ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises the story of the rape of the Levite’s wife from Judges 19. A Levite is travelling homeward with his wife, who had absconded to her father’s house for ambiguous reasons. His departure has been repeatedly delayed by the excessive hospitality of the woman’s father. As night falls, they take shelter in an Israelite town called Gibeah. Despite being offered accommodation by an old man, they fall into danger. The men of the town, ‘sons of Belial,’ surround the house calling for the Levite to be put out to them to rape. Instead, the Levite puts the woman out, who is gang-raped all night. The next morning the Levite finds her fallen on the threshold; whether she is dead or alive is unclear. He takes her home, dismembers her, and sends the parts of her body as a military muster in revenge against Gibeah. The narrative is introduced with the first half of the Leitmotif of Judges: ‘In those days there was no king in Israel.’ The second half of the Leitmotif is found in verse 24. The narrative concludes with the words addressed to the ancient and the modern audience: ‘Apply yourself to it. Take counsel. Speak.’
