Judges Chapter 20 Bible Study
A great big battle
This is part twenty of my Judges study. Read the previous parts here and watch for part twenty-one coming on August 20. Chapter 20 very much builds upon chapter 19, so I recommend reading my last Judges post before this one.
After the events of the last chapter, the Israelites from all across the nation, including the unnamed Levite, gathered at Mizpah, where the Israelites asked the Levite what had happened. The phrase “from Dan to Beersheba,” essentially “from North to South,” occurs here for the very first time in the Bible, and it is used several times in the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles.1 As the name Mizpah is derived from a root meaning “to watch,” it was probably intended to be a military lookout.2 So, the Levite explained how he and his concubine had gone to Gibeah for the night, but men from the city surrounded the house where he was staying. He claimed that the men intended to kill him, but instead raped his concubine. After her death, he cut her into pieces and sent them around Israel to let others know what horrific things had taken place.
As you may have noticed, the Levite’s account of what had happened portrays him in a better way than the narrative of the last chapter. Not only did he neglect to mention the fact that he was the one who pushed his concubine out of the house, but he said definitively that he was not the one to kill her, which may or may not have been the case. He also made his speech very much about himself, even though it was his concubine, rather than himself, who was harmed by the men.3
Upon telling the Israelites what had happened, the Levite demanded that they give a verdict on what should be done. All the people then said they would not go to the tent or house of the old man that the Levite had stayed with, but they would attack Gibeah instead, with ten percent of their men. So, the Israelites went to Gibeah and sent men to go around the tribe of Benjamin and demand that the men who raped the Levite’s concubine be handed over to them. The Benjaminites refused, and, gathering their twenty-six thousand armed men, along with seven hundred from Gibeah, set out to fight the rest of the Israelites. Seven hundred of these men were left-handed and could sling a stone at a strand of hair without missing.
The Israelites, with their four hundred thousand men, went to Bethel to ask God which tribe should go first to fight against the Benjamites. God told them that Judah should go first, and the Israelites camped by Gibeah. They then set out to fight, and twenty-two thousand Israelites were killed by the Benjaminites. As a result, the Israelites wept before God all evening and asked if they should continue to fight the Benjaminites, and God answered that they should.
So, for a second day, the Israelites fought, and the Benjamites killed eighteen thousand of their armed men. Once again, the Israelite army went to Bethel, where they wept before the Lord, fasting until evening and sacrificing burnt offerings. Here, there is a mention that the ark of the covenant was located at that place, and Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was the high priest then. Then, the Israelites inquired of God, asking whether they should fight again or stop.
The Lord replied that the Israelites should fight the next day because he would hand the Benjamites over to them. So, the Israelites set up an ambush and took their battle positions. Then, the Benjaminites came out of the city and killed thirty Israelites on the road, which led the Benjaminites to believe they were winning, as before. However, the Israelites were not ready to give up, and so they fled to draw the Benjaminites away from the city and toward the highways.
While that was occurring, ten thousand young men of Israel attacked Gibeah. Benjamin was defeated, with 25 100 of their men killed that day. The ambush was successful, as the Israelites put the city to the sword and sent up a signal of smoke. The Israelites surrounded the Benjaminites, and eighteen thousand of them died. So, the Benjaminites fled to Rimmon Rock, though five thousand of them were slaughtered on the roads, and two thousand more were killed when the Israelites overtook them at Gidom.
Rimmon Rock, meaning “Pomegranate Rock,” could have been a name for the el-Jaia cave in the Wadi es-Swenit, as the cave’s many smaller holes make it look like a split pomegranate and could have been used as a hiding place.4 Twenty-five thousand warriors of Benjamin died that day, but six hundred Benjaminites escaped into the wilderness, where they stayed for four months. Then the men of Israel killed the remaining Benjaminites and burned their cities. Centuries later, the prophet Hosea recalled the “days of Gibeah” (9:9; 10:9) as a horrible tragedy, solidifying these events as one of the darkest times in ancient Israelite history.
Given the negative portrayal of the tribe of Benjamin in these final chapters, some commentators have argued that they must have been written specifically to support David and his descendants and delegitimize the kingship of Saul, a Benjaminite. Yet the tribe of Judah is not shown in a more positive way than other tribes, as although God chose them to go out first in battle, they failed twice. All of the tribes are shown negatively in the last stories of Judges, and there are simply no heroes here.5 Judges 20 illustrates just how self-serving and hardhearted people can be, leading to disastrous consequences on all sides.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Block, Daniel I. “Judges.” In Joshua, Judges & Ruth, edited by John H. Walton, 198-451. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009.
Boda, Mark J. “Judges.” In Judges, Ruth, edited by Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, 30-347. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012.
Evans, Mary J. Judges and Ruth. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Series. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017.
McCann, J. Clinton. Judges. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Preaching and Teaching Series. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2011.
Way, Kenneth C. Judges and Ruth. Teach the Text Commentary Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2016.
Webb, Barry G. The Book of Judges. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament Series. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012.
Younger Jr., K. Lawson. Judges and Ruth. The NIV Application Commentary Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002.
Way, Judges and Ruth, 236.
Block, “Judges,” 385.
Way, Judges and Ruth, 237.
Block, “Judges,” 390.
Evans, Judges and Ruth, 190.
Well done Rachel for not skipping any chapters and providing good insights every time!