ONE MORE DIFFERENT JUDGE

I know many of my Christian friends in this country are determined that a woman's place s in the home and there is a way women are to be because that is the way the Bible portrays them and that is what Paul required of them.  And any woman who isn't in her "place" is obviously the cause of all the trouble and can even be called a Jezebel despite her lack of sexual exploits.

The Bible overall however sees women in a different light.

Jg 4:1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord when Ehud was dead.
 2 And the Lord gave them up into the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan, who was ruling in Hazor; the captain of his army was Sisera, who was living in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
 3 Then the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord; for he had nine hundred iron war-carriages, and for twenty years he was very cruel to the children of Israel.
 4 Now Deborah, a woman prophet, the wife of Lapidoth, was judge of Israel at that time.
 5 (And she had her seat under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her to be judged.)
 6 And she sent for Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, given orders saying, Go and get your force into line in Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
 7 And I will make Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his war-carriages and his forces, come against you at the river Kishon, where I will give him into your hands.
 8 And Barak said to her, If you will go with me then I will go; but if you will not go with me I will not go.
 9 And she said, I will certainly go with you: though you will get no honour in your undertaking, for the Lord will give Sisera into the hands of a woman. So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
 10 Then Barak sent for Zebulun and Naphtali to come to Kedesh; and ten thousand men went up after him, and Deborah went up with him.
 11 Now Heber the Kenite, separating himself from the rest of the Kenites, from the children of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses, had put up his tent as far away as the oak-tree in Zaanannim, by Kedesh.
 12 And word was given to Sisera that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up to Mount Tabor.
 13 So Sisera got together all his war-carriages, nine hundred war-carriages of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles as far as the river Kishon.
 14 Then Deborah said to Barak, Up! for today the Lord has given Sisera into your hands: has not the Lord gone out before you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor and ten thousand men after him.
 15 And the Lord sent fear on Sisera and all his war-carriages and all his army before Barak; and Sisera got down from his war-carriage and went in flight on foot.
 16 But Barak went after the war-carriages and the army as far as Harosheth of the Gentiles; and all Sisera's army was put to the sword; not a man got away.
 17 But Sisera went in flight on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin, king of Hazor, and the family of Heber the Kenite.
 18 And Jael went out to Sisera, and said to him, Come in, my lord, come in to me without fear. So he went into her tent, and she put a cover over him.
 19 Then he said to her, Give me now a little water, for I have need of a drink. And opening a skin of milk, she gave him drink, and put the cover over him again.
 20 And he said to her, Take your place at the door of the tent, and if anyone comes and says to you, Is there any man here, say, No.
 21 Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a tent-pin and a hammer and went up to him quietly, driving the pin into his head, and it went through his head into the earth, for he was in a deep sleep from weariness; and so he came to his end.
 22 Then Jael went out, and meeting Barak going after Sisera, said to him, Come, and I will let you see the man you are searching for. So he came into her tent and saw, and there was Sisera stretched out dead with the tent-pin in his head.
 23 So that day God overcame Jabin, king of Canaan, before the children of Israel.
 24 And the power of the children of Israel went on increasing against Jabin, king of Canaan, till he was cut off.
 (BBE)





Thomas Scott:


Verse 4. Deborah, notwithstanding her extraordinary call to judge Israel, could not personally undertake those military expeditions which generally distinguished these deliverers; but she used her authority to repress iniquity, to reform religion, and to execute impartial justice to the people.—She is called “the wife of Lapidoth;” but the termination of the word is the feminine of the plural, and seldom used for the names of men. Some have therefore supposed it to be the name of the town in which she dwelt (the woman of Lapidoth); others refer it, according to the signification of the original word, either to her occupation, as making lamps; or to the inspiration of the Almighty; translating it “a woman of illuminations;” and others understand it as meaning, that she was an illustrious woman, and a light in Israel. Yet our rendering is most natural. ( Note, 2Ki 22:14.)


 4 Now Deborah, a woman prophet, the wife of Lapidoth, was judge of Israel at that time.
 5 (And she had her seat under the palm-tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in the hill-country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her to be judged.)


