Punished

In the previous chapter we looked at a horrible incident.

A recap if you will - a Levite had a concubine who left him and went home to her father - the Levite went and retrieved the concubine - they hung around and left late in the day causing them to stay the night in Gibeah - and old man offered them hospitality and all was well until… in the night men from the town came for the purpose of sexually abusing the Levite - the old man tried to barter with his own daughter and the Levite’s concubine but they wouldn’t listen - so the Levite threw his concubine to the men of the town and the raped her all night long - she collapsed and apparently died - because of this he cut the concubine into 12 pieces and sent them to the tribes of Israel.

The chapter ends with the people of Isreal being shocked and saying, “Think it over, discuss it and speak up.”

Judges 20 (CSB)

1 All the Israelites from Dan to Beer-sheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the community assembled as one body before the Lord at Mizpah. 2 The leaders of all the people and of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: four hundred thousand armed foot soldiers. 3 The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.

This unnamed Levite has done something none of the other God called persons have been able to do up to this point - galvanize a full national response as “one” nation.

Isreal has done some very sinful things but nothing this repugnant has occured since leaving Egypt.

No matter how vile people are there seems to be a point at which they say “Thats too far”. (In apologetics this is the argument from morality).

The author says “all the Israelites” indicating unanimous agreement this needs to be addressed.

We also see some other hopeful signs - words like “community” and “assembly” carry more significance than just a gathering of people. The other aspect is the gathered as one “before the LORD”.

Obviously it was not every citizen of Israel but everyone was represented by their appointed leaders - think of today’s Congress (both the House and Senate).

This was not a gathering for worship but war is expected and is what they are prepared for.

We do see that the Benjaminites “heard” that Isreal had gathered indicating this tribe was not represented - they either weren’t invited because it was their tribesmen who inhabited Gibeah and they possibly decided to stand with their fellow tribesmen or because it was there tribe they could not be part of deciding the coming punishment.

The Israelites asked, “Tell us, how did this evil act happen?” 4 The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered, “I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night. 5 Citizens of Gibeah came to attack me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, but they raped my concubine, and she died. 6 Then I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout Israel’s territory, because they have committed a wicked outrage in Israel. 7 Look, all of you are Israelites. Give your judgment and verdict here and now.”

The question had been asked - how did this happen? Excuse me, how did this “evil act happen?”

In verse 4 the author tells us who answered in 2 parts - The Levite - ironically from the tribe in charge of spiritual oversight who should have taken responsibility to lead, especially at an assembly before Yahweh. The husband - this makes him the aggrieved party in this matter.

Notice the actual victim is merely referred to just the “murdered woman”.

His account is less than complete and it is what some might consider “fake news”.

He relays the encounter as an attack where they intended to kill him but their intent was to have sex with him not kill him.

There is no concern for the concubine and his account does not tell the real story of how he is the one who tossed her out to the men of Gibeah.

He ends with a rather vague statement - “and she died”. How and when did this happen? As we mentioned last week there is a possibility he might have been the one to kill her.

Regardless of how self-centered his motives may be, the Levite has managed to shake things up - he got all of Isreal to gather in a unified body and his speech is about to do the same thing…

8 Then all the people stood united and said, “None of us will go to his tent or return to his house. 9 Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will attack it. By lot 10 we will take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred out of every thousand, and one thousand out of every ten thousand to get provisions for the troops when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for all the outrage they committed in Israel.” 11 So all the men of Israel gathered united against the city. 12 Then the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil act that has happened among you? 13 Hand over the wicked men in Gibeah so we can put them to death and purge evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to their fellow Israelites.

After hearing the story the people basically said, “Alright we take care of this now. We ain’t leaving until this evil is dealt with.”

They drew by lot 10% of the men to gather provisions in case the battle was going to take a while.

The biggest thing to know is that Israel was united (except for the tribe of Benjamin).

They would deal with Gibeah first. The army surrounded the city but they didn’t attack right away.

A moment to repent and make amends was offered to the tribe of Benjamin - send us the men who did this evil.

If they had sent out the men then all of Israel would have truly been united but the Benjaminites sided with the evildoers instead of the assembly of God.

14 Instead, the Benjaminites gathered together from their cities to Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites. 15 On that day the Benjaminites mobilized twenty-six thousand armed men from their cities, besides seven hundred fit young men rallied by the inhabitants of Gibeah. 16 There were seven hundred fit young men who were left-handed among all these troops; all could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. 17 The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mobilized four hundred thousand armed men, every one an experienced warrior.

Not only did the Benjaminites refuse to send out the men but they gathered from all over their territory to fight against their fellow Israelites.

Once gathered the number gathered is 26,000 which is far less that what Israel has.

The Benjaminites had a unique group of 700 men who were left handed and expert marksmen.

If you remember, being left handed was rare and one left handed man among a unit of right handed would be a disadvantage but if you had a whole unit of lefties then they have a unique advantage. (Think about boxing or baseball - right handed boxers used to hate fighting lefthanded because they faced opposite of what they are used to fighting. The same is true in baseball - if you can bat lefty against a right handed picture you have the advantage).

At first I though there was a different spelling or a typo with the word “hair” - I thought they meant “hare” as in rabbit. Of course there isn’t a typo - the idea thy could sling a stone at a literal hair standing up on someones body and not miss indicates a ridiculous degree of accuracy.

Keep in mind it was 26,700 against 400,000 well trained military men.

