The Decree of the Assembly
Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah. Jdg 11:111Sa 10:171Sa 3:202Sa 3:10Jdg 21:5Jos 22:121Sa 7:5-62Sa 24:2 The leaders of all the people and all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 men on foot, armed with swords. Jdg 8:102Ki 3:26Jdg 20:15Jdg 20:172Sa 24:9 (Meanwhile the Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) And the Israelites asked, “Tell us, how did this wicked thing happen?” Jdg 19:22-27Luk 12:58-59Luk 14:31-32Mat 5:25Pro 22:3
So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered: “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. Jdg 19:15-28 And during the night, the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house. They intended to kill me, but they abused my concubine, and she died. Jdg 19:22Jdg 19:25-26Gen 19:4-8Deu 22:24Ezk 22:10-11 Then I took my concubine, cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance, because they had committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel. Jdg 19:29Jdg 19:23Jos 7:15Gen 34:7Jdg 20:102Sa 13:12-13 Behold, all you Israelites, give your advice and verdict here and now.” Jdg 19:301Co 5:10-121Co 5:11Co 5:6Deu 14:1-2Deu 4:6Exo 19:5-6Jas 1:5
Then all the people stood as one man and said, “Not one of us will return to his tent or to his house. Ecc 9:10Jdg 20:1Pro 21:3Jdg 20:11Jdg 21:1Jdg 21:5 Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: We will go against it as the lot dictates. 1Ch 24:51Sa 14:41-42Act 1:26Jon 1:7Jos 14:2Neh 11:1Pro 16:33 We will take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to supply provisions for the army when they go to Gibeah 1in Benjamin to punish them for the atrocity they have committed in Israel.”
So all the men of Israel gathered as one man, united against the city. And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has occurred among you? Deu 13:14Jos 22:13-16Deu 20:10Mat 18:15-18Rom 12:18 Hand over the wicked men of Gibeah so we can put them to death and purge Israel of this evil.” Deu 17:12Deu 13:13Jdg 19:221Ki 21:131Sa 2:251Sa 30:222Ch 13:72Ch 25:16
But the Benjamites refused to heed the voice of their fellow Israelites. And from their cities they came together at Gibeah to go out and fight against the Israelites. Num 20:202Ch 13:13Job 15:25-26Num 21:23 On that day the Benjamites mobilized 26,000 swordsmen from their cities, in addition to the 700 select men of Gibeah. Num 26:41Num 1:37Jdg 20:25Jdg 20:35Jdg 20:46-47 Among all these soldiers there were 700 select left-handers, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair without missing. Jdg 3:151Ch 12:21Sa 17:401Sa 17:49-501Sa 25:292Ch 26:14
The Israelites, apart from Benjamin, mobilized 400,000 swordsmen, each one an experienced warrior. 1Ch 21:51Sa 11:81Sa 15:42Ch 17:14-18Jdg 20:2Num 1:46Num 26:51
Civil War against Benjamin
The Israelites set out, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God, “Who of us shall go up first to fight against the Benjamites?” Jdg 20:23Jdg 20:26-27Num 27:21Gen 49:8-10Num 27:5Jdg 1:1-2Jdg 18:31Jdg 19:18
“Judah will be first,” the LORD replied.
The next morning the Israelites set out and camped near Gibeah. Jos 3:1Jos 6:12Jos 7:16 And the men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and took up their battle positions at Gibeah.
And the Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down 22,000 Israelites on the battlefield that day. Hos 10:9Jdg 20:25Jer 12:12Ch 28:10Deu 23:9Ecc 9:1-3Gen 49:27Psa 33:16
But the Israelite army took courage and again took their battle positions in the same place where they had arrayed themselves on the first day. 1Sa 30:62Sa 11:25Jdg 20:15Jdg 20:17Psa 64:5 They went up and wept before the LORD until evening, inquiring of Him, “Should we again draw near for battle against our brothers the Benjamites?” Jdg 20:26-27Hos 5:15Jos 7:6Psa 78:34-36Jdg 20:18
And the LORD answered, “Go up against them.”
