The Curious ending for Judges

What exactly is going on in the last chapters of Judges?

(I'll resist the temptation of derailing into the significance of the last verses of Chapter 18 where it says Moses' grandson lead the tribe of Dan into idolatry.)

The earlier chapters had a crisis, repentance and a leader rising up to rescue the people.

The last two chapters are dealing with something different:

One man ( a Levite from Ephriam) is seeking to be reconciled with his concubine (19:1) / wife (v. 3, 4). He seeks to win her back, speaking kindly to her. (v.3)

They were traveling home, and could have turned into Jebus (Jerusalem) but did not, since it was a town of foreigners. He instead chose to turn into the town of Gibeah. Why? Probably thinking he would receive better treatment among a fellow heir of Abraham, rather than a pagan city.

They were not warmly treated. Nobody offered to show hospitality to the stranger, until an old man of Ephraim took him in.

The leaders of the city demanded the Levite be given to them so that they may "know" him. That is to say, this was a repeat of the events at Sodom, only magnified in the fact that they were a covenant people, and more should be expected of them.

Long story shorter, the concubine ends up outside, and they vent their baser impulses with an energy and rage that only a mob mentality can generate and sustain. The woman is found dead at the very threshold of the door to the house where she went for safety.

I cannot condone the choices made here. I cannot even understand the mentality of turning this woman out of their protection and into their clutches. But they gang-raped that woman to death.

The Levite demands justice, cutting her into 12 parts, and using that as a summons to the rest of Israel to deal with this matter. I expand more on the ensuing bloodbath in a previous post.

Benjamin, in refusing recognize and denounce evil in its midst (these were Leaders, let's remember) became co-conspirators.

What I want to point out is how Chapters 19, 20, and 21 fit together. Each of them is compelling reading on its own, but taken together they tell a larger story.

1) Sin was found in the midst. (Chapter 19)
2) Sin was confronted (Chapter 20)
3) Those who remained were restored (Chapter 21)

This can be seen as an episode of the faithfulness of God.
Each of the tribes, including Benjamin, were heirs of the covenant. Just as Moses pled for the continuance of the Nation of Israel, as he begged God not to judge (utterly destroy) them, Israel grieved at the loss of the tribe of Benjamin. (21:3), and as surely as they rose up as a nation to purge sin from the midst, they rose up as a nation to effect the restoration of those who remained after the chastening.

This is a picture of how Christ commands his redeemed to shepherd the Church.
Where sin exists, it must be detected, defined, and denounced. It must not be embraced.
But, where repentance has come, they must be restored.

Such is the richness of the mercy of God.