Judges 19:29

Hebrew Bible

27 When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went outside to start on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, sprawled out on the doorstep of the house with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up, let’s leave.” But there was no response. He put her on the donkey and went home. 29 When he got home, he took a knife, grasped his concubine, and carved her up into twelve pieces. Then he sent the pieces throughout Israel. 30 Everyone who saw the sight said, “Nothing like this has happened or been witnessed during the entire time since the Israelites left the land of Egypt! Take careful note of it! Discuss it and speak!”

1 Samuel 11:7

Hebrew Bible

5 Now Saul was walking behind the oxen as he came from the field. Saul asked, “What has happened to the people? Why are they weeping?” So they told him about the men of Jabesh. 6 The Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and he became very angry. 7 He took a pair of oxen and cut them up. Then he sent the pieces throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, who said, “Whoever does not go out after Saul and after Samuel should expect this to be done to his oxen!” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they went out as one army. 8 When Saul counted them at Bezek, the Israelites were 300,000 strong and the men of Judah numbered 30,000. 9 They said to the messengers who had come, “Here’s what you should say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: ‘Tomorrow deliverance will come to you when the sun is fully up.’” When the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh Gilead, they were happy.

 Notes and References

"... Most commentators interpret Judges 19:29 as an intertextual allusion to 1 Samuel 11:7 ... I agree that Judges 19:29 is an intertextual allusion to 1 Samuel 11:7. However, the question then arises whether this allusion was part of N or interpolated into the text by a later redaction. For the reasons discussed above, it is my position that 19:29 is a redactional interpolation intended to fill in a thematic gap in N between 19:28b and 19:29b ... If the hypothesis that 19:29a is a redactional interpolation is correct, 19:29b (And he sent her into all the territory of Israel) would have followed directly after “And the man rose up. And he went to his place” in 19:28b. The possibility should be considered that a redactor added one consonant to one word in 19:29b to change its meaning ..."

Krisel, William Judges 19-21 and the “Othering” of Benjamin: A Golah Polemic against the Autochthonous Inhabitants of the Land? (p. 276) Brill, 2022

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