Judges 19:14

Study note

Setting — The narrative tracks the Levite and his companions as they press onward after declining to lodge in Jebus. They are approaching Gibeah of Benjamin at the close of day, following the Levite’s earlier suggestion to seek shelter in a Benjaminite town.

The words — The Hebrew phrase וַתּבֹא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ אֵצֶל (va-tavo ha-shemesh etzel) literally renders "and the sun went beside." This temporal marker establishes the closing of daylight hours as the group arrives at their destination.

The thread — The motif of traveling until sunset appears in Genesis 24:11 and Genesis 28:11, where patriarchal figures pause their journeys as darkness approaches. The specific location, Gibeah of Benjamin, recurs throughout 1 Samuel as Saul’s hometown and later in 2 Samuel 21:6 as a site of political tension.

Why it lands — The verse establishes a deadline for hospitality by marking the end of the travel day. It forces the reader to recognize that the subsequent rejection in Gibeah occurs not by accident but after the group has deliberately delayed reaching shelter.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.