No "prophetess".  Prophet seems to be a unisex (Is that word totally passe yet?) term in the Bible.

Acts 21:7 And journeying by ship from Tyre we came to Ptolemais; and there we had talk with the brothers and were with them for one day.
 8 And on the day after, we went away and came to Caesarea, where we were guests in the house of Philip, the preacher, who was one of the seven.
 9 And he had four daughters, virgins, who were prophets.
 10 And while we were waiting there for some days, a certain prophet, named Agabus, came down from Judaea.
 (BBE)

Same word for both the man and the women in the NT also.

I read a lot of modern analysis of Deb's story and several felt the need to call her a prophetess.  Seems modern prejudices supercede the wording of the text.

Deb is not described any more than the men are described.  No mention of her Barbie anatomy or her wardrobe or her line of cosmetics or her rock star husband.  In fact, her husband seems to be the city. She would be committed to that area, involved with it intimately, tied to it as a mate seemingly if the language fits.  Maybe even a precursor of the notion that we are all married to Christ


MY old buddy Matt again:


The year of the redeemed at length came, when Israel was to be delivered out of the hands of Jabin, and restored again to their liberty, which we may suppose the northern tribes, that lay nearest to the oppressors and felt most the effects of his fury, did in a particular manner cry to God for.  For the oppression of the poor, and the sighing of the needy, now will God arise Now here we have, 

 I. The preparation of the people for their deliverance, by the prophetic conduct and government of Deborah, Jg 4:4-5. Her name signifies a bee; and she answered her name by her industry, sagacity, and great usefulness to the public, her sweetness to her friends and sharpness to her enemies. She is said to be the wife of Lapidoth; but, the termination not being commonly found in the name of a man, some make this the name of a place: she was a woman of Lapidoth. Others take it appellatively, Lapidoth signifies lamps. The Rabbin say she had employed herself in making wicks for the lamps of the tabernacle; and, having stooped to that mean office for God, she was afterwards thus preferred. Or she was a woman of illuminations, or of splendours, one that was extraordinarily knowing and wise, and so came to be very eminent and illustrious. Concerning her we are here told, 

1. That she was intimately acquainted with God; she was a prophetess, one that was instructed in divine knowledge by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God, and had gifts of wisdom, to which she attained not in an ordinary way: she heard the words of God, and probably saw the visions of the Almighty. 

2. That she was entirely devoted to the service of Israel. She judged Israel at the time that Jabin oppressed them; and perhaps, being a woman, she was the more easily permitted by the oppressor to do it. She judged, not as a princess, by an civil authority conferred upon her, but as a prophetess, and as God's mouth to them, correcting abuses and redressing grievances, especially those which related to the worship of God. The children of Israel came up to her from all parts for judgment, not so much for the deciding of controversies between man and man as for advice in the reformation of what was amiss in things pertaining to God. Those among them who before had secretly lamented the impieties and idolatries of their neighbours, but knew not where to apply for the restraining of them, now made their complaints to Deborah, who, by the sword of the Spirit, showing them the judgment of God, reduced and reclaimed many, and excited and animated the magistrates in their respective districts to put the laws in execution. It is said she dwelt, or, as some read it, she sat under a palm-tree, called ever after from her the palm-tree of Deborah. Either she had her house under that tree, a mean habitation which would couch under a tree, or she had her judgment seat in the open air, under the shadow of that tree, which was an emblem of the justice she sat there to administer, which will thrive and grow against opposition, as palms under pressures. Josephus says that the children of Israel came to Deborah, to desire her to pray to God for them, that they might be delivered out of the hand of Jabin; and Samuel is said at one particular time to judge Israel in Mizpeh, that is, to bring them back again to God, when they made the same address to him upon a like occasion, 1Sa 7:6,8. 


Deb is a judge and she calls out a warrior.



6 And she sent for Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, given orders saying, Go and get your force into line in Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
 7 And I will make Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his war-carriages and his forces, come against you at the river Kishon, where I will give him into your hands.
 8 And Barak said to her, If you will go with me then I will go; but if you will not go with me I will not go.


