Judges 19:6
And they sat down, and did eat and drink both of them together: for the damsel’s father had said unto the man, Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thine heart be merry. And they sat down, and did eat and drink both of them together: for the damsel’s father had said unto the man, Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thine heart be merry.
The verse pictures the Levite and his father-in-law seated together eating and drinking, while the father presses the man to be content, to tarry all night, and to let his heart be merry. Though it stands near the end of Judges, it belongs with chapters 17-21, which record events from the early part of the period of the judges rather than the end, the main sequential story ending at chapter 16. Those closing chapters record internal strife, ruffianism, and bloodshed. More specifically, the verse belongs to the account of the crime at Gibeah, which records the people's fearful wrongdoing and the tribe of Benjamin's identification with it.
The events of the chapter reveal a condition of gross immorality scarcely exceeded by Sodom. The verse is part of the record of Israel's backsliding, illustrating the evils that follow when people do what is right in their own eyes.
That backsliding led to disgrace and punishment, showing that backsliding does not mean sin can be done without punishment and that sin was never excused. The hospitality shown to the man is part of a story in which conventional hospitality was valued above a woman's virtue.