Ugly Civil War
Judges 20:1–48
The reading
is rather lengthy today and filled with crazy names of people and place. So
please let me recommend downloading the App @thecross and taking advantage of
the Bible link on the bottom of the homepage. There you can select this chapter
of the Bible and have a professional read it to you. And because of the length
of the ready, I will try to limit my comments.
1Then
all the people of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of
Gilead, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah. 2 And the chiefs of all the
people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of
the people of God, 400,000 men on foot that drew the sword. 3 (Now the people of
Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the people
of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this evil happen?” 4 And the Levite, the
husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came to Gibeah
that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. 5 And the leaders of Gibeah
rose against me and surrounded the house against me by night. They meant to
kill me, and they violated my concubine, and she is dead. 6 So I took hold of my
concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout all the country of the
inheritance of Israel, for they have committed abomination and outrage in
Israel. 7 Behold,
you people of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.”
8 And
all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, and
none of us will return to his house. 9 But now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go
up against it by lot, 10 and
we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a
hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions for
the people, that when they come they may repay Gibeah of Benjamin for all the
outrage that they have committed in Israel.” 11 So all the men of Israel gathered against the city,
united as one man.
12 And
the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What
evil is this that has taken place among you? 13 Now therefore give up the men, the worthless fellows
in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and purge evil from Israel.” But the
Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of
Israel. 14 Then
the people of Benjamin came together out of the cities to Gibeah to go out to
battle against the people of Israel. 15 And the people of Benjamin mustered out of their
cities on that day 26,000 men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of
Gibeah, who mustered 700 chosen men. 16 Among all these were 700 chosen men who were
left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. 17 And the men of Israel,
apart from Benjamin, mustered 400,000 men who drew the sword; all these were
men of war. 18 The
people of Israel arose and went up to Bethel and inquired of God, “Who shall go
up first for us to fight against the people of Benjamin?” And the Lord said,
“Judah shall go up first.”
19 Then
the people of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. 20 And the men of Israel
went out to fight against Benjamin, and the men of Israel drew up the battle
line against them at Gibeah. 21 The
people of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and destroyed on that day 22,000 men of
the Israelites. 22 But
the people, the men of Israel, took courage, and again formed the battle line
in the same place where they had formed it on the first day. 23 And the people of Israel
went up and wept before the Lord until the evening. And they inquired of the Lord,
“Shall we again draw near to fight against our brothers, the people of
Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Go up against them.”
24 So
the people of Israel came near against the people of Benjamin the second day. 25 And Benjamin went against
them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed 18,000 men of the people of
Israel. All these were men who drew the sword. 26 Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went
up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that
day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.
27 And the
people of Israel inquired of the Lord (for the ark of the covenant of God was
there in those days, 28 and
Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, ministered before it in those days),
saying, “Shall we go out once more to battle against our brothers, the people
of Benjamin, or shall we cease?” And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will
give them into your hand.”
29 So
Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah. 30 And the people of Israel went up against the people
of Benjamin on the third day and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at
other times. 31 And
the people of Benjamin went out against the people and were drawn away from the
city. And as at other times they began to strike and kill some of the people in
the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, and in
the open country, about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the people of Benjamin said, “They are routed
before us, as at the first.” But the people of Israel said, “Let us flee and
draw them away from the city to the highways.” 33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place
and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar, and the men of Israel who were in
ambush rushed out of their place from Maareh-geba. 34 And there came against Gibeah 10,000 chosen men out
of all Israel, and the battle was hard, but the Benjaminites did not know that
disaster was close upon them. 35 And
the Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and the people of Israel destroyed
25,100 men of Benjamin that day. All these were men who drew the sword. 36 So the people of
Benjamin saw that they were defeated.
The men of Israel gave ground to
Benjamin, because they trusted the men in ambush whom they had set against
Gibeah. 37 Then
the men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah; the men in ambush moved
out and struck all the city with the edge of the sword. 38 Now the appointed signal
between the men of Israel and the men in the main ambush was that when they
made a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city 39 the men of Israel should
turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty men of
Israel. They said, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first
battle.” 40 But
when the signal began to rise out of the city in a column of smoke, the
Benjaminites looked behind them, and behold, the whole of the city went up in
smoke to heaven. 41 Then
the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed, for they saw
that disaster was close upon them. 42 Therefore
they turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the
wilderness, but the battle overtook them. And those who came out of the cities
were destroying them in their midst. 43 Surrounding the Benjaminites, they pursued them and
trod them down from Nohah as far as opposite Gibeah on the east. 44 Eighteen thousand men of
Benjamin fell, all of them men of valor. 45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness to
the rock of Rimmon. Five thousand men of them were cut down in the highways.
And they were pursued hard to Gidom, and 2,000 men of them were struck down. 46 So all who fell that day
of Benjamin were 25,000 men who drew the sword, all of them men of valor. 47 But 600 men turned and
fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon and remained at the rock of
Rimmon four months. 48 And
the men of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin and struck them
with the edge of the sword, the city, men and beasts and all that they found.
And all the towns that they found they set on fire.
The people
of Israel are now at war with one another. Because the Levite whose concubine
was raped to death tells only part of the story, Israel rises up in vengeance
against her own. The battle is detailed out for us with the result being the decimation
of the tribe of Benjamin.
As the
inquiry into the crimes against the Levite are brought forth, we notice that he
does not include his part in the
problem. He was the one who thrust his concubine into the arms of her
murderers. That detail does not become a part of the inquisition. The tribe of
Benjamin is given no chance to clean their own house. The charges were made
against the entire tribe instead of a handful of truly evil men. This leads the
other 11 tribes to rise up against their brothers.
In the end
of this bitter battle, Benjamin is almost completely gone. There are less than
1,000 adult males left! While it may have looked for a time as if the other 11 tribes
were going to lose, we know that this was never going to be the outcome. God
told Israel to go forth and so they were operating under His authority. The
appearance of defeat was used to affect an ambush. This worked well. Benjamin
is all but gone.
Again, there
is little I can say to redeem this event for us. We’re going to put the details
into our knowledge base and tomorrow, we will see how the tribe of Benjamin
survives this devastation.
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