And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street.
The old man greeted the Levite traveler with a blessing of peace, took responsibility for supplying all his needs, and pressed him not to spend the night in the open street. That welcome belonged to the account of Israel's moral disorder when everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The next verse shows the guests were given water and washed their own feet, which means customary hospitality was to furnish water for guests to wash themselves, not for the host to wash their feet.
The verse stands in Judges 17-21, which record events from the early part of the history of the judges out of chronological order, while the main narrative of the book ends with chapter 16. Judges 19:1-21 belongs to those closing chapters, whose record is one of internecine strife, ruffianism, and bloodshed, so the verse sits within that account of violence and disorder. It belongs to the account of the crime at Gibeah, which sets the people's fearful backsliding alongside God's mercy and goodness. It belongs to a record in which conventional hospitality was valued above a woman's virtue, and that social custom does not excuse sin.
The old man greeted the Levite traveler with a blessing of peace, took responsibility for supplying all his needs, and pressed him not to spend the night in the open street. That welcome belonged to the account of Israel's moral disorder when everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The next verse shows the guests were given water and washed their own feet, which means customary hospitality was to furnish water for guests to wash themselves, not for the host to wash their feet.
The verse stands in Judges 17-21, which record events from the early part of the history of the judges out of chronological order, while the main narrative of the book ends with chapter 16. Judges 19:1-21 belongs to those closing chapters, whose record is one of internecine strife, ruffianism, and bloodshed, so the verse sits within that account of violence and disorder. It belongs to the account of the crime at Gibeah, which sets the people's fearful backsliding alongside God's mercy and goodness. It belongs to a record in which conventional hospitality was valued above a woman's virtue, and that social custom does not excuse sin.