Judges 19-21     Listen

NOTE: The last three chapters of Judges tell a story of how the Tribe of Benjamin could have become extinct. The point of the story isn't seen until we come to chapter 21. While Judges covers a period of Israel's history of 350 years or so, the events are not necessarily chronological. We see from Judges 20:28 that Phinehas (grandson of Aaron - Exodus 6:25, see notes) was involved in this episode, so this incident must have taken place during the first quarter of this period.

A Levite goes after his concubine (Judges 19)

1 And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote mountains of Ephraim. He took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
2 But his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there four whole months.
3 Then her husband arose and went after her, to speak kindly to her and bring her back, having his servant and a couple of donkeys with him. So she brought him into her father’s house; and when the father of the young woman saw him, he was glad to meet him.
4 Now his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, detained him; and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank and lodged there.
5 ¶ Then it came to pass on the fourth day that they arose early in the morning, and he stood to depart; but the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way.”
6 ¶ So they sat down, and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the young woman’s father said to the man, “Please be content to stay all night, and let your heart be merry.”
7 And when the man stood to depart, his father-in-law urged him; so he lodged there again.
8 Then he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart, but the young woman’s father said, “Please refresh your heart.” So they delayed until afternoon; and both of them ate.
9 ¶ And when the man stood to depart—he and his concubine and his servant—his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is now drawing toward evening; please spend the night. See, the day is coming to an end; lodge here, that your heart may be merry. Tomorrow go your way early, so that you may get home.”
10 ¶ However, the man was not willing to spend that night; so he rose and departed, and came opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). With him were the two saddled donkeys; his concubine was also with him.
11 They were near Jebus, and the day was far spent; and the servant said to his master, “Come, please, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and lodge in it.”
12 ¶ But his master said to him, “We will not turn aside here into a city of foreigners, who are not of the children of Israel; we will go on to Gibeah.”
13 So he said to his servant, “Come, let us draw near to one of these places, and spend the night in Gibeah or in Ramah.”
14 And they passed by and went their way; and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.
15 They turned aside there to go in to lodge in Gibeah. And when he went in, he sat down in the open square of the city, for no one would take them into his house to spend the night.
16 ¶ Just then an old man came in from his work in the field at evening, who also was from the mountains of Ephraim; he was staying in Gibeah, whereas the men of the place were Benjamites.
17 And when he raised his eyes, he saw the traveler in the open square of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”
18 ¶ So he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah toward the remote mountains of Ephraim; I am from there. I went to Bethlehem in Judah; now I am going to the house of the LORD. But there is no one who will take me into his house,
19 although we have both straw and fodder for our donkeys, and bread and wine for myself, for your female servant, and for the young man who is with your servant; there is no lack of anything.”
20 ¶ And the old man said, “Peace be with you! However, let all your needs be my responsibility; only do not spend the night in the open square.”
21 So he brought him into his house, and gave fodder to the donkeys. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.
22 ¶ As they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally!”
23 ¶ But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage.
24 Look, here is my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine; let me bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!”
25 But the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until morning; and when the day began to break, they let her go.
26 ¶ Then the woman came as the day was dawning, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, till it was light.
27 ¶ When her master arose in the morning, and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was his concubine, fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold.
28 And he said to her, “Get up and let us be going.” But there was no answer. So the man lifted her onto the donkey; and the man got up and went to his place.
29 ¶ When he entered his house he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and divided her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.
30 And so it was that all who saw it said, “No such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, confer, and speak up!”

A concubine was a second-class wife, yet there was nothing second class about her obligation to her husband. After this particular Levite's concubine received male guests other than her Levite husband, she left and headed back home to her father's house. After four months, the Levite goes to retrieve her.

Upon arrival, the concubine's father persuades the Levite to stay a couple days longer, but on the fifth day the Levite decides to leave in the afternoon after being persuaded not to leave that morning. Now there's not enough daylight to make the trip all the way back north to Ephraim from Bethlehem without lodging somewhere overnight. On his trip back, he won't take the hospitality of those who are not Jews (the Jebusites in Jerusalem - 6 miles from Bethlehem); instead, he insists on going to Gibeah (10 miles from Bethlehem) among the Tribe of Benjamin. He's still another 16 miles from his home in Shiloh.

However, as it turns out, Gibeah was a city full of Hebrew perverts! They surround the old man's house who had given lodging to the Levite and his party, and the men of the city are determined to have homosexual relations with the Levite. That's depraved! The old man offers his daughter and the Levite's concubine instead; the Levite gives up his concubine for them to abuse all night. No wonder she had left him four months ago! She is dead by sunrise. So much for Levite bravery! Upon her death, this story gets even more bizarre. The Levite sends out some very unusual mail to the other tribes of Israel - her body parts divided 12 ways. How do you even wrap a package like that?

