1. Judges 19:18 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

How do the Levite’s words underline his self-focus?

Judges 19:18 (ESV)

18 And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to the house of the Lord, but no one has taken me into his house.

Though travelling in a party, the Levite refers mostly to himself: Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to the house of the Lord, but no one has taken me into his house. This last part is especially notable. Earlier, the narrator had said that no one took them into his house to spend the night (Judges 19:15). The narrator is adding here to his sketch of the Levite as one who cares more for himself than for those who are with him.