ON THE BRINK OF WAR

Judges 20:1-16 / Keywords 20:13a

Now surrender those wicked men of Gibeah so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.”

The Israelites Punish the Benjamites

20:1 Then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came together as one and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah. 2 The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, four hundred thousand men armed with swords. 3 (The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, “Tell us how this awful thing happened.”

4 So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. 5 During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. 6 I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel’s inheritance, because they committed this lewd and outrageous act in Israel. 7 Now, all you Israelites, speak up and tell me what you have decided to do.”

8 All the men rose up together as one, saying, “None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house. 9 But now this is what we’ll do to Gibeah: We’ll go up against it in the order decided by casting lots. 10 We’ll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Gibeah[a] in Benjamin, it can give them what they deserve for this outrageous act done in Israel.” 11 So all the Israelites got together and united as one against the city.

12 The tribes of Israel sent messengers throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What about this awful crime that was committed among you? 13 Now turn those wicked men of Gibeah over to us so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.”

But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites. 14 From their towns they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites. 15 At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred able young men from those living in Gibeah. 16 Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

Footnotes

a. Judges 20:10 One Hebrew manuscript; most Hebrew manuscripts Geba, a variant of Gibeah

1. All of Israel came to know of the tragedy that happened in Gibeah in Benjamin when the Levite cut up his concubine and sent her body parts to each of the 12 tribes of Israel. The men of Israel knew they had to do something, despite the fact they had no king. So, all the men of Israel gathered before the Lord at Mizpah. There, the Levite whose concubine had been raped and murdered recounted his story. Then he demanded the Israelites tell him what they were going to do. The Gibeonites must be punished! The men of Israel were right. Sin must be purged. 

2. So, the tribes of Israel went to Benjamin demanding they turn over to them the men of Gibeah who did the awful deed. Benjamin refused. Instead of extraditing the perpetrators, the tribe of Benjamin mustered 26,000 trained soldiers, along with 700 able men from Gibeah. The Benjamites clung to their pride and wanted to protect their kinsmen from Gibeah, no matter what crimes they had committed. When we have no king, there is no true sense of justice. 

Prayer Father, without you, our sense of justice is warped. We can only seek ruinous revenge. Help us to seek you as our true source of justice and peace. 

One Word Seek God’s justice, not our own