"Didn't God give you orders to go attack someone?  Didn't He promise victory?"

As Kris Kristofferson once said in "To Beat The Devil", "You been readin' my mail?"

Barak seems to lack a little courage.  He will fight if she goes with him?  He may simply have wanted assurance that God was with him by keeping the woman of God with him. But the conversation stirs memory of another famous woman in the Bible.

Ruth 1:16 But Ruth said, Give up requesting me to go away from you, or to go back without you: for where you go I will go; and where you take your rest I will take my rest; your people will be my people, and your God my God.
 (BBE)

And almost the opposite of  Isaiah:

Isa 6:8 And the voice of the Lord came to my ears, saying, Whom am I to send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me.
 (BBE)

But perhaps more like Moses:

 Ex 33:13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
 14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
 15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
 16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
 (KJV)

Notice she will go with him.  Never a question about her willingness OR ability.  Nothing lingering there about a woman in battle.  Modern Israel has had women in its army from the beginning. One strikingly beautiful Israeli woman who was in their army for a while will portray Wonder Woman. Just as Gal Gadot was an actual warrior,  Deborah is NO comic book myth.  Like ALL the true prophets, she gets her hands dirty in the service of God.

Henry's idea that she made wicks for the tabernacle was a "mean office" misses the simple fact that there is no mean office in God's service.  Paul and Priscilla and Aquila made tents to pay for his ministry.  Luke apparently practiced medicine during their journeys.  The earlier  Christian church had offices and devoted evangelists and apostles only because the "mean" laborers and the rich sold their properties and gave everything to the church.  Everyone pooled resources to spread the Word.  Rabbis were required to learn a trade to support themselves.  The subtle and blatant discrimination against the working class was echoed in the way the scholars marveled that Jesus fishermen followers knew Scriptures so well.  It continues to today when politicians use class prejudices to earn votes on the one hand and to get money from the rich on the other, often working to destroy public education so they can more easily dupe workers and help maintain the class divisions based kin money.  Old money always distrusts and loathes new money.   Whenever those divides in a society become too vast, that society becomes doomed.

Now understand, Barak had reason to be fearful. Sisera  had iron chariots, "war carriages" .

Weapons and Warfare in Ancient Israel

2002

By James Moyer, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Religious Studies, Southwest Missouri State University.

---

The book of Judges describes the period when the Israelites were settling into the Promised Land following the Exodus from Egypt. Because the conquest was not complete, warfare was frequent, and resulted in the hero stories preserved in Judges. These heroes were known as "judges", meaning, not people who decided court cases, but military leaders who delivered Israel from her enemies. What weapons did these heroes use, and what was their strategy in defeating their enemies?

The Bible does not usually give a detailed description of weapons or of military strategy. Yet we have a good knowledge of weapons from archaeological discoveries and drawings, paintings and reliefs.

Offensive weapons

Offensive weapons in use at this time can be divided into three categories according to their range. Short-range weapons were used in hand-to-hand combat and included the sword or dagger and the spear. Medium-range weapons were designed to be thrown at enemies a short distance away. Occasionally spears were light enough to be thrown, but the shorter and lighter javelin was better suited for throwing. Long-range weapons could be thrown or fired at an enemy further away. Examples of long-range weapons include the sling, used to hurl stones, and the bow, for propelling arrows.

Armour was used to protect the foot soldier’s body as far as possible. Armour included the helmet for the head, scale armour, coats of mail, the breastplate for the body and greaves to cover the shins. The foot soldier also carried a shield to cover any unprotected parts of his body. An armour-bearer or shield-bearer could also be employed to carry the soldier’s weapons and his shield.

With this information, we can discuss the weapons and warfare described in the book of Judges, where we read "...not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel" (Judges 5:8). Clearly weapons were in short supply, at least for the Israelites, an interpretation which is supported by the [above] lists of weapons mentioned in Judges.

