The Appendices to the Book of Judges (Judges 17-21)

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Clarity

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Journey to Gibeah – Post 13

Heading North along the road, the Levite must have been happy to have finally been making some progress in his journey home at last.

Verse 10 seems to emphasize the obvious point that ‘his concubine was with him’. Perhaps the record is reminding us that his mission had been a success – she was with him, and contentedly so. He had sought her out after 4 months separation and had spoken ‘tenderly’ to her. Her fathers hospitality and those happy days in Bethlehem had been reassuring. Whatever the nature of the wrongs between them, they had been forgiven. The future must have looked brighter to her than it had done so for many months.

The journey to Jebus was a distance of about 10 kilometers from Bethlehem and upon drawing near to Jebus, the Levite’s servant was inclined to call it a day.

11 When they were near Jebus, the day was nearly over, and the servant said to his master, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.”

It was probably a very sensible suggestion all things considered, but no doubt frustrated by the repeated delays and wanting to get further along the road the Levite voices an additional reason for not stopping:

12 And his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will pass on to Gibeah.”

This decision of the Levite could be construed as quite an honorable one. The Jebusites were among the nations listed for destruction (Joshua 3:10) , and as early as Genesis 15 they had been listed as one of the nations destined to give way to the children of Israel (Genesis 15:21).

It seems that the Levite would either not seek hospitality from a nation God had marked out for destruction or he thought it unlikely he would receive a fitting welcome in such a place. It was a stance with immediate consequences. Not stopping at the city of Jebus meant that he was committed to another 6 kilometers of traveling near the end of the day in order to make it to Gibeah.

13 And he said to his young man, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah.”

As it turned out, reaching Gibeah before sundown was challenge enough. A further 3 kilometers in order to reach Ramah was soon revealed to be clearly out of the question.

14 So they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin,
15 and they turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. And he went in and sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night.

Making their way through the gates and into the city square, the Levite and company must have looked expectantly at passers by as they rushed to reach their respective abodes before sundown with thoughts of evening meals, family and the events of the day on their mind. The visitors would expect at any moment to hear a friendly greeting, an interested enquiry as to their origin and destination and perhaps an invitation of food and shelter for weary travelers. None came.

The first inkling that there would be trouble at Gibeah was manifested in the complete lack of hospitality shown to this traveling party. So much for insisting upon reaching an Israelite town! Ironically enough, it is highly probable that that the Levite would have received a better reception in Jebus than he did in this small town of Benjamin. In fact, by the end of the chapter we wonder if it could have been worse had the Jebusites tried to match it!

Why the lack of hospitality? Was it a case of Benjaminite parochialism? A knowledge of the spirit that ruled the town once night fell and the danger it represented to anyone who obstructed it? Or was it just plain dull, sullen inhospitality? No satisfactory answer as to why the locals failed to extend a warm reception to these travelers presents itself plainly. It is just as easy to note it is simply more evidence of every one ‘doing what was right in their own eyes’.

16 And behold, an old man was coming from his work in the field at evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning in Gibeah. The men of the place were Benjaminites.

We have already been told that Gibeah belongs to Benjamin and so we would expect it to be full of people from the tribe of Benjamin, and yet the record spells it out distinctly. ‘The men of the place were Benjaminites’. As well as making their tribal origin clear, it is perhaps calculated to tell us something of their character.

Jacob had spoken of Benjamin as a ‘ravenous wolf’ (Genesis 49:27) that would ‘devour the prey’ and ‘divide the spoil’. The Benjaminites could be fierce and brutal in disposition and quickly gained a reputation of being excellent warriors.

In short, you didn’t want to mess with these guys. You didn’t want to be on the streets of their city late at night when they came out to play.

And someone it seems, knew that. The ‘old man’ appears to be someone from the Levite’s ‘neck of the woods’. He’s living temporarily in Gibeah and just happens to be coming in from the day’s toil in the field:

17 And he lifted up his eyes and 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?”

At last we hear the interested and friendly enquiry that the visitors have been holding out for.
In his response one can tell that the Levite is somewhat ‘put out’ by not having received hospitality.

18 And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to the house of the Lord, but no one has taken me into his house.

These are obviously the days before the ‘Best Western’ motels and ‘Holiday Inns’. Travelers relied on carrying with them their own provisions and the spontaneous care and kindness of hospitable countrymen for shelter and warmth.

This is the first we hear of the Levite’s intention to go to the house of the Lord and one wonders if this was true or added merely for effect. It appears there may have been something about him that marked him as being a Levite, therefore adding to his surprise that he had not been showered with goodwill and invitation.

19 We have straw and feed for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and your female servant and the young man with your servants. There is no lack of anything.”

The Levite explains that they are self sufficient and would therefore represent no burden to anyone offering them shelter for the night.
However, the old man needs no such assurance. He is more than happy to house and feed the visitors. Perhaps it takes an older man with the memory of the older values of a fading generation to show the kindness that Israel should have been renowned for.

