שופטים, פרק י״ט, פסוק ט״ו

Arriving in a new city at nightfall should bring the comfort of shelter, but the reality faced in Gibeah reveals a deep moral rot. The travelers sit down in the city's central hub, understood either as a bustling market filled with people [מצודת ציון] or the main public plaza [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Despite resting in a crowded, public space, they are completely ignored. No one offers to bring them indoors, an act of hospitality compared to carefully gathering grain from an open field into the safety of a home [מצודת ציון].

This glaring lack of basic kindness exposes the cruel nature of the city's inhabitants, who belong to the Tribe of Benjamin. The cold indifference of the locals is broken only by an outsider. An old man originally from Mount Ephraim, who merely resides in the city, is the only person who finally offers the travelers a place to stay [רלב״ג].

This apathy in the street is just the beginning of a brutal ordeal. Later that night, the local men demand that the host hand over the Levite to be sexually assaulted. In a desperate bid to save himself, the Levite forces his concubine outside. Because of her great beauty, the mob accepts her in place of the Levite and the host's virgin daughter. The men of the city abuse her relentlessly throughout the night until she collapses and dies of exhaustion at the doorstep.

The horror of the night leaves the Levite deeply shaken. It drives him to the extreme act of dividing her body into pieces and sending them to the twelve tribes of Israel. His intention is to shock the entire nation into taking up arms against the Tribe of Benjamin, the source of this terrible evil [רלב״ג].