These two lists of weapons reveal a striking contrast between Israel and her enemies. The Israelites used mostly "primitive" weapons, such as farm implements and household articles, and had few metal weapons. By contrast, their enemies possessed metal weapons, particularly iron weapons. Iron was much harder and more durable than bronze or copper, and its manufacture took greater technological skill than the Israelites possessed. The Iron Age commenced in Israel during the days of the judges...the Philistines already had something of a monopoly of iron metallurgy.... As long as the Philistines maintained this monopoly, Israel could not hope to dislodge them from the plain (Judges 1:19). On those occasions when the Israelites did prevail against their enemies, it was credited to divine help; some of their success must also have been the result of better strategy or tactics.

Iron chariots

Let us look first at the weapons of Israel’s enemies. We learn that the men of the tribe of Judah could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had iron chariots (Judges 1:19). Pulled by two horses, the chariot was in effect a moving platform for two or three soldiers. It was most valuable in making rapid flanking movements where the land was fairly flat and open. The coastal area was relatively level, while the hill-country inland featured steep slopes and deep valleys. In ancient times the hills were heavily forested and Israelite guerilla tactics proved successful in this territory. However, in the coastal plain the Canaanite and Philistine iron chariots proved to be the tanks of their period, racing across the flat country. But chariots were ineffective on wooded hills.

Since the Iron Age had just begun in Canaan, iron chariots would have been the latest and best military weapon. Some scholars believe the iron would have been used to make part of the wheels and fittings of the chariot, while others think there was an iron plate to reinforce the wooden body of the chariot. In either case, the iron would have been superior to bronze, and would have made the chariot more durable.

Since Israel did not obtain chariots until the time of the monarchy, they simply could not dislodge the people of the coastal plain. But in one instance there was a strikingly different result. Jabin and Sisera, from the stronghold of Hazor, had a massive force of 900 iron chariots (Judges 4, 5). But Deborah and Barak, the Israelite leaders, were successful against this superior force because God routed the enemy. There is also the implication that there was a late spring storm which turned the river Kishon into a raging torrent and rendered the iron chariots useless in the battle.

(The iron chariots have become a matter of discussion concerning contradictions of the Bible but that discussion is best handled here  http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=6&article=301)

De 17:14 When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;
 15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.
 16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.
 17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
 (KJV)

It was difficult, okay, impossible, to build a cavalry let alone a military of chariots without horses being multiplied.  God WANTED his people at a disadvantage so they would learn to trust him to carry the fight for them.  This helps explain even more why Barak wanted her with him.  

"I believe in God and since He's with YOU, why don't you come along, especially since you're sending me out there to maybe get killed."

Could be a matter of "Put up or shut up", too.

ALL the commentaries mention that Deb is considered the mother of her country.  Notice that the mother goes to war, fights beside the men and is God's voice in the whole affair.  We don't know if she ever had children of her own or if she had "the children of Israel" as her family.   

I will also state the obvious in this battle: heavy iron chariots going into a river area will be bogged down in marshy ground, and wouldn't be taken near the river itself.   Horses would be less able to build the speed needed to be an advantage in battle. could even be a disadvantage with the rider trying to concentrate on getting them maneuvered AND fight with a sword.  If it was spring "when kings go to war", the river would have been flowing heavy (indicated below in Judges 5) and the horse engaged in a torrent would have been no advantage in the water either.

But the simplest fact is likely truest: God put fear in the hearts of Sisera and his men and Sisera  fled on foot.  Perhaps the softness of the ground slowed their ability enough for fear to overcome them, And certainly the fact their leader had deserted them made the battle plan less likely to succeed.
  
The humorous part is that Deb warned Barak that his victory would be given to a woman.  She understood the insult to his pride, the lesser place women were in despite her own place in God's service, indicating their conversation must have been seen by him as confidential then.  Barak may have thought Deb would get to deliver a death thrust but instead a Kenite woman kills the leader with a tent peg.  This was a women with a strong arm, driving the long stake through his head.  

But the victory is not enough in itself.  

Jg 5:1 Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying,
 2 Praise the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.
 3 Hear, O, kings. Give ear, O, princes. I, even I, will sing to the LORD, I will sing to the LORD God of Israel.
 4 LORD, when You went out of Seir, when You marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.

