Judges 20

After reading these three chapters, if you were to scan your daily newspaper or weekly news magazine, you’d have to admit that times haven’t changed too much. For in these closing pages of Judges you find reports of wife abuse, blatant homosexuality, gang rape leading to murder, injustice, brother killing brother, and even kidnapping. It’s the kind of narrative that almost makes you agree with British essayist Samuel Johnson, who said back in 1783, “I have lived to see things all as bad as they can be.” What would he say today?

Of course, events like these are the daily food of people who enjoy TV violence, and researchers tell us that what happens on the screens is often duplicated on the streets. According to a study by the American Psychological Association, there are five violent acts per hour in prime-time TV programs, and on Saturday mornings when the children watch cartoons, violent acts per hour multiply five times (USA Today August 2, 1993). When a nation is entertained by violence, is there much hope for that nation?

When evil isn’t dealt with properly, it has a tendency to grow. Sin in the city of Gibeah eventually infected the tribe of Benjamin and led to war in the land of Israel.

The assembly (vv. 1–11). The Levite’s gruesome announcement produced the results that he wanted: Leaders and soldiers from the entire nation, except Benjamin (v. 3) and Jabesh-gilead (21:8–9), came together at Mizpah to determine what to do. After hearing the Levite’s indictment of the men of Gibeah, the people of Israel delivered a verdict and made a vow. The verdict was that the men of Gibeah were guilty and should be handed over to the authorities to be slain (Deut. 13:12–18). The vow was that none of the tribes represented would give their daughters in marriage to the men of Benjamin (Judg. 21:1–7).

The appeal (vv. 12–17). The eleven tribes had agreed “as one man” to attack Gibeah, but first they sent representatives throughout the tribe of Benjamin, calling for the people to confess their wickedness and hand over the guilty men. According to Leviticus 20:13, homosexuals were to be put to death, but that wasn’t the crime the tribes were judging. Since the Levite had willingly given his concubine to the men of Gibeah, their sin can hardly be called adultery (Deut. 22:22). The penalty for rape was death, and gang rape would be even more serious (Deut. 22:25–26). Perhaps the tribes were citing the law concerning wicked men in a city (Deut. 13:12–18) and using that as the basis for their action.

Whatever law they were obeying, the tribes were concerned to “put away evil out of the land,” a phrase that is found at least nine times in Deuteronomy. The men of Gibeah were evil men and had to be punished before the Lord could be pleased with His people and cleanse His land. But the people of Benjamin wouldn’t admit that Gibeah had sinned, nor would they turn over the men who had done the wicked deed.

Some people may have interpreted the stubbornness of Benjamin as an act of patriotism: They were only trying to protect their own citizens. But their refusal to cooperate was definitely an act of rebellion against the Lord. When sin isn’t exposed, confessed, and punished, it pollutes society and defiles the land. The wicked men of Gibeah were like a cancerous tumor in the body that had to be cut out. “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (1 Cor. 5: nkjv).

The result? The tribe of Benjamin declared war on the rest of the tribes of Israel! The eleven tribes had 400,000 men in their army (Judg. 20:2), while the Benjamites had only 26,000 swordsmen and 700 “chosen men” who were experts with slings (vv. 15–16). But in spite of the terrible odds, it was brother fighting against brother!

When God’s people refuse to obey God’s Word, the results are always tragic. The spiritual life of a church is crippled and eventually destroyed when the congregation shuts its eyes to sin and will not discipline offenders. There can never be unity among the people of God as long as some of them cover up sin and allow it to infect the body.

The attack (vv. 18–40). The representatives of the eleven tribes went to the tabernacle at Shiloh (18:31; 1 Sam. 1:9) and sought the mind of the Lord, either by casting lots (Judg. 20:9) or by the priest using the Urim and Thummim (Ex. 28:30). God gave them permission to do battle, with the tribe of Judah leading the attack. That first day, God allowed the Benjamites to win and kill 22,000 Israelite soldiers.

The eleven tribes wept before the Lord and again sought His will. Note that “the children of Benjamin” in Judges 20: becomes “Benjamin my brother” in verse 23. Perhaps this was one reason why God permitted the Israelites to lose that first battle. It gave them an opportunity to reflect on the fact that they were fighting their own flesh and blood. But on the second day of the war, Benjamin won again, this time killing 18,000 men. The situation was very grim.

The eleven tribes again sought the face of the Lord, this time with fasting and sacrifices along with their tears. The Lord answered their prayers and not only told them to attack again but also assured them that this time they would win.

The strategy used on the third day was similar to that which Joshua used at Ai (Josh. 8). Self-confident because of two days of victories (Judg. 20:30–31, and note 16:20), the army of Benjamin met the Israelite army, killed about 30 men, but were drawn away from Gibeah and caught in an ambush. Over 25,000 Benjamites were killed on the battlefield, on the highways, or as they fled into the wilderness. Gibeah was taken, its inhabitants were slain, and the city was burned to the ground. In fact, the Israelite army wiped out several other cities in a mopping-up operation.

At the first census after the exodus from Egypt, there were 35,400 men of war in Benjamin (Num. 1:37), and this increased to 45,600 by the time of the second census (Num. 26:41). During this three-day war, the Benjamites were left with only 600 men stranded on the rock of Rimmon, a fortresslike rock formation near Gibeah. What a price the tribe of Benjamin paid for refusing to obey the law of the Lord!