Judges 19:30

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) The verse shows that the Levite had successfully gauged the depths of moral indignation that still lay in the hearts of his countrymen. The story of the deed thrilled through all Palestine and awoke a determined desire for retribution upon the guilty inhabitants of Gibeah. The whole nation felt the stain and shame (Hosea 9:9; Hosea 10:9).

Benson Commentary

Jdg 19:30. All said, There was no such deed done or seen, &c. — All who saw it, and heard the relation, were so moved with horror at it that they called upon each other to consult and give their opinion in what manner justice should be done upon the lewd and inhuman Gibeathites; as follows in the next chapter.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:7-13 Micah thought it was a sign of God's favour to him and his images, that a Levite should come to his door. Thus those who please themselves with their own delusions, if Providence unexpectedly bring any thing to their hands that further them in their evil way, are apt from thence to think that God is pleased with them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A knife - Rather, "the" "knife". The single household implement used, not like our knives at our meals, but for slaughtering and cutting up the animals into joints for eating Genesis 22:6, Genesis 22:10; Proverbs 30:14.

Together with her bones ... - Rather, "into her bones", or "bone by bone, into twelve pieces". The "pieces" are synonymous with the "bones" (compare Ezekiel 24:4-5). There is something truly terrible in the stern ferocity of grief and indignation which dictated this desperate effort to arouse his countrymen to avenge his wrong. Compare 1 Samuel 11:7.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. divided her … into twelve pieces—The want of a regular government warranted an extraordinary step; and certainly no method could have been imagined more certain of rousing universal horror and indignation than this terrible summons of the Levite.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No such deed; so wicked and abominable.

Consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds; let us meet together, and seriously consider, and every one freely speak what is to be done in this case.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it was so, that all that saw it,.... The dismembered pieces of the dead body, and were made acquainted with the cause of it; for so Josephus (b) says, he gave the messengers a command to declare what was the cause of her death:

said, there was no such deed done nor seen, from the day that the children of Israel came out of Egypt, unto this day; meaning not so much the cutting in pieces the dead body, and sending it to different parts; though that was awful and shocking, as the complicated wickedness committed at Gibeah, which was the cause of it, to which reference is had, Hosea 9:9 this is an observation of the writer of this book, Samuel; but what follows are the words either of those the Levite sent, who were bid to deliver them to those to whom the pieces were sent, or else of the persons present at the time of the delivery of the pieces to them, or whom they got together to disclose the matter to:

consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds; well weigh and think of the matter within yourselves, consult with one another what is proper to be done, and give your opinion freely without any reserve.

(b) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 8.)

Geneva Study Bible

And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no {l} 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.

(l) For this was like the sin of Sodom for which God rained down fire and brimstone from heaven.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. After unto this day the LXX. cod. A etc. contains an addition which no doubt formed part of the original text. Restoring this addition to its proper place at the beginning of the verse we may read: And he commanded the men whom he sent, saying, Thus shall ye say to all the men of Israel, Did ever such a thing as this happen, from the day that the children of Israel came up out of Egypt unto this day? Consider of it, take counsel, and speak, 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. Note that both clauses end with unto this day: the first fell out through homoioteleuton. Consider of it … speak is much more suitable as the Levite’s message than as the exclamation of those who discussed the summons.

came up out of the land of Egypt] The Exodus is frequently referred to as the birth-day of Israel’s national life, cf. Jdg 6:13, 1 Samuel 8:8, 2 Samuel 7:6, Amos 2:10; Amos 9:7, Micah 6:4 etc.

The outrage at Gibeah is referred to in Hosea 9:9; Hosea 10:9-10. The text of the latter passage is uncertain and difficult; ‘their two transgressions’ is generally taken as an allusion to the want of hospitality and the immoral conduct of the men of Gibeah. The Targum on Hosea 10:9, however, intiverance. The connexion between (3) and (4) is illustrerprets ‘the days of Gibeah’ as referring to the setting up of the kingdom in Gibeah in the time of Saul; and some modern scholars accept this view. It is true that Israel, which avenged the crime with such righteous zeal, could not fairly be blamed for it; on the other hand, the Benjamites of Gibeah formed a part of Israel, and the entire nation would, in accordance with ancient ideas, be considered as involved in the guilt (cf. Jdg 20:10 b). It is not necessary to suppose that Hosea based his allusion on the present narrative; the tradition which he knew may have differed in some respects.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - And it was so, etc. Some translate this verse quite differently. They understand the whole verse as what the Levite said when he sent the twelve pieces of the murdered woman to the twelve tribes, as thus: "He sent her into all the coasts of Israel (ver. 29), saying, It shall come to pass that all who see it will say, There hath been nothing done and nothing seen like this from the day, etc. But the A.V. makes very good sense, and the Hebrew will bear it. Consider of it, etc. The general sense of the whole nation was to call a national council to decide what to do. The Levite had succeeded in arousing the indignation of the twelve tribes to avenge his terrible wrong.



Judges 19:30

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

As soon as he arrived there, he cut up the body, according to its bones (as they cut slaughtered animals in pieces: see at Leviticus 1:6), into twelve pieces, and sent them (the corpse in its pieces) into the whole of the territory of Israel, i.e., to all the twelve tribes, in the hope that every one who saw it would say: No such thing has happened or been seen since the coming up of Israel out of Egypt until this day. Give ye heed to it (שׁימוּ for לב שׂימוּ); make up your minds and say on, i.e., decide how this unparalleled wickedness is to be punished. Sending the dissected pieces of the corpse to the tribes was a symbolical act, by which the crime committed upon the murdered woman was placed before the eyes of the whole nation, to summon it to punish the crime, and was naturally associated with a verbal explanation of the matter by the bearer of the pieces. See the analogous proceeding on the part of Saul (1 Samuel 11:7), and the Scythian custom related by Lucian in Toxaris, c. 48, that whoever was unable to procure satisfaction for an injury that he had received, cut an ox in pieces and sent it round, whereupon all who were willing to help him to obtain redress took a piece, and swore that they would stand by him to the utmost of their strength. The perfects ואמר - והיה (Judges 19:30) are not used for the imperfects c. vav consec. ויּאמר - ויהי, as Hitzig supposes, but as simple perfects (perfecta conseq.), expressing the result which the Levite expected from his conduct; and we have simply to supply לאמר before והיה, which is often omitted in lively narrative or animated conversation (compare, for example, Exodus 8:5 with Judges 7:2). The perfects are used by the historian instead of imperfects with a simple vav, which are commonly employed in clauses indicating intention, "because what he foresaw would certainly take place, floated before his mind as a thing already done" (Rosenmller). The moral indignation, which the Levite expected on the part of all the tribes at such a crime as this, and their resolution to avenge it, are thereby exhibited not merely as an uncertain conjecture, but a fact that was sure to occur, and concerning which, as Judges 20 clearly shows, he had not deceived himself.