(Again, the clue of the softened ground.  Sisera was so experienced with his chariots he must have seen the disadvantage and understood they would get killed trying to fight.  Of course, he got killed anyway, but...)

 5 The mountains quaked from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel.
 6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were empty, and the travelers walked through crooked ways.
 7 The leaders ceased in Israel, they ceased until I, Deborah, arose; until I arose, a mother in Israel.
 8 They chose new gods; then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
 9 My heart is toward the lawgivers of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the LORD.
 10 Speak, you who ride on white asses, you who sit in judgment and walk by the way.
 11 Louder than the voice of the dividers between the watering places, there shall they tell again the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous acts of His leaders in Israel. Then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.

(The watering places were where everyone gathered to share the news of the day and gossip, the Twitter and Facebook time, the coffee urn at coffee break.  And there was legitimate time to talk and share before the trip or the return to the flocks in the  fields.  The gossipers were then as now the dividers.  Rumors were blown out of proportion.  The critic became the lead talker; he helped divid followers, telling them every bad thing so he could look more important, like he had sources no one else knew and,of course, there was no way to fact check back then, but then listeners chose to hear what they wanted to support their prejudices rather than find out the truth.  How things have changed today with communication and the ability to discover in an instant if something is true or not.  Okay, end of sarcasm.)

 12 Awake, awake, Deborah. Awake, awake, sing a song. Arise, Barak, lead your captivity captive, son of Abinoam.
 13 Then He made me tread on the remnant of the nobles among the people. The LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.
 14 Out of Ephraim there was a root of them against Amalek; after you, Benjamin, with your peoples. Out of Machir came down commanders, and out of Zebulun came they who handle the pen of the writer.
 15 And the rulers of Issachar were with Deborah, even Issachar, and also Barak. He was sent on foot into the valley. There were great thoughts of heart for the divisions of Reuben.
 16 Why did you stay among the sheepfolds to hear the bleating of the flocks? For in the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
 17 Gilead stayed beyond Jordan. And why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the seashore and remained in his havens.
 18 Zebulun and Naphtali were a people who put their lives in danger of death in the high places of the field.

(They give all the credit to God.  REALLY.  They say they were not responsible for anything, even their own leadership.)

 19 Kings came and fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. They took no gain of silver.
 20 They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
 21 The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, you trampled in strength.

(Again, the river as the equalizer.)

 22 Then did the hooves of horses beat, from the galloping, the galloping of their mighty ones.
 23 Curse Meroz, said the Angel of the LORD; curse the people of it bitterly, because they did not come to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

(And Jesus gets his praise as well.  The Angel of the Lord shows up to curse the enemies of 
God. ) 

 24 Blessed among women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be. She shall be blessed above women in the tent.
 25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk. She brought forth butter in a lordly dish.
 26 She put her hand to the peg, and her right hand to the workman's hammer; she hammered Sisera; she smashed his head, she pierced and struck through his temple.
 27 He bowed between her feet, he fell, he lay down. Between her feet he bowed; he fell. Where he bowed, there he fell down dead.
 28 The mother of Sisera looked out a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariot wait?
 29 Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself,
 30 Do they not find and divide the spoil? A womb, two wombs to a man's head, to Sisera a prize of dyed garments, a prize of embroidered dyed garments for the necks of those that take the spoil.
 31 So let all Your enemies perish, O LORD. But let them that love Him be like the sun when He goes forth in His might. 

(Really, there should be another verse break here.  The song ended and the statement of the land at rest seems to not be in place here.  Just the writer in me. )

And the land had rest forty years.
 (MKJV)


Three judges.  Do you see the pattern yet?  God keeps hammering it home with the other judges.  He sends a nameless prophet and then Gideon, who is the least of the least tribe.  Then Johnathan the youngest of his family.  And Jephthah son of the son of a harlot, cast out by his half-brothers as Joseph had been, leader of "worthless men."

