Judges 19:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Judges 19:11
And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.
(concretely) a boy (as active) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
said
וַיֹּ֨אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
master
אֲדֹנָ֗יו'a.do.Nav
H113
sovereign · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Come
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
in
וְנָס֛וּרָהve.na.Su.rah
H5493
to turn off (literal or figurative) · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common plural
city
עִֽיר'ir-
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · noun, common feminine singular construct
Jebusites
הַיְבוּסִ֥יhay.vu.Si
H2983
a Jebusite or inhabitant of Jebus · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
lodge
וְנָלִ֥יןve.na.Lin
H3885
to stop (usually over night) · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 10:16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
Joshua 15:63 As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the children…
Judges 1:21 And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin…
Judges 19:10 But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with hi…
2 Samuel 5:6 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Judges 19:1-15
The domestic affairs of this Levite would not have been related thus largely but to make way for the following story of the injuries done him, in which the whole nation interested themselves. Bishop Hall's first remark upon this story is, That there is no complain of a public ordered state but there is a Levite at one end of it, either as an agent or as a patient. In Micah's idolatry a Levite was active; in the wickedness of Gibeah a Levite was passive; no tribe shall sooner feel the want of government than that of Levi; and, in all the book of Judges, no mention is made of any of that tribe, but of these two. This Levite was of Mount Ephraim, Jdg 19:1. He married a wife of Bethlehem-Judah.…
the man . . . departed, and came over against Jebus--The note, "which is Jerusalem," must have been inserted by Ezra or some later hand. Jebus being still, though not entirely (Jdg 1:8) in the possession of the old inhabitants, the Levite resisted the advice of his attendant to enter it and determined rather to press forward to pass the night in Gibeah, which he knew was occupied by Israelites. The distance from Beth-lehem to Jerusalem is about six miles. The event showed that it would have been better to have followed the advice of his attendant--to have trusted themselves among aliens than among their own countrymen.
John Gill on Judges 19:11
And when they were by Jebus the day was far spent,.... Or "was gone down very much" (q), the sun was going down apace, and near setting:
and the servant said unto his master, come, I pray thee: he proposed it to him in a submissive manner, and might use some entreaty for his master's good and safety:
and let us turn in unto this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it; for though that part of the city which belonged to the tribe of Judah was taken by them after the death of Joshua, yet that which belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, part of it was still possessed by the Jebusites, whom the Benjamites could not expel, Judges 1:21 and Ben Gersom thinks, that this affair of this Levite, and his…
When some little progress was made, though night was threatening to come on, and they were close by the town of the Jebusites, on the slave's request that his lord should turn aside there, he refused, because it was not a city of the children of Israel. He meant to get as far as Gibeah, which was inhabited by the people of the tribe of Benjamin.
He set out on his journey in happy spirits because he had recovered his dearly beloved wife. One servant was with him, and as day was already declining they sped on their way with swift steps. The woman rode on an ass; her husband felt no weariness, taking joy in his desire and lightening his journey with talk at times with the woman, at times with the slave. When at length they neared Jerusalem, about thirty stades away, a place inhabited then by Jebusites, the servant boy suggested that they turn into the city, especially since night makes even safe places suspect and one must guard against the uncertainties of darkness, and particularly since the inhabitants of this locality were not of the children of Israel. They should beware lest treachery be done with hostile design, for the night's darkness is opportune enough for any tricksters to perpetrate evil. But his master did not care for the servant's idea of seeking lodging among foreigners, since Gaba [Gibeah] and Rama, cities of Benjamin, were not far distant. His strong will overrode the servant's suggestion, as though advice takes its value from one's condition [of birth] rather than that through advice a lowly condition may be raised. The sun was now setting and he agreed reluctantly to go into the city [Gibeah], for he was overtaken by evening.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Benjamin, The Tribe Of — The contrast between the warlike character of the tribe and the peaceful image of its progenitor comes out in many scattered notices. Benjamin was the only tribe which seems to have pursued archery…
Gibeah — A hill or hill-town, “of Benjamin” (1 Sam. 13:15), better known as “Gibeah of Saul” (11:4; Isa. 10:29). It was here that the terrible outrage was committed on the Levite’s concubine which led to the…
Jebus — Trodden hard, or fastness, or “the waterless hill”, the name of the Canaanitish city which stood on Mount Zion (Josh. 15:8; 18:16, 28). It is identified with Jerusalem (q.v.) in Judg. 19:10, and with…
Micah — A shortened form of Micaiah, who is like Jehovah? (1.) A man of Mount Ephraim, whose history so far is introduced in Judg. 17, apparently for the purpose of leading to an account of the settlement of…
Wolf — Heb. zeeb, frequently referred to in Scripture as an emblem of treachery and cruelty. Jacob’s prophecy, “Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf” (Gen. 49:27), represents the warlike character of that tribe…
Jerusalem · The Jebusites: Formerly dwelt in — The Jebusites: Formerly dwelt in
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Judges 19:11-13
But as the day had gone far down when they were by Jebus (רד, third pers. perf., either of ירד with י dropped like תּתּה in Sa2 22:41 for נתתּה, or from רדד in the sense of ירד), the attendant said to his master, "Come, let us turn aside into this Jebusite city, and pass the night in it." But his master was unwilling to enter a city of the foreigners (נכרי( sre is a genitive), where there were none of the sons of Israel, and would pass over to Gibeah. "Come (לך = לכה, Num 23:13), we will draw near to one of the places (which he immediately names), and pass the night in Gibeah or Ramah." These two towns, the present Jeba and er Rm, were not a full hour's journey apart, and stood opposite to o…
Has waned. The sun [has waned] from full strength, and has begun setting.
It is the time of day for encamping. The time when all travellers turn in to encamp indoors.
