Judges 20:1-48
Q.1. What made the response of the tribes unusual? How did the Levite explain the need for retribution? How did the tribes respond? What strategy did they employ? – (Jdgs.20:1-11)
After generations of fighting against foreign invaders – all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah (Jdgs.20:1). This was in response to the lewd and disgraceful acts perpetrated by the men of Gibeah, which had been reported by the Levite (Jdgs.20:5-6). Israel refused to return home until this sin had been punished. They vowed not to give their daughters in marriage to these Gibeahites (Jdgs.20:8-11; 21:1). They elected to fight, with a representative army of ten percent of their soldiers (Jdgs.20:10). The four hundred thousand soldiers were determined and united. Â
Q.2. How did the tribe of Benjamin respond to the request from Israel’s army? What was the outcome from the battle? How did Israel respond to the defeat? – (Jdgs.20:12-23)
Before any fighting began, Israel sent emissaries throughout the cities of Benjamin to – deliver up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove this wickedness from Israel (Jdgs.20:13). Benjamin refused and determined to defend Gibeah against Israel (Jdgs.20:13-14). They then added twenty-six thousand soldiers to seven hundred choice young men who – … were left-handed; each one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss (Jdgs.20:16). On the first day a huge number of twenty-two thousand men of Israel died (Jdgs.20:19-21). Nevertheless, they had inquired of the Lord, and the tribe of Judah was told to lead the way (Jdgs.20:18). This explains the response: (i) They wept before the Lord (Jdgs.20:23). (ii) They encouraged themselves and got ready for a renewed battle (Jdgs.20:22). (iii) Then again – The sons of Israel … inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall we again draw near for battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Go up against him.” (Jdgs.20:23). They didn’t give in to their discouragement.
Q.3. How did the second battle end? What makes this surprising? What promise did God make through Phinehas? What made Benjamin complacent? – (Jdgs.20:24-35)
Forty thousand of the Israeli coalition died in battle, and twenty-five thousand, one hundred Benjamites died. However, it was for a righteous cause. Had Israel avoided facing up to this diabolical sin, the nation would have suffered even more consequences. The second battle ended almost as badly as the first, with the loss of eighteen thousand Israeli soldiers (Jdgs.20:25). This redoubled Israel’s determination to be right with God, with tears, prayer, fasting, and sacrifices (Jdgs.20:26). The Ark of the Covenant was in Bethel, and the zealous Phinehas asked for God’s ruling – … And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.” (Jdgs.20:28). Israel then set an ambush against the Benjamites, who had assumed – … they are struck down before us, as at the first … but Benjamin did not know that disaster was close at hand (Jdgs.20:32 & 34). It was the beginning of the end for them, as – the Lord struck Benjamin before Israel, so that the sons of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day, all who draw the sword (Jdgs.20:35). Phinehas was one of the great men of the Bible. He stopped a plague that took twenty-four thousand Israelites because – Phinehas stood and interposed, so the plague was stayed, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness to all generations forever (Ps.106:30-31 c.f. Gen.15:6; Num.25:8-13). He also brokered a solution, when civil war was threatened between the tribes of Israel in the Promised Land, and those east of the Jordan River (Josh.22:13, 30-32
Q.4. What battle plan did Israel put into place? How was Benjamin defeated? Was the triumph immediate? What was God teaching His people? Is the defeat of evil always costly? – (Jdgs.20:36-48)
The Benjamites were deceived by Israel’s battle plan. They ended up fighting against overwhelming odds, on two fronts once the city of Gibeah was set on fire. In all, twenty-five thousand, one hundred men of Benjamin perished – eighteen thousand in battles, and some seven thousand who tried to escape into the wilderness (Jdgs.20:42-46). Six hundred men escaped – toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they remained at the rock of Rimmon four months (Jdgs.20:47). Israel wiped out the entire city and set it on fire (Jdgs.20:48). The defeat of evil took time and proved to be costly to the nation. Many families were bereft of their sons and husbands. It cost the perfect Son of God His life to defeat the curse of sin, death, and hell. It is better to fight sin than to be overcome by sin.