The Period Of The Judges

 Chapter 88
Rape of the Concubine [Judges 19.22-19.26]

Scripture (KJV) Judges 19.22-26

The Gibeathites cause his concubine's death
22 Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.
23 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly.
24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing.
25 But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.
26 Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.

Commentary

22 Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.—Judges 19.22 (KJV) 
22 While they were enjoying themselves, a crowd of troublemakers from the town surrounded the house. They began beating at the door and shouting to the old man, “Bring out the man who is staying with you so we can have sex with him.”—Judges 19.22 (NLT)

Now as they were making their hearts merry (to be glad, be joyful)
Perhaps their hearts were made merry by the wine consumed during and after the meal or they were happy because they were talking about a subject that was dear to all of them; their country, family and friends. But there is nothing in this expression that implies any excessive drinking (see Ruth 3.7).

It is said they were making their hearts merry when trouble came upon them. If the mirth was innocent, we can still learn from it: (1) how easily we can lose all our creature comforts and enjoyments; (2) when we are very comfortable with our friends, we never know how near our enemies are; (3) even though all may be going well now, we never know if it be well with us in an hour; (4) If the merriment was sinful and excessive, let it be a warning to us to keep a strict guard upon ourselves, so that we don’t lose our self-control and allow ourselves to be transported into indecencies by our cheerfulness; since the end of that mirth is sorrow. God can quickly change the song of those that are making their hearts merry, and turn their laughter into mourning and their joy into sorrow.

This chapter contains an incident that reveals the great wickedness of the men of Gibeah. One could not imagine that such wickedness and immorality could ever enter into the heart of men that had the use of human reason, of Israelites that had the benefit of divine revelation.  “Lord, what is man!” said David, “what a mean creature is he!” “Lord, what is man,” may we say after reading this story, “what a vile creature he is, when he is abandoned by God and left to indulge his own heart’s lusts!”

Ruth 3:7 (NLT) After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he lay down at the far end of the pile of grain and went to sleep…

behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial,
The men of the city are referred to as sons of Belial (see Article 19.3), meaning worthless or ungodly men.

Article 19.3: Sons of Belial
(sons of Belial or children of Belial) Here “sons” means “members of a group” and “Belial” means “ungodly men”; hence sons of Belial refers to a “group of ungodly men”.  This is a phrase used to describe men who are believed to be very wicked, lawless, ungovernable, persons good for nothing to themselves or others, and capable of nothing but mischief, wicked and licentious men, men under the influence of Satan, and their own lusts. They are children of the devil (for he is Belial), resembling him, and joining with him in rebellion against God and his government. Sons of Benjamin, of whom Moses had said, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him (Deu. 33:12 ), have become such sons of Belial that an honest man cannot lodge in safety among them. The sufferers were a Levite and his wife, and that kind man that gave them entertainment. We are strangers upon earth, and must expect strange usage. sons of Belial—Deuteronomy 13:13; 1 Samuel 1:16; 2:12; 10:27; 25:25; 2 Samuel 23:6,7; 2 Corinthians 6:15

beset the house round about:
Today we would say “they surrounded the house,” so that nobody could escape, especially the Levite, his wife and concubine.

The narrative of the horrid outrage that was committed on this occasion; of the proposal of the old man; the unfeeling, careless, and in many respects, inexplicable conduct of the Levite towards his wife, disclose a state of morality that would have appeared incredible, if it did not rest on the testimony of the sacred historian. Both men ought to have protected the women in the house, even at the expense of their lives, or thrown themselves on God's mercy. It should be noted, however, that the guilt of such a foul outrage is not fastened on the general population of Gibeah.

and beat at the door;
Let’s see what the wickedness of these Benjamites was. First, they made a rude and insolent assault, in the night, upon the home of an honest man; a man that not only lived peaceably among them, but was known to be a “good” man by his neighbors and was a blessing and ornament to their city.

They surrounded the house, and, to the great terror of those within it, they beat as hard as they could on the door (which shows the fury of their lurid desire.); they were intent on gaining entrance to the house, either by those within opening the door to them, or by breaking the door down. The verb form of the term beat on the door indicates that there was an increasingly loud pounding on the door; this was in no way a polite or casual request. Their request is the same one made by the homosexuals who surrounded the house of Lot in Sodom (see Genesis 19:5); the picture is clear: Israel is as bad as Sodom and Gomorrah.

