Chapters 20 an 21 are mostly a self-explanatory historical account of perhaps the worst atrocity committed by the Hebrews which is recorded in the Bible.
In chapter 19, we studied the gut-wrenching story of a Levite and his unnamed concubine who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. The time frame is perhaps 20 years after Joshua died. The couple got into some type of serious argument which led to the woman leaving her husband and going home to her father who lived in Bethlehem. After the Levite thought it over, he decided the concubine was worth winning back. He journeyed from his home to Bethlehem in hopes of retrieving his concubine. When the Levite arrived, there was reconciliation between the two. The Levite, the Levite's servant (whom he had brought with him on the journey) and the concubine began their travels back to Ephraim. They stopped for the evening in the city of Gibeah.
Gibeah was a territory which belonged to Bejamin. The Levite had the option of stopping a few hours earlier when they passed near Jebus (later called Jerusalem), but the Levite decided against this since Jebus was still controlled by one of the Canaanite peoples. They kept going a little farther so that they could overnight among fellow Hebrews.
When they arrived in Gibeah, no Benjamite would offer the customary hospitality which was actually a sacred duty of the residents. An elderly man who was sojourning in Gibeah noticed the trio and offered his home as a safe place to stay. No sooner than they had gone inside than a crowd of worthless men gathered and demanded the old man send out his house guest, the Levite man. They wanted to have homosexual relations with the traveler. The old man was in an impossible situation. He did not have the means to defend himself or his hosts from these men (as he was bound by Middle Eastern culture to do). Then the Levite offered his concubine to the men (in an eerie similar story which we read about in Genesis when Lot entertained two angels).
While the old man and the Levite huddled in fear inside all night, the Benjamite men of Gibeah raped and tortured the concubine. When they were through with her, the concubine crawled back and died outside the old man's doorway. The Levite packed up her body and carried it on a donkey back to his home in the hills of Ephraim.
Rather than giving the concubine a proper burial, the Levite cut her body into 12 pieces and sent one piece to each of the 12 tribes as a message. The Levite wanted to ask the nation of Israel what they intended to so about such a horror which had happened to this woman and the Levite. At the center of it all was what would Israel do about their brothers from the tribe of Benjamin. The answer was not long in coming. And this is where the story picks up in chapter 20.
ISRAEL'S WAR WITH BENJAMIN AND GIBEAH
A. The nation gathers to judge Gibeah
1. (Judges 20:1-2) The nation gather at the Levite's request.
Then all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to the LORD at Mizpah. The chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, took their stand in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 foot soldiers who drew the sword.
Then all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba: Verse one says that "all" the people of Israel answered the call to do something about the murder of the Levite's concubine by the Benjamites. It also makes the point that despite the tension which existed between the two and a half tribes who had elected to make their homes east of the Jordan and the nine and a half tribes who had entered the Promised Land with Joshua, the warriors from Gilead also responded to the call. Gilead was technically a specific area occupied by the tribes of Gad and Manasseh in the Trans-Jordan, but it was also used as a general term.
The editor of the Book of Judges uses the term from Dan to Beersheba to mean all of Israel. This makes the subtle point that this narrative was written AFTER the tribe of Dan had migrated to the north of Israel and conquered the city of Laish. (Also remember the Book of Judges also repeatedly states: "At that time, there was no king in Israel," so it is obvious the Book of Judges was put together when Israel did have a king.
Remember, it was Hebrews from the tribe of Benjamin who wanted to homosexually gang rape the Levite man. They accepted his concubine to assuage their perverted sexual appetites. And they were not satisfied until they killed her in the process. But what is equally appalling is that the Levite's response to all this (he butchered his concubine's corpse) was apparently considered justifiable when in fact the Levite should have been prosecuted for such a ghoulish act of dismembering her. But such was the condition of Israel at that time and generally throughout the period of the Judges. There is no hint of objection to the Levite's actions.
The congregation assembled as one man to the LORD at Mizpah: Verse two explains that the eleven tribes of Israel gathered at Mizpah. This was considered a holy convocation to engage in a kind of holy war (even though we cannot really give it an official holy war status). The Hebrew used here is: kahal ha edah meaning the congregation of the people. This phrase is generally reserved for a gathering of the people of Israel to worship God. Four hundred thousand armed men showed up. This also gives us evidence of the early dating of this event shortly after Joshua's death because there still was tremendous unity among Israel to come together. (As we have previously seen beginning with Othniel, Israel was very divided. Each tribe during the time of the Judges generally only cared for themselves).
