We aren’t told much about The Unnamed Concubine—we aren’t even told her name. However, we are told that she is from Bethlehem, which was in Judah and lived during the days before Israel had a king. With this information, it is probable that she is a descendant of the Tribe of Judah. Her story is given in

Israel was not the only nation where the practice of having concubines was “normal,” but the practice isn’t common in our modern era, at least not in the United States. Because of this, every time I see the word concubine in the Bible, I wonder what exactly is a concubine. Generally, I think of a concubine as being lower than a wife, but higher than a mistress (usually, the wife would know that a concubine existed). According to multiple dictionaries, my interpretation of the word is pretty spot on—the major difference is that many dictionaries list mistress as a synonym for for concubine. In fact, based on the definition, many women today are actually concubines.

On the journey back to Ephraim, the couple gets a late start. Due to this late start, it is already late when they arrive in Jerusalem which is not yet under Israelite control. Unwilling to stay in a city that didn’t belong to the Israelites, the man pushes on to Gibeah despite how late it is. Gibeah was a territory belonging to the Tribe of Benjamin, and presumably, the man thought it would be safer. Unlike today, where there are hotels, it was common in those days for locals to offer their home to travelers. Since they arrive at dark, they have no where to stay and end up in the equivalent of a city square. Eventually an old man from the same area in Ephraim who happens to be staying in Gibeah comes along and invites them to stay with him for the night.

From here, the story parallels the story of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah. Men come to the house and request that the husband is handed over to them so that they may have sex with him.

Like Lot, the owner of the house pleads for the men not to rape the man and suggests the men take his daughter and the concubine instead. There is a lot to be said about this reaction.

The first thing the men’s reaction says it that they understand that rape is an atrocity. In the CJB the old man calls the act degrading. Other translations use vile, shameful, horrible, etc. to describe the act. The original Hebrew word could be translated also as crime or moral wickedness.[1] The fact that the owner of the house calls it such not once but twice, proves that he understands it is something bad.

Like with Sodom and Gomorrah, many will read this and their only take away will be that this passage is a condemnation of homosexuality. While the owner of the house clearly views the rape of a man to be worse than the rape of a woman, if we pay attention we can see that he is not saying it’s ok to rape the women but not ok to rape the men. In the CJB, he says the men can “mistreat” the women. Other translations say abuse, violate, or humble in reference to the treatment of the women. The original Hebrew essentially means to afflict or oppress.[2] As such, it is clear that the man is not suggesting the act is good regardless of gender.

In Ephesians 5:28-29, we are told that husbands are to love their wife the way they love their own body. From the very first marriage in Genesis it is established that man and wife are one flesh. After the fall, man took the opportunity to blame womankind for the predicament of humans and twisted the punishment of woman in to a second class citizen. In many cultures, women have been treated as less, including the Israelite culture. This is not God’s description of how a woman is to be treated. Nonetheless, we see this idealogy in the response of the old man. Both he and Lot offer their own daughters to be raped by the men of the town. In the end, even the Levite husband hands over his concubine to save himself.

Can you imagine if in the Garden Gethsemane, while Messiah was wrestling with His coming death He decided to let Peter take the fall instead. Even worse, He offers up Mary and Martha. Instead of protecting the women of the house, the men protected themselves. We know that this wasn’t God’s design or plan because in the aftermath there is more death and more suffering.

The assault results in the death of the concubine. We are told that this assault lasted all night. When her husband wakes up in the morning, he has no compassion toward her and merely bids her to leave with him before discovering that she is dead. Although I don’t condone adultery, I kind of see why she thought someone else was a better option.

Despite the husband’s nonchalant reaction to handing her over to be assaulted, he reacts with a vengeance upon her death. Her body is desecrated to send a message to all the tribes of Israel and rally them against the city that committed such a heinous act. 400,000 soldiers come together to avenge her death and 25,000 people die in the ensuing battle to bring the tribe of Benjamin to justice. The biggest take away I took from the story is that even an adulterous, no-named woman was worthy of having the whole country go to war to avenge her honor.