18 They set out, went to Bethel, and inquired of God. The Israelites asked, “Who is to go first to fight for us against the Benjaminites?” And the Lord answered, “Judah will be first.” 19 In the morning, the Israelites set out and camped near Gibeah. 20 The men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took their battle positions against Gibeah. 21 The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and slaughtered twenty-two thousand men of Israel on the field that day.

This is the first battle.

At the outset Israel seems to be doing the right thing - they go to God but notice their question…

Who is to go first? There is no question as to whether or not the should go and fight. This is a good reminder for us - just because what we are doing seems legit our first question to God is “should we?”

They asked and God answered - Judah goes first.

Judah going first is fitting especially seeing the victim was from Judah. It doesn’t say the Levite was originally from Judah. Chapter 19 tells us he was residing in Ephraim but the concubine was from Judah, Bethlehem to be exact.

The men of Judah were ready to go - they got up early in the morning to go fight.

The scripture says the Benjaminites slaughtered 22,000 men in battle. There is no account of how many, if any, men the tribe of Benjamin lost but Judah definitely got whipped.

22 But the Israelite troops rallied and again took their battle positions in the same place where they positioned themselves on the first day. 23 They went up, wept before the Lord until evening, and inquired of him, “Should we again attack our brothers the Benjaminites?” And the Lord answered, “Fight against them.” 24 On the second day the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites. 25 That same day the Benjaminites came out from Gibeah to meet them and slaughtered an additional eighteen thousand Israelites on the field; all were armed.

This is the second battle.

This time Israel got it right. They spent the whole day seeking God’s guidance in the coming battle.

God said yes go fight.

Unfortunately, the battle didn’t go much better than the day before. The Benjaminites slaughtered 18,000 this time. That brings the total to 40,000 men in 2 days - still no word on the loses from Benjamin.

It is important to know that even when God is directing us to do something it does not mean there will not be troubles or loses. We often think that if things are going rough it must not be of God but that is not true.

26 The whole Israelite army went to Bethel where they wept and sat before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.

What we see happen here is often one of the main reasons we struggle as we attempt to serve God.

Israel went from basically asking a brief prayer before the first battle to now fully grieving, worshipping and crying out to God.

Their bringing of offerings tells us that Israel has remembered the covenant relationship they are supposed to have and are finally trying to fulfill their side.

27 Then the Israelites inquired of the Lord. In those days, the ark of the covenant of God was there, 28 and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving before it. The Israelites asked, “Should we again fight against our brothers the Benjaminites or should we stop?” The Lord answered, “Fight, because I will hand them over to you tomorrow.”

Again the people ask if they should fight against their brothers.

Apparently the ark of the covenant was brought there - so they went to the place the presence of God is supposed to dwell…

Eleazar was Aaron’s grandson.

This time the LORD answered a little differently - the answer yes they are to fight is the same but God tells them this time that He “will hand them over”.

29 So Israel set up an ambush around Gibeah. 30 On the third day the Israelites fought against the Benjaminites and took their battle positions against Gibeah as before. 31 Then the Benjaminites came out against the troops and were drawn away from the city. They began to attack the troops as before, killing about thirty men of Israel on the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah through the open country. 32 The Benjaminites said, “We are defeating them as before.” But the Israelites said, “Let’s flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” 33 So all the men of Israel got up from their places and took their battle positions at Baal-tamar, while the Israelites in ambush charged out of their places west of Geba. 34 Then ten thousand fit young men from all Israel made a frontal assault against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce, but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was about to strike them. 35 The Lord defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 men of Benjamin; all were armed. 36 Then the Benjaminites realized they had been defeated. The men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin, because they were confident in the ambush they had set against Gibeah. 37 The men in ambush had rushed quickly against Gibeah; they advanced and put the whole city to the sword. 38 The men of Israel had a prearranged signal with the men in ambush: when they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city, 39 the men of Israel would return to the battle. When Benjamin had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They’re defeated before us, just as they were in the first battle.” 40 But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, Benjamin looked behind them, and the whole city was going up in smoke. 41 Then the men of Israel returned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had struck them. 42 They retreated before the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and those who came out of the cities slaughtered those between them. 43 They surrounded the Benjaminites, pursued them, and easily overtook them near Gibeah toward the east. 44 There were eighteen thousand men who died from Benjamin; all were warriors. 45 Then Benjamin turned and fled toward the wilderness to Rimmon Rock, and Israel killed five thousand men on the highways. They overtook them at Gidom and struck two thousand more dead. 46 All the Benjaminites who died that day were twenty-five thousand armed men; all were warriors. 47 But six hundred men escaped into the wilderness to Rimmon Rock and stayed there four months. 48 The men of Israel turned back against the other Benjaminites and killed them with their swords—the entire city, the animals, and everything that remained. They also burned all the cities that remained.

Now, Israel has a battle plan.

Israel gathered like usual and the Benjaminites came out to fight like they had the previous 2 days.

Once the battle began and Isreal lost 30 men - after 2 days of absolute annihilation the Benjaminites got over confident in the ability to win.

It was a trick and they fell for it. Once they went after Israel leaving Gibeah almost defenseless.

Israel attacked and achieved victory then signaled the retreating army who then turned and defeated the Benjaminite army.

The Benjaminites had no idea what was happening to them.

Israel was victorious to the tune of 25,100 Benjaminites laying dead - remember they started with 26,700 soldiers.

Interesting enough it says in verse 47 that 600 men escaped into the wilderness - this leaves us with a missing 1000 soldiers - they either survived the battle or were killed in the previous 2 battles thought not noted

Gibeah lay in ruins, the tribe of Benjamin was almost wiped off the face of the earth but not quite… that’s next week.