20 And the old man said, “Peace be to you; I will care for all your wants. Only, do not spend the night in the square.”

There is an ominous shade to the phrase ‘do not spend the night in the square’. It appears the old man knew it wasn’t safe to do that.
The words are very reminiscent of the angel’s words in Genesis 19:2 when, upon entering Sodom they said to Lot: “we will spend the night in the town square” Lot was alarmed at such an idea and insisted that they do no such thing. The old man in Gibeah all but does the same.

The parallels between Gibeah and Sodom are just beginning.

21 So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys feed. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

At last the travelers are experiencing hospitality in Gibeah. Weary limbs aching from the steep ascent to Gibeah are resting, feet caked with the dust of the highway have been cleansed and soothed and the perennial comfort of good food and drink is now before them. All seems well.

But night has now fallen in Gibeah. And a dark night it is.
 

Clarity

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A Dark Night – Post 14

As the old man’s visitors relax and begin to ‘make their hearts merry’, word is evidently spreading around the village of Gibeah of their arrival.
Particular note seems to have been taken of the Levite himself, for it is he that is initially the focus later in the night.
Intelligence is soon garnered as to where they are staying and before long certain ‘interested parties’ have made their way to the old man’s abode.

22 As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.”

The home of the hospitable host is now besieged and the insistent demands of the men of Gibeah echo the demands that were made of Lot centuries before as the men of Sodom surrounded his house (Genesis 19:5).

The phrase ‘worthless fellows’ is going to be an important one in this study. It is literally: ‘sons of worthlessness’, and the NET has ‘good for nothings’.

Every town has its ‘local hooligans’, but it appears that a large portion of the men of Gibeah fell into this category. There is no check on these men’s nocturnal activities by any local ‘leaders’ of the community and later when Gibeah is called to give account over the events that unfold this night, there is no noble eldership of the city stepping forward to acknowledge the wrongdoing and hand over the culpable ‘minority’. It seems it just wasn’t like that.

Upon understanding the demands of the men of Gibeah, we might feel that descriptions of ‘wicked’ or ‘worthless’ seems to understate the matter somewhat. In a translation note on the euphemistic phrase ‘that we may know him’, the NET says:

On the surface one might think they simply wanted to meet the visitor and get to know him, but their hostile actions betray their double-talk. The old man, who has been living with them long enough to know what they are like, seems to have no doubts about the meaning of their words.

The angels in Genesis 19 had arrived in Sodom only to find that it was nothing more than a large ‘red light district’. It seems that Gibeah was no different. These men were guilty of the proverbial ‘sin of Sodom’ (Romans 1:24-27, Leviticus 18:22, 1st Corinthians 6:9-10).

The owner of the house however, is determined to appeal to the men of Gibeah:

23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing.

His appeal is to one of common decency in relations to matters of hospitality; “this man is come into mine house!”
The violation of the safe haven that is his home represents the height of discourtesy and he hopes that reminding them of this this will curtail their behaviour.

We are not surprised of course to find that such an appeal fell on deaf ears. Perhaps he wasn’t either, but his next attempt is a desperate offer of an alternative that he somehow seems to have considered as ‘the lesser of two evils’.

24 Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do this outrageous thing.”

It is very hard to find anyone who acts nobly in this story and we can hardly excuse the old man’s solution here on the basis of the nature of ‘eastern hospitality’. His solution seems to be an endeavor to save his guest by having the men channel their lust in more ‘legitimate’ ways as if to say “If you must commit a crime, let it be rather this than this…”
The most we can say for such reasoning is that it seems to have been the result of mortal fear.

At the height of the crisis recorded in Genesis 19, Lot and his daughters had been saved by the fact that his guests happened to be mighty angels who blinded the men of the city who were assaulting the house (Genesis 19:10-11), but this old man’s guests are no angels, and the men outside are only blinded by their lust and ‘deep corruption’.

The tumult from outside would have been frightening to say the least. One can only too vividly imagine the hammering on the door, loud curses, insistent demands and the threats of violence. The fear in the room would be palpable, and the terror must have increased tenfold for the women as they heard the solution offered by the master of the house. Had it really come to this? In alarm they would look at one another and then in turn to each of the three men in the room.

The daughter would naturally appeal to her father. The Levite’s concubine, to her ‘lord’.

It is now we see the extent of the reconciliation between the Levite and his concubine. Having bonded with her father for five days in Bethlehem, having travelled all the way from Mount Ephraim to find her, speak ‘tenderly’ to her and bring her back to his home, it has come down to this moment to reveal the extent of his love and loyalty to her.

It is not enough, and in a proverbial ‘moment of truth’ his streak of self preservation wins through over any feelings of compassion or protectiveness that he may have felt for his wife… and thus the first act of violence she experiences on this night is at the hands of her husband as he physically forces her out of the door.

25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go.

The door of the house opened and the men of the city; baying, bloodthirsty and ravening wolves that they were, were flung a morsel. It was not what they had been demanding. It would have to suffice.

