Judges 20:1-3
The children of Israel received a macabre message from Levite who visited Gibeah. A deed like this had never been done before. The 'deed' they referred to had to be the cutting up of this woman to send a message with shock value. The call was to consider it, confer and speak up. They needed to consider what was going on and respond to it. The bigger problem is they had not considered what was happening to themselves, their communities and nation. They had not conferred regarding the spiritual and moral decline or the apostasy that resulted. They did not speak up. Everyone lived life on their terms.
From Dan to Beersheba is an idiom for the furthest extents to the north and south. The people came together as one except for Benjamin. This at least gives us the sense there was still some sense of being a nation. The fact they were outraged means they still have a conscience. This is an inordinate number of soldiers. There is some question whether this is 400 divisions versus 400 thousand. Benjamin was aware of this gathering. It is apparent they would not repent and deal with the offenders but stand by them and their actions.
At the end of chapter 18 we are told the House of God was at Shilo. Here, in verse one of chapter 20 they were going 'before the Lord' at Mizpah. At the end this chapter, we'll see the Ark of the Covenant at Bethel. Either they had set up some other altar they considered a place to meet the Lord or the Ark and Tabernacle had been separated and moved. This Mizpah is near Gibeah, as opposed to the Mizpah in Transjordan.
According to Deuteronomy 13:12-18 the Israelites were supposed to investigate the charges to make sure that they were indeed true. Then, if they were, they were to destroy the town where this occurred with everyone and everything in it.
Judges 20:4-7
The Levite spins his story to the tribes. He leaves out the part where he pushed her out the door like a sacrifice. The tribes didn't see through this. They didn't ask if he was tied up or injured while trying to defend her. He played to their emotions and they responded as desired. He stated he cut her up like it was the logical and right thing to do in that circumstance. No one calls him on it.
- Emotions rule when there are no boundaries of a moral imperative.
- Truth becomes a story that is good in one's own eyes.
- There's outrage over one sin but the others are overlooked it's sin and apostasy.
Judges 20:8-17
With the apostasy being central to their problems we can't assume that the casting of lots was done as a means of determining Yahweh's will or just a game of chance. They didn't not inquire as to whether declaring war was his will. The language is that of retribution – make them pay for this this. There is no mourning over sin and having to kill their own people (or any people for that matter).
The tribes gave Benjamin a chance for them to deliver the perverted men to them. Their sentence was death. There was no reason for others to die. The Benjamites choose war. They fielded 26,000 soldiers to assist the 700 men of Gibeah. There were 700 super warriors (the navy seals of the day) among this group. They were left-handed as well as being expert marksman with the sling. These men would come against the 400,000 trained soldiers of Israel.
A left-handed man was a dangerous opponent for a right-handed man trained and experienced in fighting right-handed men. The weapon came from a different direction than what one was used to seeing and defending.
Judges 20:18
The 'house of God' is the word Bethel. Is this a reference to the tabernacle as the house of God or a reference to the place Bethel. We earlier saw that the 'house of God' was at Shilo. This passage uses a different word than bethel (18:31). Either way, there was some effort to inquire of the Lord but we seemed forced to remain leery that that they did so correctly. If this was done through the high priest at the tabernacle, the Urim and Thummim indicated that Judah would go first into battle. Notice the question presumes that God agreed with going to battle. The question was who would go first.
Judges 20:19-23
Something has gone drastically wrong. In one generation this people had gone from conquering the land and subduing it under the guidance of the Lord. They were a nation united under the Lord and stood apart from the world. Now, this chosen people were turning against themselves, consuming themselves. They were doing what was right in their own eyes and using the name of the Lord. Joshua had warned them numerous times.
Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. 12 Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations—these that remain among you—and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, 13 know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.
(NKJV; Joshua 23:11-14; 1982, Thomas Nelson)
Every day we make choices about who we are serving. There is no neutral ground. There is no living life your way. You were created by God, for God; anything else is against God, rebellious of God and consistent with the devil and his plans.
Twenty-two thousand died at the hand of the men of Gibeah that first day. How can this happen? Wasn't God on their side? Weren't the men of Gibeah all wicked and perverse men? Was this judgment of God on their apostasy as a nation. Were the eleven tribes any more righteous than the Benjamites? I like David Guzick comments. President Abraham Lincoln, in his second inaugural address, spoke on this very theme in relation to the American Civil War:
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." (1865)
Notice the response of Israel when they were defeated that first day; they 'encouraged themselves'. They patted each other on the back and said, "It'll be okay! God is on our side." Then they girded their loins and went back to war. It appears they were still trusting in the size of their army instead of the trusting in the Lord.
Israel gets an A for determination. They went right back to the same place and approached war the same way. They, however, get a F for wisdom – it is futility to do the same thing repeatedly and expect a different outcome. They improved their military posture and position when we see them weep before the Lord. They asked his counsel.
Judges 20:24-28
Their inquiry of the Lord told them to go to battle. There was no mention of victory. Another eighteen thousand fell on day two. At this the children of Israel go again to the house of God (bethel) and weep and fast. There is certainly a different tone this time. The Israelites are humbled. The afflict themselves with fasting and then made a burnt offering for their sin. They followed that with a peace offering, which is worship and fellowship with the Lord. The defeats bring about a heart change among the tribes. They were going to correct the men of Gibeah, but the Lord used the situation to correct them.
They fasted and truly sought the Lord, offered a sacrifice, dealt with their sin and made peace with God. How can anyone go to war in the name of God without first being at peace with Him? This was all done at the tabernacle, led by the priests. This appears to be the proper approach to the Lord – on His terms, in the way He prescribed, with humility and mourning over sin.
The Lord said He would deliver them in battle the next day.
Judges 20:29-46
Forty thousand have died on the battle field and this is not yet resolved. Think back to where this started. A Levite taking took a concubine and there was some disagreement that may have been her unfaithfulness. She spent the next few months at her father's house before the Levite went to get her back. There seemed to be restoration. Then, on the way home, while staying in Gibeah, perverse men attacked them. The Levite gave his concubine to save his own life. Now, this all snowballed to a civil war.
- Could the concubine say, "My harlotry is my business and no one got hurt in it?"
- Could the Levite say, "She's my concubine; how I treat her and act toward her is my business?"
- Can the blame for this be placed on the Levite and concubine at all?
- Where was the town of Gibeah when they raped and beat this woman?
- Where was the outrage of the nation over apostasy and sin?
This begins to look complicated; sin is ugly and only gets uglier. One sin seems to justify another and that begets more. The slope seems to get steeper and the fall quicker. However, the writer sums up the cause of all that was wrong.
- There was no King – no spiritual, social, or political leader in the nation
- Everyone just did what was right for them.
The victory at Gibeah resembles the Joshua's victory at Ai. An ambush was used. The two previous victories by Benjamin made them susceptible to ambush. They saw the day forming up to a third victory as they battled against Israel. Then the trap was sprung. Twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin were killed that day. There was less than a thousand men of that tribe left alive.
Note: the men of Israel surrounded Gibeah and killed everyone in response to the perverse men of Israel surrounding a house and raping and killing a woman.
Judges 20:47-48
The rock of Rimmon was a natural rock fortification. Six hundred managed to hide there for four months. This looks as though they exercised herem – a holy war in which people, animals and property were all destroyed as a sacrifice to God. This is the complete and utter purging. This would not have been necessary had the Israelites been set apart and kept themselves from evil.
While the Lord provided victory one has to wonder if Israel was overzealous in their victory. After all, these are their countrymen, not pagan tribes that were to be purged from the land.
© 2015, 2023 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater
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