Foreshadowing the Monarchy's Dilemma: A Rhetorical Analysis of Judges 19

Introduction: The book of Judges presents a tapestry of violent literary narratives, ranging from the killing of enemy combatants (chs. 4-5) to political assassination, war crime (ch. 9), and human sacrifice (ch. 11). Judges 19 is marked by disturbing events, including the Levite's callous actions toward his wife: his consent to have the woman kicked out of the elderly man's house (vv. 23-25a), a distressing incident of group rape (vv. 24-25), his apathy toward his wife's mistreatment (vv. 27-28), and murder and post-mortem mutilation. While previous studies have analyzed Judges 19 from a literary viewpoint, applying the chiastic technique, this fresh analysis reveals that previous studies overlooked a chiastic-topographical structure within the narrative. Methodology: The aim of this research is to analyze Judges 19 from a rhetorical perspective, applying the technique of chiastic-topographical structure. The analysis further contends that the toponyms serve a literary-theological function by foreshadowing the monarchy's dilemma. They reveal a positive attitude towards Bethlehem of David and a negative one towards Gibeah of Saul.