2. (Judges 20:3-7) The Levite describes the abuse and murder of his concubine
(Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the sons of Israel said, "Tell us, how did this wickedness take place?" So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, "I came with my concubine to spend the night at Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin. But the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me; instead, they ravished my concubine so that she died. And I took hold of my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout the land of Israel's inheritance; for they have committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel. Behold, all you sons of Israel, give your advice and counsel here."
Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Isarel had gone up to Mizpah: The tribal prince of Benjamin had no doubt also received a portion of the concubine's body in expectation that he and his tribe would want to join their brothers in punishing the men of Gibeah. But the leadership of Benjamin chose to harbor the murderers instead. Of course, they knew what was going on and that the other tribes were gathering for war.
Once everyone was gathered at Mizpah, the tribal elders of Israel asked the aggrieved Levite to tell his story to them. It seems as though the Levite's account is a bit altered. The Levite claims the men of Gibeah wanted to kill him, which was not the case at all. So things at Mizpah started off on bad information.
3. (Judges 20:8-11) Preparations for war are made
Then all the people arose as one man, saying, "Not one of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us return to his house. But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up against it by lot. And we will take 10 men out of 100 throughout the tribes of Israel, and 100 out of 1,000 and 1,000 out of 10,000 to supply food for the people, that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin they may punish them for all the disgraceful acts that they have committed in Israel." Thus all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united as one man.
Then all the people arose as one man: Verse eight is essentially the making of an oath before God by the eleven tribes. The oath is this: they would not return to their homes without taking retribution on Benjamin. As an aside, what the Scripture actually says is that they will not return to their ohel (tent) or bayith (dwelling or house made of stone, brick or wood). This highlights how soon after entering Canaan this occurred because many of the Israelites had not yet conquered their territories fully and were still living in goatskin tents like they used during their exodus journey. Some Israelites had settled in the land and were living in regular dwellings made from stone, brick or wood.
Apparently a battle with Benjamin was anticipated because the first thing the leaders of the eleven tribes did was to agree to assign 10% of their men to the task of establishing a supply line to the fighters. Benjamin was already known to be among the best and most fierce warriors in all of Israel. The eleven tribes were not about to take them for granted that they had a large advantage in terms of numbers. But Benjamin had another advantage that we will explore shortly: terrain.
4. (Judges 20:12-17) Benjamin's help sought and not given
Then the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What is this wickedness that has taken place among you? Now then, deliver up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove this wickedness from Israel." But the sons of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel. The sons of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel. From the cities on that day the sons of Benjamin were numbered, 26,000 men who draw the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah who were numbered 700 choice men. Out of all these people 700 choice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. Then the men of Israel besides Benjamin were numbered, 400,000 men who draw the sword; all these were men of war.
The editor of the Book of Judges uses the term from Dan to Beersheba to mean all of Israel. This makes the subtle point that this narrative was written AFTER the tribe of Dan had migrated to the north of Israel and conquered the city of Laish. (Also remember the Book of Judges also repeatedly states: "At that time, there was no king in Israel," so it is obvious the Book of Judges was put together when Israel did have a king.
Remember, it was Hebrews from the tribe of Benjamin who wanted to homosexually gang rape the Levite man. They accepted his concubine to assuage their perverted sexual appetites. And they were not satisfied until they killed her in the process. But what is equally appalling is that the Levite's response to all this (he butchered his concubine's corpse) was apparently considered justifiable when in fact the Levite should have been prosecuted for such a ghoulish act of dismembering her. But such was the condition of Israel at that time and generally throughout the period of the Judges. There is no hint of objection to the Levite's actions.
The congregation assembled as one man to the LORD at Mizpah: Verse two explains that the eleven tribes of Israel gathered at Mizpah. This was considered a holy convocation to engage in a kind of holy war (even though we cannot really give it an official holy war status). The Hebrew used here is: kahal ha edah meaning the congregation of the people. This phrase is generally reserved for a gathering of the people of Israel to worship God. Four hundred thousand armed men showed up. This also gives us evidence of the early dating of this event shortly after Joshua's death because there still was tremendous unity among Israel to come together. (As we have previously seen beginning with Othniel, Israel was very divided. Each tribe during the time of the Judges generally only cared for themselves).
2. (Judges 20:3-7) The Levite describes the abuse and murder of his concubine
(Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the sons of Israel said, "Tell us, how did this wickedness take place?" So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, "I came with my concubine to spend the night at Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin. But the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me; instead, they ravished my concubine so that she died. And I took hold of my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout the land of Israel's inheritance; for they have committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel. Behold, all you sons of Israel, give your advice and counsel here."
Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Isarel had gone up to Mizpah: The tribal prince of Benjamin had no doubt also received a portion of the concubine's body in expectation that he and his tribe would want to join their brothers in punishing the men of Gibeah. But the leadership of Benjamin chose to harbor the murderers instead. Of course, they knew what was going on and that the other tribes were gathering for war.
Once everyone was gathered at Mizpah, the tribal elders of Israel asked the aggrieved Levite to tell his story to them. It seems as though the Levite's account is a bit altered. The Levite claims the men of Gibeah wanted to kill him, which was not the case at all. So things at Mizpah started off on bad information.
3. (Judges 20:8-11) Preparations for war are made
Then all the people arose as one man, saying, "Not one of us will go to his tent, nor will any of us return to his house. But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up against it by lot. And we will take 10 men out of 100 throughout the tribes of Israel, and 100 out of 1,000 and 1,000 out of 10,000 to supply food for the people, that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin they may punish them for all the disgraceful acts that they have committed in Israel." Thus all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united as one man.
Then all the people arose as one man: Verse eight is essentially the making of an oath before God by the eleven tribes. The oath is this: they would not return to their homes without taking retribution on Benjamin. As an aside, what the Scripture actually says is that they will not return to their ohel (tent) or bayith (dwelling or house made of stone, brick or wood). This highlights how soon after entering Canaan this occurred because many of the Israelites had not yet conquered their territories fully and were still living in goatskin tents like they used during their exodus journey. Some Israelites had settled in the land and were living in regular dwellings made from stone, brick or wood.
4. (Judges 20:12-17) Benjamin's help sought and not given
Then the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What is this wickedness that has taken place among you? Now then, deliver up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove this wickedness from Israel." But the sons of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel. The sons of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel. From the cities on that day the sons of Benjamin were numbered, 26,000 men who draw the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah who were numbered 700 choice men. Out of all these people 700 choice men were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. Then the men of Israel besides Benjamin were numbered, 400,000 men who draw the sword; all these were men of war.
Then the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire tribe of Benjamin: The grand meeting at Mizpah was but a formality as they would never have mustered their armies and marched them there if it was only to have a discussion. Their collective minds were made up before they ever left home. But since the goal was to punish the guilty, the next thing that happened was that runners were sent to various clan leaders in Benjamin with the message to hand over the men of Gibeah for proper justice, i.e., execution.
But the sons of Israel would not listen to the voice of their brothers: Benjamin refused to either invoke justice on their own or they would not allow the eleven tribes to do it for them. Instead, they chose to fight against their brethren on behalf of these degenerates for no other reason than they were also Benjamites.
This shows us another side to tribalism, and a little later on in this story yet another decision will be made to illustrate the ancient mindset. It is that above all, tribes remain loyal to themselves and do not easily accept outside interference, even from another brother tribe. Although tribes (which are always divided up into clans) would regularly have blood feuds going on between themselves, if an outsider would want to interject their influence into the matter, a war would ensue. In places in the world where ancient tribalism is still alive and well such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Jordan, etc., you will see this exact pattern dominating to this very day. It is next to impossible for Westerners to wrap our minds around this foundational cultural aspect of the Middle East, but we can learn all about it by simply studying the Bible because it was the same then as it is now.
The sons of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah: Verse 14 says the "sons of Benjamin" went to Gibeah to fight. In the passage just before it also says the "sons of Israel". This is an expression to state the representatives of each group went out. The use of the word "sons" does not mean children and it does not mean everyone. Rather, it is an expression of doing the service on behalf of their tribe or nation.
The sons of Benjamin were numbered 26,000 men who draw the sword: Benjamin gathered their fighting men together for war: 26,000 soldiers. Remember, a fighting man was generally regarded to be someone from around 20 years of age to around 50 years of age. Those younger and older men of Benjamin were NOT counted in this 26,000.
In addition to the 26,000 fighters of Benjamin, there were 700 Benjamite men from the city of Gibeah (many of whom would have been the criminals who killed the concubine). This gave the total army from Benjamin 26,700 soldiers.
Out of all these people 700 choice men were left-handed: The additional reference to the 700 left-handed men who were able to sling stones were a special group of Benjamites within the 26,700 soldiers. This is no small feat as these stone slingers were deadly accurate. Stones could be slung at a speed of up to 90 miles per hour.
Then the men of Israel besides Benjamin were numbered, 400,000 men who draw the sword: It is helpful to notice that the 400,000 soldiers of the combined Israelite army only represented about two thirds of the size of the available army under Joshua. So there were reserves if needed. However, Benjamin was outnumbered almost 20 to 1. So although there were reserve troops, the idea probably was not even contemplated.
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