1. Judges 19:28 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is significant about him being referred to as “the man”?

Judges 19:28 (ESV)

28 He said to her, “Get up, let us be going.” But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey, and the man rose up and went away to his home.

This marks a further shift in how the Levite is called in the account. At the beginning of the story, he was her husband (Judges 19:3). In recent verses he was labelled her master(s) (Judges 19:26–27). Now he ends up as the man. This helps to convey the notion that he has been stripped, or has stripped himself, of any obligation to the concubine. In this episode his true character eventually comes to the fore. He is no real husband to the concubine; his relationship with the concubine is purely one of rule and power.1