When he gets home, he calmly, callously takes a knife, grabs the concubine, and cuts her up into twelve pieces, one for each tribe in Israel. And then he sends her to all parts of Israel, for all to see. This is the final, ultimate violation of her dignity. She is not given the honour of a burial. And our horror is all the more because of a lingering question as to whether she was already dead or merely unconscious when the dismemberment happened. This is worse than Sodom.
Why did he do it? On the surface, it seems that he did this in order to awaken horror in Israel at a terrible crime that has been committed. But beneath that, this is a call to arms. He wants vengeance on the men of Gibeah—not for the treatment of women, mind you, but for the loss of his property.1 That becomes obvious in Judges 20:1–48.
29 And when he entered his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his concubine he divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.