On the second day the Israelites advanced against the Benjamites. That same day the Benjamites came out against them from Gibeah and cut down another 18,000 Israelites, all of them armed with swords. Jdg 20:21Rom 11:33Gen 18:25Job 9:12-13Psa 97:2Rom 2:5Rom 3:5
Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, where they sat weeping before the LORD. That day they fasted until evening and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD. Jdg 20:23Jol 2:12-18Ezr 8:21Ezr 9:4-5Jdg 20:181Sa 7:62Ch 20:3Jol 1:14 And the Israelites inquired of the LORD. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, 1Sa 4:3-4Jos 18:1Jdg 20:18Isa 59:1Jdg 20:23Jer 7:12Num 27:21Psa 78:60-61 and Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, served before it.) The Israelites asked, “Should we again go out to battle against our brothers the Benjamites, or should we stop?” Jdg 7:9Deu 18:5Jos 24:33Deu 10:81Sa 14:371Sa 23:4-121Sa 30:82Ch 20:17
The LORD answered, “Fight, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”
So Israel set up an ambush around Gibeah. Jos 8:42Sa 5:23Jdg 20:34 On the third day the Israelites went up against the Benjamites and arrayed themselves against Gibeah as they had done before. The Benjamites came out against them and were drawn away from the city. They began to attack the people as before, killing about thirty men of Israel in the fields and on the roads, one of which led up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah. Jos 8:14-16Isa 10:29Jdg 19:13-14Jos 7:5
“We are defeating them as before,” said the Benjamites. Jos 8:15-16
But the Israelites said, “Let us retreat and draw them away from the city onto the roads.”
So all the men of Israel got up from their places and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar, and the Israelites in ambush charged from their positions west of Gibeah. 2 Jos 8:18-22 Then 10,000 select men from all Israel made a frontal assault against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjamites did not realize that disaster was upon them. Isa 47:11Jos 8:14Job 21:131Th 5:3Ecc 8:11-12Ecc 9:12Isa 3:10-11Luk 21:34 The LORD defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords. Job 20:5Jdg 20:15Jdg 20:44-46 Then the Benjamites realized they had been defeated. Jos 8:15-29
Now the men of Israel had retreated before Benjamin because they were relying on the ambush they had set against Gibeah. The men in ambush rushed suddenly against Gibeah; they advanced and put the whole city to the sword. Jos 8:19Exo 19:13Jos 6:5
The men of Israel had arranged a signal with the men in ambush: When they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city, 2Ki 4:16Gen 17:21Jos 8:20 the men of Israel would turn in the battle. Jdg 20:32
When the Benjamites had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They are defeated before us as in the first battle.” But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, the Benjamites looked behind them and saw the whole city going up in smoke. Jos 8:20Jol 2:30Rev 19:3Gen 19:28Sng 3:6
Then the men of Israel turned back on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had come upon them. 1Th 5:32Pe 2:12Luk 17:27-28Luk 21:26Exo 15:9-10Isa 13:8-9Isa 33:14Rev 18:8-10 So they fled before the men of Israel toward the wilderness, but the battle overtook them, and the men coming out of the cities struck them down there. Jos 8:24Hos 10:9Hos 9:9Jos 8:15Lam 1:3 They surrounded the Benjamites, pursued them, and easily overtook them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east. Jos 8:20-22 And 18,000 Benjamites fell, all men of valor.
Then the Benjamites turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel cut down 5,000 men on the roads. And they overtook them at Gidom and struck down 2,000 more. Jos 15:32Jdg 21:131Ch 6:77Zec 14:10
That day 25,000 Benjamite swordsmen fell, all men of valor. Jdg 20:15Jdg 20:35 But 600 men turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months. Jer 14:7Hab 3:2Isa 1:9Jdg 21:13Lam 3:32Psa 103:9-10 And the men of Israel turned back against the other Benjamites and put to the sword all the cities, including the animals and everything else they found. And they burned down all the cities in their path. Deu 13:15-172Ch 25:132Ch 28:6-9Pro 18:19