The Word of the LORD by the Prophet, Hosea: “The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand [see The Day of Reckoning 6/6/21]. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim; yet, snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God. They are sunk deep into corruption, as in the Days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins” (Hosea 9:7-9 NIV).

From Land of Promise, Chapter 8, Gibeah: Redemption, Forgiveness, and the Love of God

Gibeah (a Hill) in Benjamin, how your tragic story does unfold before us with sorrow and pain. The wickedness and shame in your streets wrought by the “sons of Belial” (Judges 19:22) will live in infamy for which judgment and wrath have come.

The Levite, the Concubine and the Old Man of Mount Ephraim

Oh, Gibeah, what harm you did the man of God, the Levite from Mount Ephraim when he came to you from Bethlehem. Forsaking to lodge in Jebus, City of the Jebusites, seeking rather to find lodging among his brethren on his journey home; the man of God came to you, Gibeah, with his concubine and servant on that fateful night (Judges 19:1-30). And when an old man from Mount Ephraim came to him in the square and inquired of him, for no man gave him lodging, the old man welcomed him in peace (Judges 19:20); and gave him “provender for the donkeys, washed their feet, and did eat and drink” together.

But the evil men of your city, Gibeah, have come to the house to do much harm. Gibeah, the “sons of Belial” have rejected the pleas for mercy from the old man, the “master of the house” when he “went out to them, and said unto them, ‘Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly’. . .but the men would not hearken to him” (Judges 19:23,25a).

Now, Gibeah, these evil men have wrought wickedness in the Land by their vile and murderous acts upon the Levite’s concubine. Gibeah, this sin and reproach to the man of God shall be avenged by all the Tribes who shall rise up as one man to pour out retribution upon you and purge the Land from your uncleanness (cp. Judges 20:8-9).

The Prophet Cries Out for Judgment

Oh, how the Prophet, Hosea, did cry against you in his day when he pronounced judgment on Israel for their corruption, saying “as in the days of Gibeah; therefore, He will remember their iniquity, He will visit their sins” (Hosea 9:9). And proclaiming further “O Israel, thou has sinned from the days of Gibeah. . .” (Hosea 10:9). Yes, Gibeah the prophets remember by the mouth of the LORD and proclaim judgment on all unrighteousness of ungodly men.

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