The Levite and His Concubine

About this time, as we have said, civil war had broken out, and this was the cause of the trouble. A certain Levite was traveling with his concubine. Forced to stop by the coming of night, he took lodging in the town of Gibeah, which was inhabited by men of Benjamin. An old man kindly took him in as a guest, but the young men of the town surrounded the guest, intending to abuse him. The old man rebuked them sharply, and they were turned from their purpose only with difficulty. At last they took the person of his concubine for their lust in place of his own. So they spared the stranger, but abused her all through the night, and gave her back only on the following day. She died on seeing her husband again, whether from the injury their vile conduct had done her or from shame, I do not venture to say. Then the Levite, as a witness to the horrible deed, cut her body into twelve pieces and sent them out among the twelve tribes, so that indignation at such conduct might more readily be stirred up in all of them. [a]

When this became known to them all, the other eleven tribes joined in an alliance for war against Benjamin. In this war, as we have said, Judah was the general. They fared badly in the first two battles. At last, however, in the third, the Benjamites were defeated and cut down to a man. So the crime of a few was punished by the destruction of a multitude.

These things too are contained in the book of Judges; the Books of Kings follow. But to me, as I follow the succession of the years and the order of the dates, the history does not seem to be marked by strict accuracy in its chronology. After Samson as judge came Simmichar, and a little later the history declares that the people lived without judges; and Eli the priest is said in the Books of Kings to have been a judge as well. But Scripture has not stated how many years there were between Eli and Samson. I see that there was some stretch of time between the two that is left in obscurity. From the day of Joshua’s death to the time when Samson died, however, four hundred and eighteen years are reckoned, and from the beginning of the world, four thousand three hundred and three. I am well aware that others differ from this reckoning of mine. But I am also aware that I have set out, not without some care, the order of events year by year, a thing until now left in obscurity, until I came to these times, about which I confess I have my doubts. Now I will go on to what remains.