The Tribe of Benjamin defends Gibeah (Judges 20)

1 So all the children of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.
2 And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers who drew the sword.
3 (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) ¶ Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?”
4 ¶ So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “My concubine and I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night.
5 And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died.
6 So I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they committed lewdness and outrage in Israel.
7 Look! All of you are children of Israel; give your advice and counsel here and now!”
8 ¶ So all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house;
9 but now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up against it by lot.
10 We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel.”
11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man.
12 ¶ Then the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has occurred among you?
13 Now therefore, deliver up the men, the perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel!” But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel.
14 Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah, to go to battle against the children of Israel.
15 And from their cities at that time the children of Benjamin numbered twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered seven hundred select men.
16 Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss.
17 Now besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.
18 ¶ Then the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God to inquire of God. They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” ¶ The LORD said, “Judah first!”
19 ¶ So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.
20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel put themselves in battle array to fight against them at Gibeah.
21 Then the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down to the ground twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites.
22 And the people, that is, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and again formed the battle line at the place where they had put themselves in array on the first day.
23 Then the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, “Shall I again draw near for battle against the children of my brother Benjamin?” ¶ And the LORD said, “Go up against him.”
24 ¶ So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day.
25 And Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah on the second day, and cut down to the ground eighteen thousand more of the children of Israel; all these drew the sword.
26 ¶ Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, went up and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
27 So the children of Israel inquired of the LORD (the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
28 and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?” ¶ And the LORD said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.”
29 ¶ Then Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah.
30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in battle array against Gibeah as at the other times.
31 So the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at the other times, in the highways (one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
32 And the children of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us, as at first.” ¶ But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.”
33 So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel’s men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba.
34 And ten thousand select men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjamites did not know that disaster was upon them.
35 The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel. And the children of Israel destroyed that day twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites; all these drew the sword.
36 ¶ So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah.
37 And the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah; the men in ambush spread out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword.
38 Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise up from the city,
39 whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty of the men of Israel. For they said, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”
40 But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke to heaven.
41 And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them.
42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and whoever came out of the cities they destroyed in their midst.
43 They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily trampled them down as far as the front of Gibeah toward the east.
44 And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor.
45 Then they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon; and they cut down five thousand of them on the highways. Then they pursued them relentlessly up to Gidom, and killed two thousand of them.
46 So all who fell of Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all these were men of valor.
47 ¶ But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months.
48 And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them down with the edge of the sword—from every city, men and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to.

When Israel organizes an army to punish the men of Gibeah, what do the men of the Tribe of Benjamin do? Well...they stand up for the people of their own tribe, refuse the extradition of these men and boycott the gathering of the twelve tribes. If you pay close attention to verse 5 here and compare it to 19:25, it would appear that the Levite didn't tell the story quite like it happened. In fact, the Levite gave his concubine to them; she wasn't taken by force as he related the story to all of Israel. I think that may have been a fact that might have made Israel a little more passive about attacking Benjamin. But wait! There's more! According to the Law of Moses, weren't two witnesses required for testimony in capital punishment cases (Numbers 35:30, see notes; Deuteronomy 19:15, see notes)? I'm a little surprised that nobody brought that up. So, Israel goes to war with Benjamin!

The tribes of Israel cast lots (verse 9) to determine which tribe would take the lead in battle against Benjamin. We see in verse 18 that the Tribe of Judah gets the call first. Casting lots was the way in which the mind of God was discerned in such matters. For more information on this practice of casting lots, click here.

According to verse 15, the Tribe of Benjamin enlists 26,000 men for the battle. That number did not include the 700 men of Gibeah. Compare this figure to the census taken in Numbers 26 (see notes). There we see that at the end of the 40-year wandering, just before the beginning of the conquest, the adult male population of Benjamin was 46,600. Verse 17 tells us that the rest of Israel brings forth an army of some 400,000 men.

There is an incredible loss of life in Israel and especially within the Tribe of Benjamin as a result. The campaign took three battles to complete and resulted in 25,000+ deaths of soldiers of the Benjamites and 40,000 or so of the remaining tribes - all because of what happened to the Levite's wife at Gibeah. It is worth noting, however, that "the Lord" (verses 23 and 28) instructed Israel to continue pursuing the Benjamites on days two and three of the battle. Finally, decoy troops draw the Benjamites away from the city to battle while hiding soldiers are waiting for them; the plan works. After the smoke clears, only 600 men of Benjamin escape and the cities are burned, apparently with all the inhabitants therein (verse 48). The only Benjamite survivors of this tragic event are these 600 men who escaped.

