Judges 20

Judges 20:1

D. The War with Benjamin (Chaps. 20, 21)20:1-14 Chosen warriors from the tribes of Israel (except Benjamin) gathered together at Mizpah and heard the Levite tell what had happened. They decided to fight against Gibeah, but first they gave the Benjamites an opportunity to deliver up the guilty perverted men to them for punishment. When the Benjamites refused, civil war broke out. 20:15-48 This incident took place not long after the death of Joshua and his generation, for Phinehas was the high priest at the time (v. 28). The tribe of Benjamin had only 26,700 soldiers, against four hundred thousand from the other tribes (vv. 15-17). Yet in the first battle, Benjamin killed twenty-two thousand men (vv. 18-21). In the second encounter, eighteen thousand men of Israel were slain (vv. 22-25). The reason Israel had such a hard time of it, even though their cause was just, was because they themselves were not walking close to the Lord. In verses 18, 23, and 26-28 we can see the nation being forced to humble itself before the Lord until finally success was promised.

In the third engagement, the Israelites used the strategy of ambush. They drew the men of Benjamin away from the city of Gibeah, set the city on fire, and then destroyed a total of twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites as they fled to the wilderness. Then they burned all of Benjamin’s cities and killed the women and children (vv. 29-48). In three battles Benjamin lost 26,100 men (cf. vv. 15, 47). (We must conclude that they lost 1000 in the first two days.) The slain in verses 35 and 44-46 refer to the casualties in the last battle only. Six hundred survivors took refuge in the rock of Rimmon for four months (v. 47). Were it not for this remnant, the tribe would have been completely wiped out.