Gen 19:5 (KJV) And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. What depravity, the sin of Sodomy. The law would make it a capital offense, grouped with incest and bestiality (Lev 18:22; 20:13); and the New Testament is equally appalled at it (Rom 1:26–27; I Cor 6:9; I Tim 1:10). Romans reveals that this is the last stage in a society before it is destroyed.

and spake to the master of the house, the old man;
who, upon hearing all the noise and hollering, came to the door, to see what all the commotion was about. He may have asked, “Who is it, and what do you want:” to whom they replied, saying,

bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may know him;
The men who beat upon the door did not want to know what type of person he was, what country he came from, his profession, where he was going, and what business he had here; but they only wanted one thing. They wanted to have carnal knowledge of the young Levite in an unnatural way, or commit that sin with him which is commonly called sodomy; and the men of Sodom expressed their lust by the same word, (see Genesis 19:5, above).

They demanded that the man be brought out to them, so that they might know him, implying an intimate sexual relationship. These men were genuine practicing sodomites; sons of Belial, scoundrels and lowlifes of the most extreme sort; worse than monsters, being a compound of beast and devil that cannot be separated. There must have been a fearful absence of all law and order and government when such deeds could be done without any interference on the part of magistrate or elder or ruler of any kind. The singular resemblance of the whole narrative to that in Genesis 19, suggests that the Israelites by their contact with the accursed Canaanites had reduced themselves to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah. Surely this shows the wisdom of the command to totally destroy the workers of abomination.

There was hardly ever a more tragic episode than this. In this narrative the Lord has given us a picture of the true nature of the homosexual. He is an unqualified beast, willing to sacrifice any human being whomsoever upon the altar of his own selfish lust. We are astounded that some in our age are willing to apologize and even seek grounds of justification for this type of perversion! It has even been described as an ACCEPTABLE modern lifestyle. Ridiculous! The example before us occurred shortly after the conquest of Canaan in 1,400 B.C., and there was also the despicable example of the sodomites of Sodom and Gomorrah centuries earlier in the times of Abraham and Lot (Gen. 19).

The Holy Scriptures make it abundantly clear that the disapproval of God frowns upon all such activity, and an apostle has declared that unrepentant practitioners of this shameful vice (see 1 Corinthians 6:9-10) "shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

"The resemblance of this narrative to that of Gen. 19 suggests that the Israelites by their contact with the Canaanites had themselves been reduced to the level of the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah, and it shows the wisdom of God in commanding that such workers of abomination should have been destroyed. A society that is willing to put up with this type of immorality is placing a celestial order for its own destruction.
"The prophet Hosea (see Hosea 9:9) made allusion to `the days of Gibeah' as a time of notorious moral depravity in Israel, and he probably had in view the events of this chapter." My own view is that such a "probability" is in fact a CERTAINTY.

1 Cor 6:9-10 (NLT) Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.

Hosea 9:9 (KJV) They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.  

23 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly.—Judges 19.23 (KJV)
23 The old man stepped outside to talk to them. “No, my brothers, don’t do such an evil thing. For this man is a guest in my house, and such a thing would be shameful. —Judges 19.23 (NLT)

And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them
A man’s house is his castle, and when he is inside his house he ought to be both safe and peaceful; meaning that he doesn’t have anything to fear from those who live on the other side of his door. Where there are laws to shield a man and his possessions, he ought to be under the special protection of those laws. BUT there was no king in Israel; therefore, there was no  one to keep the peace and protect honest men from those that are dishonest and violent. Now, the men who beat upon the old man’s door had a particular spitefulness for the strangers that were within his gates. They had secret plans for these travelers, but first they would deny them a night’s lodging, which is contrary to the laws of hospitality, which all civilized nations have held to be sacred, and for which the master of the house pleaded with them: Seeing that this man has come into my house. Those are immoral and wretched spirits indeed that will trample upon the helpless, and hurt a man just because he is a stranger. They planned to abuse the Levite in the most filthy and detestable manner, whom perhaps they had observed to be young and handsome: Bring him forth that we may know him.
There may be some who read this commentary that have concluded that the men at the door wanted to know only where he came from, and what business he had in  their town. But the good man who owned the house, understood their meaning all too well, and by his answer lets us know that they planned for their gratification, one of the most unnatural and immoral lustful acts which was expressly forbidden by the law of Moses, and called an abomination (see Lev. 18:22). Those that are guilty of it are ranked in the New Testament among the worst and vilest of sinners (see 1 Tim. 1:10), and they shall not inherit the kingdom of God (see 1 Co. 6:9; v. 22, above). Now, this was the sin of Sodom, and for that reason it is called Sodomy. The Dead Sea, which was the standing monument of God’s vengeance upon Sodom, for its filthiness, was one of the boundaries of Canaan, and was not far from Gibeah. We may suppose the men of Gibeah had seen it many a time, and yet they did not look upon it as a warning, but they did worse than Sodom (see Eze. 16:48 ), though their sin was similar to Sodom’s. And because they did not retain God in their knowledge, He gave them up to vile affections, by which they dishonored themselves as they had by their idolatry dishonored Him and turned His glory into shame (see Rom. 1:24, and Rom. 1:28).

