Atrocities in Gibeah: Judges 19–21 constitute the final episode of the story of the judges. Even though we must divide them for the sake of analysis, they are intended to be read as one unit. These chapters have not found their way into many Sunday school books or sermons or onto the “top ten Christian books” list. They are difficult to read and more difficult to interpret. They portray human nature at its worst, and even worse than worst, because the main players were God’s covenant people. They did the unthinkable, and they did it to each other. This story candidly and graphically portrays what happened “when there was no king in Israel” (19:1, 12; 21:25) and “everyone did what was right in his/her eyes” (21:25). It carries us along the final turns in the downward spiral toward chaos—dis…