And Jephthah has a very familiar conversation by messengers:

Jg 11:12 And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, What have you to do with me, that you have come against me to fight in my land?
 13 And the king of the sons of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even to Jabbok, and to Jordan. Now therefore restore those lands peaceably.
 (MKJV)

That old saying about how the more things change the more they stay the same.

Then came Samson who you have likely heard of who could not seem to resist any woman, who lost his power but gained it back in time to fulfill his one mission: the destruction of the Philistines.
Then the country fell totally under the spell of Micah who worshipped false gods, who seduced a Levite to be his priest and then let the power of his idolatry seduce the Danites completely with false gods. And with the false gods the people deteriorate morally until inside Israel itself a Sodom event triggers civil war:

Jg 19:15 And they turned aside there, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah. And he went in and sat down in a street of the city. For no man took them into his house to stay the night.
 16 And behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at evening, who was also from mount Ephraim. And he lived in Gibeah, but the men of the place were of Benjamin.
 17 And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a traveler in the streets of the city. And the old man said, Where do you go, and where do you come from?
 18 And he said to him, We are passing from Bethlehem-judah to the side of mount Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem-judah, but I am going to the house of the LORD. And there is no man who receives me into his house.
 19 Yet here is both straw and food for our asses. And there is bread and wine also for me, and for your slave woman, and for the young man who is with your servants. There is no lack of anything.
 20 And the old man said, Peace be with you. Yet all that you lack shall be on me. Only do not stay in the street.
 21 And he brought him into his house and mixed fodder for the asses. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.
 22 They were making their hearts merry. And, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, set upon the house all around and beat at the door and spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring out the man that came to your house so that we may know him.
 23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, No, my brothers, I pray you, do not do evil, since this man has come into my house. Do not do this foolish sin.
 24 Behold, my daughter, a virgin, and his concubine. I will bring them out now, and you humble them and do with them what seems good to you. But do not do so vile a thing to this man.
 25 But the men would not listen to him. And the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And they knew her and rolled themselves on her all night until the morning. And they sent her away at the dawning of the day.
 26 And the woman came, in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, until it was light.
 27 And her lord rose up in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way. And behold, the woman, his concubine, had fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold.
 (MKJV)


Notice the woman, the concubine, is treated as garbage, a sexual toy to be passed around.  It is only her death and he following vivisection by her "master".  The atrocity incenses every man in  the land much more than the fact she was treated like a possession. Seems it takes that act of violence to awaken in the men their own sexual perversions and misdirections.


Jg 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 sons of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day. Think of it, take advice and speak.
 20:1 Then all the sons of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, to the LORD in Mizpeh.
 2 And the leader of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.
 3 And the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpeh. And the sons of Israel said, Speak. How did this evil happen?
 4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah of Benjamin to stay the night, my concubine and I.
 5 And the men of Gibeah rose against me and set upon the house all around me at night. They intended to kill me. And they raped my concubine, and she is dead.
 6 And I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the land of the inheritance of Israel. For they have committed evil and folly in Israel.
 7 Behold, you are all sons of Israel. Give here your advice and counsel.
 8 And all people rose as one man, saying, Let no man go to his tent, and do not let any of us turn to his house.
 9 And now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah, going against it by lot.
 10 and we will take ten men of a hundred of all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to bring food for the people, so that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may do according to all the folly which they have done in Israel.
 (MKJV)


 In the ensuing conflict over the events, the tribe of Benjamin was nearly destroyed but rescued by mercy and then they were given wives wrongly.  We see the error of men swearing a vow to God before they perceived the result of their vow: Israel in anger said none of the other tribes would give a wife to Benjamin and then, after the peace they see a tribe will be lost unless they give them wives so they set about to make it "right" by disobeying God and taking wives for them from the city wrapped in false gods and by telling the 400 warriors left to steal brides from those dancing at the festival at Shiloh.

It all ends with the sentence repeated over and over:

 Jg 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did the right in his own eyes.
 (MKJV)

Keep that in mind as we enter a brief look at the way the book precursors  the Church era and then move on to our Refreshed Flesh.