I do wonder if the Israelite army became a little too zealous for the mission when they went through and destroyed the cities AFTER they had soundly defeated the Benjamites. The Lord did command them to go to battle that third day, the day on which they prevailed as seen in verses 28-30. However, after they prevailed in battle, Israel proceeded to destroy the non combatants as well (including women and children), an action which was not commanded by the Lord in this passage. As we'll see in Judges 21 (see below), this becomes a problem for Israel.

How will we get wives for those Benjamites? (Judges 21)

1 Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.”
2 Then the people came to the house of God, and remained there before God till evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly,
3 and said, “O LORD God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?”
4 ¶ So it was, on the next morning, that the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
5 The children of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up with the assembly to the LORD?” For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who had not come up to the LORD at Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.”
6 And the children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel today.
7 What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them our daughters as wives?”
8 ¶ And they said, “What one is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Mizpah to the LORD?” And, in fact, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.
9 For when the people were counted, indeed, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead was there.
10 So the congregation sent out there twelve thousand of their most valiant men, and commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and children.
11 And this is the thing that you shall do: You shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has known a man intimately.”
12 So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man intimately; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13 ¶ Then the whole congregation sent word to the children of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and announced peace to them.
14 So Benjamin came back at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead; and yet they had not found enough for them.
15 ¶ And the people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel.
16 ¶ Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?”
17 And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel.
18 However, we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn an oath, saying, “Cursed be the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.’ ”
19 Then they said, “In fact, there is a yearly feast of the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”
20 ¶ Therefore they instructed the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in wait in the vineyards,
21 and watch; and just when the daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their dances, then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh; then go to the land of Benjamin.
22 Then it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we will say to them, “Be kind to them for our sakes, because we did not take a wife for any of them in the war; for it is not as though you have given the women to them at this time, making yourselves guilty of your oath.’ ”
23 ¶ And the children of Benjamin did so; they took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they caught. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them.
24 So the children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family; they went out from there, every man to his inheritance.
25 ¶ In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Oooooops, we have a problem! After four months, the remaining Benjamite men come out of hiding, but they are all single men now since their families had been wiped out in the war, an action which had not been sanctioned by the Lord. As a matter of fact, the actions here in Judges 21 appear to be conceived without the counsel of God as well. Here's the issue: Do we let the Tribe of Benjamin now disappear? After all, the rest of Israel had made an oath not to let their daughters marry a Benjamite (verse 1), and you know how seriously the Jews take their oaths. For more on the danger of breaking an oath, click here to read the notes on Numbers 30.

You can see the problem. Well, the story continues to be...well...just bizarre. There was a city of Israel that had declined to participate in the war - Jabesh-gilead, a city of Jews east of the Jordan. Having vowed not to let their daughters marry a Benjamite, the warring Jewish tribes felt liberty to destroy Jabesh-gilead for their lack of participation in the war (and the vow) and subsequently take all of their virgins and present them to the remaining 600 Benjamites as wives. But there's yet another problem - only 400 of them; we're still 200 short - need 600. So these remaining 200 single Jewish male Benjamites were instructed to kidnap the dancing girls (single Jewish females) on their way to the upcoming Jewish festival at Shiloh and just take them as wives by force, no matter what tribe they're from; all of this was sanctioned by the leadership of Israel. No dowry, no parental approval, no arranged wedding - just take 'em. This was done, and the complaining parents of these girls were told, "tough" by the leadership of Israel. That way no one was violating their oath because these dancing girls were not "given" in marriage by their fathers. WHAT A TECHNICALITY!

Incidentally, some have speculated that this was the "yearly feast" known as the Feast of Tabernacles. However, we are told in Nehemiah 8:17, "So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness." This is a reference to the exiles starting back up this feast after they returned to the land in the fifth century B.C. So, according to this testimony, there was no Feast of Tabernacles celebration during the period of the Judges. That being the case, Passover is a more likely choice here.

And so, 600 Benjamite men now have 600 wives. By the way, the first king of Israel, Saul, would come from the Tribe of Benjamin. As a matter of fact, so did the Apostle Paul. So you see, the Tribe of Benjamin could have become extinct had it not been for a pretty unorthodox method of obtaining wives for the 600 of the remnant.

These last two chapters of Judges are quite disturbing. The last verse of the Book of Judges summarizes that whole era: Judges 21:25, "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Hey! When people do that which is right in their own eyes, it's not usually right in God's eyes.