Judges 20:5
And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead.
The events of chapters 17-21, including this account, occurred early in the history of the judges. Gibeah means "high." It lies past Mizpeh toward Jerusalem within an hour's walk of Jerusalem and a little more than a mile from Nob, 2,690 feet above the sea and about 200 feet higher than Jerusalem, commanding a fine view even beyond the Dead Sea far into the mountains of Moab.
The verse recounts the crime of the people of Gibeah in the disgraceful murder of the Levite's concubine. The whole tribe of Benjamin identified itself with that crime. The outrage nearly resulted in the extermination of the tribe of Benjamin.
The verse belongs to the closing record of Judges that shows Israel's backsliding and the low state into which Israel had fallen before the call of Samuel the prophet. That backsliding was followed by disgrace and punishment. The episode shows hospitality being valued above a woman's virtue and tribal loyalty above justice, though neither custom excuses sin. That low condition stands in mighty contrast to the miracles and teaching of Jesus recorded in Luke 4-7, yet both speak of the goodness and mercy of God.