Jud 19:1-15. A LEVITE GOING TO BETHLEHEM TO FETCH HIS WIFE.
1. it came to pass in those days--The painfully interesting episode
that follows, together with the intestine commotion the report of it
produced throughout the country, belongs to the same early period of
anarchy and prevailing disorder.
a certain Levite . . . took to him a concubine--The priests under
the Mosaic law enjoyed the privilege of marrying as well as other
classes of the people. It was no disreputable connection this Levite
had formed; for a nuptial engagement with a concubine wife (though, as
wanting in some outward ceremonies, it was reckoned a secondary or
inferior relationship) possessed the true essence of marriage; it was
not only lawful, but sanctioned by the example of many good men.
JFB.
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