Can you appreciate the patience of God in this affair? Why didn’t He strike these sons of Belial blind, as the Sodomites were? Why didn’t He rain down fire and brimstone from heaven upon their city? It was because God would leave it to Israel to punish them by the sword, and would reserve his own punishment of them for the future time, when those that go after strange flesh shall suffer the vengeance of eternal fire (see Jude. 7)
They were deaf to the accusations and reasoning of the good man of the house, who, being well acquainted (we may suppose) with the story of Lot and the Sodomites, prepared himself to imitate Lot. The old man opened the door, and went outside to talk with them, and the conversation is given to us in what follows.
Lev 18:22 (KJV) Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

1 Tim 1:10 (NLT) The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching.

Ezek 16:48 (KJV) As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

Romans 1:24 (KJV) Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves. gave them up—This divine abandonment of men is here strikingly traced in three successive stages, at each of which the same word is used (Ro 1:24, 26, and 28, where the word is rendered "gave over"). "As they deserted God, God in turn deserted them; not giving them divine (that is, supernatural) laws, and suffering them to corrupt those which were human; not sending them prophets, and allowing the philosophers to run into absurdities. He let them do what they pleased, even what was in the last degree vile, that those who had not honored God, might dishonor themselves" [GROTIUS].
—Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Romans 1:28 (KJV) And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; They did not like to retain God—It would, perhaps, be more literal to translate it thus, THEY DID NOT SEARCH to retain God in their knowledge. They did not examine the evidences before them (Romans 1:19, 20) of his being and attributes; therefore God gave them over to a REPROBATE mind, to an UNSEARCHING or undiscerning mind; for it is the same word in both places. They did not reflect on the proofs they had of the Divine nature, and God abandoned them to the operations of a mind incapable of reflection. How men of such powers and learning, as many of the Greek and Roman philosophers and poets really were, could reason so inconsecutively (not in sequence) concerning things moral and Divine is truly astonishing. But here we see the hand of a just and avenging God; they abused their powers, and God deprived them of the right use of these powers.

Jude 1:7 (KJV) Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

and said unto them, nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly;
It is apparent that he understood them, not so much from what they said, but from his knowledge of them that came from what he saw them do to others and what was told to him by other Gibeathites. He knew that they didn’t want information about the man; but they wanted to commit the most abominable wickedness to the man’s person; so great that I will not attempt to describe it. But, notice, as he attempts to dissuade them from it, he uses the most tender language, and the most earnest plea; my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly.

seeing this man is come into my house, do not this folly
The old man argues from the standpoint of the law of hospitality, which ought not to be infringed upon; a man being obliged to protect a stranger under his roof; and especially from the nature of the crime these men represented, which was folly—stupidity, an immoral and profane act and abominable to the last degree.

This man is come into mine house—He appeals to the sacred rights of hospitality, just as Lot did (see Genesis 19:7-8). Both cases betray painfully the low place in the social scale occupied by woman in the old world, from which it is one of the glories of Christianity to have raised her to a position of respect. However, you don’t have to go any farther than the next verse to find the disgusting offer the old man made to save his guests: “Here, take my virgin daughter and this man’s concubine. I will bring them out to you, and you can abuse them and do whatever you like. But don’t do such a shameful thing to this man.”—Judges 19.24 (NLT)

The old man sought, as Lot had done (see Genesis 19:7-8), to defend his guests from such a shameful crime by appealing to the sacred rights of hospitality, and by giving up his own virgin daughter and the concubine of his guest (see verse 24).

Gen 19:7-8 (KJV) And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. Behold now, I have two daughters—Nothing but that sacred light in which the rights of hospitality were regarded among the eastern nations, could either justify or gloss over this proposal of Lots. A man, who had taken a stranger under his care and protection, was bound to defend him even at the expense of his own life. In this light the rights of hospitality are still regarded in Asiatic countries; and on these high notions only, the influence of which an Asiatic mind alone can properly appreciate, Lot's conduct on this occasion can be at all excused: but even then, it was not only the language of anxious discernment, but of unwarrantable haste.

24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing.—Judges 19.24 (KJV)
24 Here, take my virgin daughter and this man’s concubine. I will bring them out to you, and you can abuse them and do whatever you like. But don’t do such a shameful thing to this man.”
—Judges 19.24 (NLT)

Behold, here is my daughter, a maiden, and his concubine
Such a proposal was made by Lot to the men of Sodom, (see Genesis 19:8; v.23, above) but nothing can excuse either one of these men. The rights of hospitality were sacred in the East, and so highly regarded that a man would defend the stranger whom he had admitted under his roof even if it cost him his life. It is true; but how can a father make such a proposal when the subject is his virgin daughter. For the modern western mind that is a question that must remain among those things which are incomprehensible.

“Here is my daughter a virgin, and his concubine.” There is no justification for this cowardly surrender by two able-bodied men to the unbridled lust of Gibeah's "homosexuals." Josephus states that the homosexuals carried the woman to their home, "Where they satisfied their lust upon her the whole night." As Kyle Yates said, "This kind of action by those men (the Levite and his host) cannot be justified."

them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you;
He went out to them as Lot did, spoke civilly to them, called them brethren, begged them to desist, pleaded the protection of his house which his guests were under, and represented to them the great wickedness they were attempting: “Do not so wickedly, so very wickedly.” He calls it folly and a vile thing. As for the two women, they didn’t go willingly, as the sense of it is that the old man and the Levite forced them outside, and perhaps the Levite’s servant helped them. Now, look at the suggestion made by the old man: “humble ye them.” The meaning is humiliate and abuse them. And then he added these words, which must have ripped through the hearts of these poor women; “do with them what seemeth good unto you.” We are not told how many homosexuals was there that night, but they have permission to violate the women in whatever ways their sick minds can dream up to gratify their raging lust.

He was wrong; he shouldn’t have done it, because he had no right to do it: he had no right to prostitute his own daughter, and much less the concubine or wife of another man, though perhaps it might be with the consent of the Levite; but he did it all in a hurry, and while he was frightened. He had the choice between two evils; he may have thought he chose right by imitating Lot, whose case he might have remembered. But in one thing he conformed too far to Lot’s example (as we are apt to do when we imitate good men, and follow them even in their false steps), that is, in offering them his daughter to do what they wanted with her. But this wicked proposal of his may be in part excused because of the great surprise and terror he was in, his concern for his guests, and his having too great a regard for what Lot did in a similar situation. And perhaps he hoped that his mentioning this as a more natural gratification of their lust would send them back to their common harlots.

but unto this man do not so vile a thing;
When he comprehended his position, he realized that these evil men were eager to kill him, as he himself says, (see Judges 20:5) or to force him to commit the unnatural sin, which, rather than comply with that immoral act, he would have chosen to have been slain.

There can be no doubt in the comparison between this incident and that of Genesis 19 that homosexuality was considered the worst possible sin of sexual violation. That the Levite and his host would sexually offer the women to the men in place of a homosexual relationship was certainly not a godly choice. Either sexual sin is equally wrong; however, the reaction of these spiritually impoverished people shows that even in a time when sexual immorality was prevalent, homosexuality was still regarded as the worst possible form of sexual abuse!

Judges 20:5 (NKJV) And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died.

25 But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.—Judges 19.25 (KJV) 
25 But they wouldn’t listen to him. So the Levite took hold of his concubine and pushed her out the door. The men of the town abused her all night, taking turns raping her until morning. Finally, at dawn they let her go.—Judges 19.25 (NLT)

But the men would not hearken to him
The lust that filled the hearts of these men was so overwhelming that they could ignore the old man’s plea; “Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly” and their conscience was seared to the point of insensibility.

But, since the people would not listen to this proposal, the man (no doubt the master of the house) took his (the guest's) concubine (of course with the consent of his guest) and led her out to them, and they abused her the whole night.

In the miserable end of this woman, we may see the righteous hand of God punishing her for her former uncleanness, when she played the whore and mistreated her husband (see v. 2). Though her father had accepted her back into the family, her husband had forgiven her, and the transgression was forgotten now that they had made up, yet God remembered it and may have held it against her when he permitted these wicked men to so wretchedly abuse her. No matter how unrighteous they were in their treatment of her, by permitting it the Lord was righteous. Her punishment answered for her sin, Culpa libido fuit, poena libido fuit—Lust was her sin, and lust was her punishment. By the Law of Moses she should have been put to death for her adultery. She escaped that punishment from men, yet vengeance pursued her. If there was no king in Israel, yet there was a God in Israel, a God that judges the earth. We must not think that it is enough to make our peace with men, whom we have wronged by our sins, for there is a higher authority we must be concerned with; we must, by repentance and faith, make our peace with God, who doesn’t see as men see, or laughs at sin as men often do. The justice of God in this matter does not at all exonerate these men of Gibeah from the horrid wickedness perpetrated on this woman; nothing could be more barbarous and inhuman. When trying to understand how anyone could be so wicked and so callous, it is said by some that the people of Gibeah may easily have been contaminated by the Canaanites who lived among them.

Judges 19:2 (KJV) And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Bethlehemjudah, and was there four whole months.

and when the day began to spring; at break of day, when the light dawned: they let her go;
their works were works of darkness, and would not bear the light.

When the day began to spring—It could be that these wicked men still retained a little light of God from the history of their people that touched their conscience, so that they could not bear the full light of the day, which revealed to everyone’s eyes what they had done; hence, they dismissed the poor woman when the day began to break.

We should not leave this tragic episode without observing the low estimate which the men of that era placed upon the value of women. Not only did the men of this chapter offer a virgin daughter and a concubine to satisfy the lust of the savage homosexuals of Gibeah, even Abraham offered to sacrifice Sarah to save himself (see Genesis 12:10-20). Women should beware of forsaking the principles of the Blessed Savior Jesus Christ, who alone, has elevated woman above the humiliations that marked her status in the pre-Christian era. Satan is today offering women all kinds of inducements to turn against the teachings of Christ, but once those teachings are rejected, woman will quickly find herself treated again like a chattel (property). India supplies all the proof of this that is needed.

When they let her go, she returned, undoubtedly with a great deal of difficulty, and fell down at the door of the man’s house.

26 Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.—Judges 19.26 (KJV)
26 At daybreak the woman returned to the house where her husband was staying. She collapsed at the door of the house and lay there until it was light.—Judges 19.26 (NLT)

Then came the woman in the dawning of the day
When those wicked reprobates, who had abused her, finally left, it was the dawning of the day (for these works of darkness hate and dread the light), but they had no idea whether she would live or die. She was now some distance from the house that her husband refused to leave after he had thrust her out into the waiting arms of her rapists; but this poor abused woman made her way back to it as well as she could.

and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was;
Here is the finale of the wicked act of these men of Gibeah. When Adam Clarke commented on this portion of scripture he didn’t attempt to bring out the fullness of the original Hebrew; due to modesty, he will not even translate it into English; instead he leaves it in Latin so only the educated will be able to understand the full implications of their crime.

How can the Levite and the host of the home allow such a thing? Unfortunately, this tragedy reads like one of the horror stories that regularly appear on TV and in the movies; a culture where this can happen is ripe for the judgment of God.

"One can easily see why the concubine had left her husband in the first place. She was virtually sacrificed to save his skin, since the men sexually abused her all night. Clarke said this about Gibeah's sinful men: “Rascals and miscreants of the deepest dye; worse than brutes, being a compound of beast and devil inseparably blended.”  But we should not be surprised that there are such “low-down” men, because we are told in 2 Timothy 3:1-3 that there will be days like these and men like these: This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good (2 Timothy 3:1-3). Centuries later, Israel still remembered this crime at Gibeah, and used it as an example of wickedness: They are deeply corrupted, as in the days of Gibeah . . . . O Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah (Micah 9:9 and 10:9).

"Poor thing! With her last breath, she returned to the house where her lord was, who should have protected her, but who had abandoned her in her hour of need."  She fell down, either purposely or because her strength gave way to fatigue and pain, and there she must lie and wait until someone opened the door; since she could not stand to knock or open the door herself: and there she lay.

With her hands on the threshold, as if she was begging pardon for her former transgression, and in the posture of a repentant sinner, with her mouth in the dust, she expired; killed partly with grief of heart, and partly with excessive abuse. Thus the sin she formerly chose, (see ver. 2, above) is now her destruction; and though her husband pardoned her, God would punish her, at least in this life

till it was light;
It was broad daylight when she finally died before the door of the house in which, "her lord," i.e., her husband, was, and she lay there until she was discovered—too late.