Judges 20:5

5 That night some of the leading citizens of Gibeah surrounded the house, planning to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she was dead.

Judges 20:5 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:5

And the men of Gibeah rose against me
Not all of them, but some that dwelt in that city; he forbears giving them the character they justly deserved, sons of Belial. These came in a tumultuous and violent manner,

and beset the house round about upon me by night;
that he might not make his escape, resolving if possible to get him into their hands, and do with him according to their will:

and thought to have slain me;
their first intention was to commit the unnatural sin on him, and, if he resisted, to slay him; but this he modestly conceals, as being a sin not to be named in an assembly of saints; and besides he might say this, because he himself chose rather to be slain than to submit to their lust, which he knew must be the case upon his refusal and resistance; and even if he had yielded, being overpowered, this would have been the consequence, that he should have been abused even unto death, as his wife was:

and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead;
or "afflicted", or "humbled" ^F4 her; which is a modest expression for carnal knowledge of her, and which they had to such excess that she died through it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (wne) "afflixerunt", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.

Judges 20:5 In-Context

3 (Word soon reached the land of Benjamin that the other tribes had gone up to Mizpah.) The Israelites then asked how this terrible crime had happened.

4 The Levite, the husband of the woman who had been murdered, said, “My concubine and I came to spend the night in Gibeah, a town that belongs to the people of Benjamin.

5 That night some of the leading citizens of Gibeah surrounded the house, planning to kill me, and they raped my concubine until she was dead.

6 So I cut her body into twelve pieces and sent the pieces throughout the territory assigned to Israel, for these men have committed a terrible and shameful crime.

7 Now then, all of you—the entire community of Israel—must decide here and now what should be done about this!”