without prejudice and partiality; then, in opposition to rash judgment, take advice, canvass it over with others, take their opinion, and attend to the force of their reasoning, in opposition to conceit and positiveness; and then speak our mind, be resolute and open, in opposition to cowardice, and act steadily and boldly, according to our deliber ate judgment, especially in cases of virtue and righteousness. Thus are we likely to act a wise and worthy part; and in the multitude of such counsellors, there will be safety.

CHAP. XX.

The Levite in a general assembly declareth his wrong; their decree; and the destruction of the Benjamites.

1

TH

HEN all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together, as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh, the place where the assemblies were held in Joshua's time; it was in the centre of the country, near Shiloh, 2 and not far from Gibeah. And the chief of all the people, [even] of all the tribes of Israel, the heads of the tribes, (except Benjamin,) the captains of thousands, of hundreds, and tens, pre sented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four 3 hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh; they had a legal summons to appear there, but refused.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell [us,] how 4 was this wickedness; And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered, and said, I came into Gib eah that [belongeth] to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to 5 lodge. And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, [and] thought to have slain me and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. And 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. No doubt the Levite's story was confirmed by his servant, and the old man who was his host. He adds, Behold, ye [are] all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel; ye are

■ people in covenant with God, and engaged to abhor and punish such enormities.*

And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any [of us] go to his tent, neither will we any [of us] turn into his house. It is probable from chap, xxi. I-5. that they not only came to a resolution, but took an oath, that they would not return home till they had seen justice done, and this wicked. ness punished. But now this [shall be] the thing which we 10 will do to Gibeah; [we will go up] by lot against it; And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. Forty thousand were to forage for the rest, to prevent their making excursions, or 11 quitting their arms. So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

12

And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness [is] this that is done among you? They had heard that the Benjamites were armed, and therefore sent ambassadors to each city, to show the great ness of their crime, and propose terms of peace; and they said, 13 Now therefore deliver [us] the men, the children of Belial, which [are] in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel, keep others from such wicked practices, and prevent the judgment of God from falling on them, as it did on Sodom and Gomorrah, But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the 14 children of Israel: But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities, unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel. One would hope there were some good men in their tribe; but they had no influence, and were quite overruled by the obstinate and wicked multitude, 15 And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven 16 hundred chosen men. Among all this people [there were] seven hundred chosen men left handed; every one could sling stones at an hair [breadth,] and not miss. A proverbial expression for great skill. It is a pity that such good marksmen 17 should so miss their aim, as to espouse so bad a cause. And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these [were] men of war.

18

And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us

He could not address all the people; it is therefore probable, that a committee was appointed to examine the evidence, and report to the people what they judged proper to be done.

shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah [shall go up] first. They did not inquire whether they should make war at all, or whether they should be successful if they did; they presumed on the justice of their cause, and on their own numbers and strength, and only asked who should be their commander; accordingly, 19 Judah is directed to go first and lead the van. And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against 20 Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against

The

Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to 21 fight against them at Gibeah. And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men. hand of God was plainly in this, considering their vast superiority. He perhaps directed their arrows and stones against the most guilty Israelites, and hereby prevented the spread of wickedness, and punished them for their self confidence, idolatry, and other 22 sins. And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, because their cause was good, and their numbers great, and set their battle again in array in the place where they 23 put themselves in array the first day. (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.) They wept not for their sins, but their defeat; and neither begged God's assistance, nor inquired after success: they thought perhaps they had done wrong in warring against a brother tribe : and God gave them permission to go, though he did not promise 24 them success. And the children of Israel came near against 25 the children of Benjamin the second day. And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword. Thus God cured them of their pride and presumption, in trusting to their numbers without praying for success; and punished them for suffering idolatry among them, as in Dan, when they were ordered to root it out.

26

Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, in a more serious and sincere manner than before, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings, to make atonement for their own sins, and peace offerings before the LORD, to bless God for sparing so many of them, and to im27 plore his assistance for the future. And the children of Israel inquired of the LORD, in the tabernacle at Shiloh, near to Gibeah, (for the ark of the covenant of God [was] there in those 28 days, And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron,