Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 19:23
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.
23. Nay, my brethren wickedly ] Similarly Gen 19:7.
do not folly ] This translation is only a makeshift. The Hebr. neblh means much more than folly; it implies moral insensibility, repudiation of the claims of morality and religion, particularly, in this phrase, an outrage against the laws of nature, Jdg 20:6; Jdg 20:10, Gen 34:7, Deu 22:21 , 2Sa 13:12. In Jos 7:15 the phrase is used of Achan’s iniquity.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This man is come into mine house – He appeals to the sacred rights of hospitality, just as Lot did Gen 19:8. 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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
This man is come into mine house, and therefore I am obliged to protect him by the laws of hospitality. Compare Gen 19:17,8.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them,…. Opened the door, and went out to converse with them, and talked them after this manner:
and said unto them, nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; it is plain he understood them in such sense, that they meant not bare knowledge of the man, as who he was, c. but to commit wickedness the most abominable so great, that it cannot be well said how great it is; and to dissuade from it, he uses the most tender language, and the most earnest entreaties:
seeing this man is come into my house, do not this folly; he argues from the law of hospitality, which ought not to be infringed; a man being obliged to protect a stranger under his roof; and from the nature of the crime, which was folly, stupidity, and what was abominable to the last degree.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(23) Do not this folly.It is from no deficiency of moral indignation that the word folly (nebalah) is used. Sometimes when crime is too dark and deadly for ordinary reproach the feelings are more deeply expressed by using a milder word, which is instantly corrected and intensified by the hearer himself. (See Gen. 34:7; Deu. 22:21.) Thus Virgil merely gives the epithet unpraised (illaudati Busiridis aras) to the cannibal tyrant, which serves even better than a stronger word. (Comp. Shall I praise you for these things? I praise you not 1Co. 11:17-22.) (See the authors Brief Greek Syntax, p. 199.) This figure of speech takes the various form of antiphasis, litotes, meiosis, &c.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘ And the man, the master of the house, went out to them. And he said to them, “No, my brothers, I pray you, do not behave so wickedly, seeing that this man has come to my house. Do not do this folly.” ’
Bravely the old man opened the door and went out to speak with the men. He hoped to appeal to them by reason.
“And he said to them, ‘No, my brothers, I pray you, do not behave so wickedly, seeing that this man has come to my house. Do not do this folly.” He made the strongest plea he could think of, that the man was enjoying his hospitality. Once a man had received hospitality the host had a sacred duty to protect him, and the crowd knew that. But he also made clear to them that their actions were wicked. They were ‘folly’. The word indicated action of the basest kind which was seen as a slight on God Himself. It is regularly used of sexual misbehaviour. He also possibly had in mind that the man was a Levite. Not to have welcomed such a man with hospitality was a breach of their sacred duty towards God’s own (Deu 23:4).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The sad narrative of so detestable an action, and issuing from so detestable a cause, is enough to put to the blush our depraved nature. Who that reads it but must exclaim, Lord! what is man! And when we read the early breakings out of this most unnatural sin, in the days of Lot; look at it again here; and connect with it what the apostle saith in his days; how ought our nature to be humbled, in beholding this, among the many sad consequences of the fall. Gen 19:4 . But Reader! let us turn from this sad picture of our poor fallen nature, and behold the other part of the subject, though indeed, in doing it we only turn from one sad story to another, all originating from one and the same source, man’s misery and ruin by reason of the fall. What a wretched conclusion did this woman terminate her life with, from running into adultery and leaving her husband. Behold the evidence of what the apostle saith, the wages of sin is death. Oh! that all such views may have this blessed influence on our hearts, to prize yet more that inestimable redemption, which is the alone security from the ruins of the fall; and lead our hearts yet nearer to Jesus, who thus tenderly speaks to his people, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jdg 19:23 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.
Ver. 23. Nay, my brethren. ] Brethren they were by race and place: but these were unworthy of this compellation, as having put off the man, and become dogs, and worse, Deu 23:18 2Ti 3:8 scalded a in their own grease. Rom 1:27
a .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the man. Another Lot in another Sodom.
wickedly. Hebrew. ra’a. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the man: Gen 19:6, Gen 19:7
do not this folly: Jdg 20:6, Gen 34:7, Jos 7:15, 2Sa 13:12
Reciprocal: 1Sa 30:23 – my brethren