But the man would not tarry the night; and he rose up and departed, and came opposite to Jebus, that is, Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, and his concubine was with him.
A Levite has spent five days in his father-in-law's house at Bethlehem, and now he refuses one more night. Commentators read that late start as the hinge of the whole story — the move of a man who never asked God.
One writer sets the Levite beside Abraham's servant, then counts off the days he gave away:
When Abraham's servant went to find a wife for Isaac (Gen. 24:55-56), he refused to be held back. But this Levite stayed the three days, and planned to leave early on the fourth day. Then the woman's father urged him to stay another day (v. 7), and he gave in. Then on the fifth day, instead of leaving early, he gave in to the urging to remain till afternoon! Again the woman's father urged him to stay overnight and go the next morning (v. 9). But he felt, evidently, that he had given in too much already, and they started their journey late in the day (v. 10). This wavering indecision is a sad comment on the character of the Levite, one who had the place of the Lord's servant!
His refusal comes too late. He is a man steered by other people, and one writer names what he was missing:
The Levite let himself be delayed on his journey. Having only his conscience, instead of God, as his guide, he yielded to the influence of others, missed his opportunity, and fell into evil.
The same writer sets this Levite at the end of a descending line. Levites were the tribe set apart for the service of God's house:
Samson, the last of the Judges, still called on Jehovah at certain memorable moments of his life. The Levite of Judah only called on Him over the head of his images and household gods. The Levite of Ephraim, whose history we are about to consider, did not, alas, call on Him at all. As far as he was concerned, it was as if Jehovah no longer existed. And yet this man belonged to a class set apart for the service of Jehovah, for the priesthood, and for the house of God.
The verse stops to explain the name: Jebus is Jerusalem. One writer reads the couple, the feasting, the late hour and the foreign city as a single moral picture. That city turns out to be no worse than the Israelite town up the road:
The Levite and his concubine are clearly meant to show us the general laxity. The woman is hardly lighter than the man. The five days of eating and drinking at Bethlehem have their moral significance. Then came the departure, when it was too late. Then the notice of Jerusalem as a Jebusite city… It is now a city of the stranger, but no more strange than Gibeah of Benjamin, with its ominous lack of ordinary hospitality.
Another writer traces that Canaanite name back to Benjamin's own weakness:
But though Judah had clearly weakened, Benjamin was already weaker still. Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem, so they remained among Benjamin in the same city (Judges 1:21). In fact, it seems clear that the Jebusites controlled the city until David and his men drove them out years later (2 Sam. 5:5-9).
The chapter ends in an atrocity. One writer warns against skipping the ordinary-looking verses that lead up to it:
But note carefully the matters that led up to the awful event. These are the things that show the careless, unprofitable state of soul that marked the whole nation… Evil had been allowed to creep in gradually, unchallenged, and senses had become dulled to it. Then came a sudden, shocking exposure, and we learn the real results of the laxity that leaves the roots of evil unjudged.
- Delay. Five days of eating and drinking in Bethlehem ended in a departure made too late in the day.
- Drift. His own conscience guided him, not God. So he gave way to whoever pressed him hardest.
- Silence. He was set apart for the service of God's house, yet he never calls on the Lord.
- Jebus. The name records an old failure. Benjamin left the Jebusites in place, and they held the city until David took it.
- Exposure. The small, careless things before the horror reveal the nation's state. Evil left unchallenged breaks into the open.
They were near Jebus, and the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.
The light is fading as the Levite and his party reach Jebus, the city later called Jerusalem, still held by the Canaanite Jebusites. His servant wants to stop there for the night, and what is decided in that moment sends them on to Gibeah instead.
The daylight was gone because the Levite had spent it elsewhere. One writer traces the string of small surrenders that left him on the road at dusk:
The young woman had agreed to return with the Levite to his home, but her father kept him there for three days of social enjoyment. When Abraham's servant went to find a wife for Isaac, he would not let anyone delay him. But this Levite stayed the three days and planned to leave early on the fourth. Then his father-in-law urged him to stay another day, and he gave in. On the fifth day, instead of leaving early, he gave in again and stayed until the afternoon! ... He seems to have felt he had already given in too much, and they set out late in the day. This wavering indecision is a sad comment on the Levite. He held the place of the Lord's servant!
One commentator traces the drift back to its root:
The Levite let himself be delayed on his way. Having only his conscience, instead of God, as his guide, he gave way to the influence of others, missed his opportunity, and fell into evil.
The failing light matches the hour the nation itself had reached:
His concubine leaves him and goes back to her father's house. He goes to get her, and gives himself up to feasting, day after day eating and drinking. Then, as the evening shadows begin to fall, he leaves suddenly, as if on a whim, to return to his own place — his place of service, it seems. It was evening indeed — for her, for him, and for the nation too. Evening was closing in.
The text calls the place "Jebus," not Jerusalem — and that name is itself an accusation against the tribe in whose land it stood:
He comes to Jebus. Why is it not Jerusalem, a city of Israel, in the possession of God's people? Benjamin had failed. It was a Benjamite city. As we saw in the early part of the book, Benjamin never took possession of it. And yet Jerusalem was to be the very centre from which all government was to radiate. Benjamin was also the tribe that would later represent Christ in His kingly rule over the people, and over the nations too. Government has failed, and Benjamin pictures that. Christ's authority has not been acknowledged. In the place where Benjamin should have been supreme, you have the wretched Gentile in control. The Jebusites, the tramplers down, were there trampling down everything of God and man. But sadly, the Jebusites were in Benjamin too, and their trampling was worse than anything in this city.
The Levite would not spend the night among outsiders. One commentator sets that refusal beside the Levite's own private life:
This man, who had joined himself to a prostitute, would not turn in to the Jebusites. It is sometimes like this with Christians. They shrink from open association with the world, while at the same time the hidden springs of their own lives are impure. It is possible to be very strict about your public walk and yet very lax about personal holiness... The Levite was more attached to his people than to Jehovah — or rather, he did not take Jehovah into account at all. He avoided the Jebusites out of national pride rather than piety, and seemed to suggest that whatever came from Israel must be all right, when Israel had already outrageously abandoned Jehovah.
His caution about the Canaanite city was wasted. Gibeah, chosen because it belonged to Israel, could not even manage ordinary decency:
Jerusalem is mentioned here as a Jebusite city. Israel seems to have held it twice and lost it again, with Judeans and Benjamites driven out of their partial hold on it. It is now a city of strangers — but no more strange than Gibeah of Benjamin, with its ominous lack of ordinary hospitality. The one who finally takes them in is an Ephraimite, touched perhaps by recognising someone from his own district. The traveller is afraid, as well he might be, of the Canaanite city.
- Delay. Days of feasting and repeated giving-in put the Levite on the road at dusk. The chapter's crisis begins with wasted daylight, not with the men of Gibeah.
- Drift. His guide was his own conscience, not God. So he gave way to others, missed his opportunity, and fell into evil.
- Darkness. The closing in of evening pictures the hour the nation itself had reached — for her, for him, and for Israel.
- Defeat. The city is called Jebus because Benjamin never took it. The tribe that pictured Christ's rule had left outsiders holding the place meant to be the centre of government.
- Deception. He refused a Gentile city while his own private life stayed impure: strict in public, lax about personal holiness. The Israelite town he chose proved worse than the one he feared.