Book of Judges Review Part Six (Chapters 18-21)

 Chapter 18
MICAH'S IDOLATRY AND THE MIGRATION OF THE TRIBE OF DAN
Dan spies out Laish

(Judges 18:1-2): The tribe of Dan sends spies to look for land to take among the people of Israel. The tribe of Dan does not get rid of the Philistines in their land. The consequence for not doing as God had commanded is that the tribe of Dan is never able to conquer the land. The tribe of Dan sends out spies to find land which is peaceful and is not under the scrutiny of an enemy.

(Judges 18:3-6): The Danites meet with Micah's Levite. As the men from Dan were relaxing at Micah's house (with Micah's blessing of course), they met Micah's young private priest. They immediately noticed the priest has a different accent. It would have been a different accent from what Micah and the rest of the people living in Ephraim had. Immediately, they wondered what the priest was doing at Micah's house. The five spies speak with the Levite. They then ask the Levite to inquire of God for them about their trip.

(Judges 18:7-10): The Danites choose a city for expansion: Laish. The citizens of Laish were from Sidon, but the people of Laish did not have an alliance with Sidon nor were they considered an official outpost of Sidon. Thus, even if the nation of Sidon had some sympathy and attachment to the people of Laish, they were too far away and would not be able to be rescued if they needed to be. This was the perfect situation for Dan. The location was well watered, fertile and substantial in size. It was far from anyone who might try to rule over the place. The place is simply ideal. It is at the headwaters of one of the sources of the Jordan River. It is rich in trees. The Dainties return to the south and tell their brothers the city of Laish has been given to them by the LORD.

(Judges 18:11-13): They assemble an army of 600 to take possession of Laish. They begin their journey north.

The tribe of Dan adopts Micah's idolatry
(Judges 18:14-18): On their way to Laish, the army of 600 men take Micah's shrine for themselves. The tribe of Dan stop at Micah’s house to pick up the Levite and the idols.

(Judges 18:19-21): The Levite goes with the army from the tribe of Dan.

(Judges 18:22-24): Micah's foolish idolatry comes to nothing. Micah and some of his neighbors assemble and chase after the Danites. Micah asks for his idols and priest back.

(Judges 18:25-26): The army of the tribe of Dan refuses to give Micah his god back; so Micah goes home empty-handed.

(Judges 18:27-29): The army from the tribe of Dan conquers the city of Laish and rename it Dan.

(Judges 18:30-31): The tribe of Dan officially adopts the idolatry that began with Micah. The Levite’s identity is revealed. His name is Jonathan, and he is from Moses’ family.


Chapter 19
A  Levite and his concubine
(Judges 19:1): A Levite takes a concubine. Levite in Ephraim takes a concubine who is from Bethlehem.

(Judges 19:2-4): The Levite reconciles with his concubine. The concubine gets mad at her husband and returns home to her father in Bethlehem.After four months, the Levite ventures to Bethlehem to retrieve his girl. The girl’s father welcomes the man and invites him into the house. The Levite stays with the family for several days.

(Judges 19:5-10): The Levite of the concubine extends the visit with a generous show of hospitality. The Levite attempts to leave for Ephraim on the fourth day, but the girl’s father requests him to stay. The Levite stays until the fifth day and again tries to leave. The Levite and his concubine leave in the afternoon of the fifth day.

(Judges 19:11-15): Returning home, the Levite and the concubine decide to spend the night in Gibeah. When they entered, they sat down in the open square of the city for no one took them into his house to spend the night.

(Judges 19:16-21): Finally, a fellow Ephraimite finds them and extends hospitality. An Ephraimite who was sojourning in Gibeah sees the Levite and his concubine. He offers hospitality to the group.

The Crime of Gibeah
(Judges 19:22): The perverted worthless men of Gibeah surround the dwelling place of the Ephraimite. They demand to have relations with the male guest.

(Judges 19:23-26): The Ephraimite goes out to negotiate with the men of Gibeah. He offers his daughter and the Levite’s concubine. The concubine is given instead of her husband. She is raped all night. At the light of day, she crawls back to the Ephraimite’s home. She dies on the doorstep.

(Judges 19:27-30): The Levite discovers his dead concubine and issues a call for national judgment. The Levite takes his dead concubine, loads he up on to a donkey and brings her back to Ephraim. He cuts up her body in a ritualistic manner and sends one body part to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Levite wants all of Israel to consider the crime and take action.


Chapter 20
ISRAEL'S WAR WITH BENJAMIN AND GIBEAH

The nation gathers to judge Gibeah
(Judges 20:1-2): The nation gather at the Levite's request. All of Israel from Dan to Beersheba gather together at Mizpah. The wording used suggests the Israelites believe this is a holy gathering—something sanctioned by the LORD.

