Shoftim 19: Sodom Redux

YINR 929: Tanach Yomi · Jul 16, 2026 · 4m

Chapter 19 of Judges mimics Chapter 19 of Genesis and the story of Sodom. Visitors are taken in by someone in a city. In the middle of the night, townsfolk surround the house demanding the visitor be send out for nefarious purposes. Someone inside the house offers up another victim to the crowd. There are countless parallel word choices. For example: “Do not on any account spend the night in the square” (אַל־נָא תָלַן בָּרְחוֹב) (Verse 20) and “But they said, ‘No, we will spend the night in the square’” (וַיֹּאמְרוּ לֹּא כִּי בָרְחוֹב נָלִין) (Genesis 19:2)/ “they bathed their feet and ate…