Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Judges 19:1

CHAPTER 19

Jud 19:1-15. A Levite Going to Bethlehem to Fetch His Wife.

1. it came to pass in those days--The painfully interesting episode that follows, together with the intestine commotion the report of it produced throughout the country, belongs to the same early period of anarchy and prevailing disorder.

a certain Levite ... took to him a concubine--The priests under the Mosaic law enjoyed the privilege of marrying as well as other classes of the people. It was no disreputable connection this Levite had formed; for a nuptial engagement with a concubine wife (though, as wanting in some outward ceremonies, it was reckoned a secondary or inferior relationship) possessed the true essence of marriage; it was not only lawful, but sanctioned by the example of many good men.