(Judges 20:3-7): The Levite describes the abuse and murder of his concubine. The Levite gives bad information and states the men of Gibeah wanted to kill him. (The only information given in the Bible regarding this is that the men of Gibeah wanted to have relations with the Levite and not kill him.)

(Judges 20:8-11): Preparations for war are made. A supply line is established as the men of Israel prepare for battle.

(Judges 20:12-17): Benjamin's help sought and not given. Benjamin is asked to give up the fugitives of Gibeah. They refuse. 26,700 men from Benjamin are gathered for war. Seven hundred of these men are able to sling stones and are deadly accurate.

The battle against Benjamin and Gibeah

(Judges 20:18-21): The first day of battle--Israel is defeated before Benjamin. The men of Israel inquire of the LORD who should go up to battle. The tribe of Judah is told to go up. It is a bad day for Israel. They lose 22,000 men in battle on the first day.

(Judges 20:22-23): Israel seeks God after the first defeat. Israels goes to the LORD a second time. This time they weep before Him. They are again told to go to battle.

 (Judges 20:24-25): On the second day of battle, Israel is defeated before Benjamin again. Israel loses 18,000 men on the second day of battle.

(Judges 20:26-28): Israel repents before God after the second defeat. After the second defeat, the Israelites go again before the LORD. This time they bring sacrifices, they fast and repent. Now, the LORD gives them a slightly different answer. He says they will defeat Benjamin.

(Judges 20:29-48): Third day of battle--victory for Israel over Benjamin and Gibeah. The third day of battle is much like the first two days, except this time Israel has a new battle plan. Much like Joshua’s victory over Ai, the Israelites draw the men out of Gibeah. As the battle heats up outside the city walls, another brigade of men comes into the city and burns it to the ground. The men from Gibeah get caught in between two of Israel’s forces. They cannot retreat to the city. Many flee to the Rock of Rimmon. Twenty five thousand one hundred men from Benjamin die that day.


Chapter 21
A foolish oath
(Judges 21:1): At Mizpah, a curse is laid on anyone who gives their daughter as wives for the tribe of Benjamin. Swearing oaths and making vows in God's name is a dangerous undertaking. We moderns like to think otherwise, but we really do not take these oaths and vows all that seriously. But to the ancient, it was unthinkable to violate an oath or vow because the consequence was probably going to be devastating and long lasting. Making a rash oath or vow is a bad idea, and now Israel realized that they had doomed the Benjamites by speaking too quickly with their lips.

(Judges 21:2-6): Israel realizes that a whole tribe is in danger of extinction.
Solutions to the problem of the foolish oath
Judges 21:7-15): Destroying the city of Jabesh and taking their young women was a solution to the problem. Verse seven sums up the problem. The sons of Israel find an answer to the problem in a very convoluted and unexpected way. It starts with Israel's search to find out if any clan of Hebrews had failed to show up to contribute to the war effort.

It turns out that the people of the city of Jabesh-gilead (meaning the people who lived in the city of Jabesh in the territory of Gilead, east of the Jordan River) did not answer the call. This was in violation of a much earlier and perhaps more fundamental oath: that all of Israel was united under God and the Laws of Moses. They were to act together as one in times of crisis. Jabesh were traitors to God and to Israel. Not only that, at the time of the war council in Mizpah, an oath was sworn in which the punishment for whomever did not participate in the war against Benjamin was death.

And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him.The 400 virgins of Jabesh were given to the male survivors of Benjamin, but that still left 200 men without wives. What should they do? Well, they came up with another cleaver plan.

(Judges 21:16-24): A scheme to give the remaining men of Benjamin an opportunity to take wives. There was a festival to the LORD each year in Shiloh, and lots and lots of women went to it. The young girls, especially virgins, participated by dancing in the festival. Some leaders of the Israelites went to the leaders of the 600 remaining Benjamites and told them that if they would go to Shiloh at the festival time and hide, then when the virgins came out to dance, they could pounce on them. The virgins would then be their wives. The Israelites would be sure there was no interference and the men of Benjamin would be free to remove these girls back to the allotted territory of Benjamin.

(Judges 21:25): The summary observation of the times of Israel.  
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Final Thoughts
In the time of King Saul, we are going to find an interesting relationship between Saul and the people of Gilead. When Ammon threatened the people of Gilead, they turned to Saul for help (1 Samuel 11:1-11). Later, it would be the men of Gilead who recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons as their corpses hung on the walls of Bethshan (1 Samuel 31:11-13). Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin, and so we see how and why the tribe of Benjamin had a special bond with the people of Gilead. They were closely related by blood and it happened as the aftermath of the war with Benjamin.