Judges — Chapter 19

In Gibeah no one received the Levite and his concubine into hospitality. Lapide cites S. Ambrose: \"If I do not lie, inhospitality was the sin of Sodom.\" And Ezech. 16:49: the iniquity of Sodom was pride, satiety of bread, abundance, and idleness — and she did not extend her hand to the poor and needy. Gibeah surpassed Sodom.

The sons of Belial demand the Levite. Lapide: \"Belial\" = without yoke; men without moral law, given to every excess. The crime of Gibeah is a new Sodom. God's punishment of the tribe of Benjamin for shielding these men demonstrates that corporate complicity in grave evil brings corporate chastisement.

The old man offers his daughter and the Levite's concubine to avert the worse sin of sodomy. Lapide's casuistry: it is licit to offer a lesser evil to dissuade from a graver one — not approving the lesser, but counselling it under the condition \"if you must sin, sin less gravely.\" Cited: SS. Chrysostom, Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, Cajetan, Soto.

The Levite cuts his concubine's body into twelve pieces and sends them to all the tribes. Lapide: he did not sin, for the act was intended not to dishonour the dead but to rouse all Israel to righteous vengeance — like a trumpet call in flesh. S. Athanasius cited: he invoked this precedent to rouse Catholics against the Arian atrocities.