We allow the veil to fall over the sad and sickening scene that ensues. Subjected to an horrific ordeal of sadistic brutality, it was not until the first glimmer of dawn was discernible in the night sky above Gibeah that she was released.

Dawn… ‘daybreak when the shadows flee’ is spoken of in scripture as the time of salvation and deliverance (Psalm 46:5), the ending of a long, dark night comes at dawn and with it the joy of salvation (Psalm 30:5, Isaiah 17:14). Night has its power, (Luke 22:53) and in such a time the deeds of darkness are done (John 3:19-20) but dawn brings the sun with its healing and revealing rays (Malachi 4:2).

Alas. It did not come soon enough for the woman of Bethlehem. She staggered as far as the door of the house where her lord slept and succumbing to her injuries sank on the threshold.

26 And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light.

As the sun arose it did so to reveal a pitiful figure lying motionless in the doorway, her hands outstretched for help that never came.
 

Clarity

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The Cold Light of Day – Post 15

The night before, the Levite had made a choice and as the noise receded from outside the besieged door of the residence in which he was guest it would be obvious that the tactic of offering up his concubine had been successful. For now at least, he was safe.

One might imagine that having thrown his concubine to the pack of ‘merciless wolves’ the Levite would be reduced to a trembling mess in agonies over what he had done. Perhaps we might expect to see him fall to his knees in prayer for her deliverance and at the very least keep vigil through the night, looking out from the door periodically to see if there was any sign of her.

If he did so, we are not told and indeed the record is about to paint him in such a way that has us doubting he did any of these things. There is no doubt that this individual is as enigmatic as any character we read in these chapters.

27 And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold.

To be fair we are not told specifically that the Levite slept that night and yet when we read that people ‘rose up in the morning’, its usually fair to assume they do so from sleep.

We might deem it impossible for him to do so under the circumstances if it wasn’t for the conundrum this individual presents and the fact that if someone had been watching and listening for any sign of the concubine’s return the door would have been opened to her immediately. No doubt her return would have been accompanied initially by a faintly audible and plaintive cry that a sensitive and alert mind indoors would have heard and immediately responded to.

One can only conclude that the door was locked and barred and the inhabitants asleep. It is an indictment on them. Really.

Having risen ‘in the morning’ and ‘opened the doors of the house’ we might expect the record to say that the Levite did so with the intention of finding his concubine. However, we are told that he ‘went out to go his way’. The record seems to be purposefully painting the Levite as nonchalantly preparing to continue on his way as if nothing unusual had occurred.

Perhaps he had already given up the woman as lost or dead. Either way, he appears surprised to find her sprawled in his path ‘behold!’. Upon discovering such a scene on the doorstep, we desire to read of his desperate attempts to resuscitate her. Having felt pity and sorrow over the ghastly ordeal she has endured we long to see one shred of tenderness towards this poor woman from the man who had so recently delighted her father with their reconciliation.

We are disappointed. And we are dismayed at what follows:

28 And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and got him unto his place.

Her crumpled body bearing all the hallmarks of the abuse she has been subjected to lies before him and all he can summon from within his calloused soul is an imperious command: “Up, and let us be going”. This man had been able to summon tender words when it suited him but his seeming indifference to her suffering scandalizes us.

Is he in denial? In shock? Is it possible he had no idea she could be severely injured? As much as we would like to alleviate our perplexity by grasping at such possibilities, they seem unlikely.

And so, too ‘matter-of-factly’ for our comfort, he takes up her body, places it on his ass and continued his journey home.

As inscrutable as this Levite is, it is a deeply disturbed man that departs Gibeah. No doubt cursing the city as he left, he does appear to be intensely aggrieved at the injustice of what has occurred, and it seems that with every step he took on his homeward journey his anger and outrage increased.

At some point on that journey home he made a decision that was to have profound consequences.
He simply will not allow the sleeping wolves of Gibeah to lie undisturbed and by journey’s end he has calculated what will be necessary in order to engineer retribution on Gibeah.

Thus there will be no dignified burial for this woman. No covering of earth to hide the evidence of Gibeah’s vile deed. Rather the opposite. Everyone would see it. Everyone would feel as he did now. All will experience the outrage and fury that burns in his breast. He will ensure it, and he knows how to do so.

29 And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.

And so this macabre chapter reaches its sickening nadir.

With no common court of law in which to formally appeal and no King with whom to plead his case the Levite finds a way to convey the brutality and shame of what had occurred in Gibeah to all Israel.
He cuts his concubine’s corpse into twelve pieces and sends a grisly stinking portion to every tribe — including Benjamin.

It was a ghastly thing to do and yet it is questionable if any other method could have achieved the result that those gruesome packages did. Eleven tribes were unified in disgust and morally outraged at the miscreants of Gibeah as a result.

30 And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.

Despite the tribes of Israel having recently been involved in battles to obtain their inheritance in the land, and the inevitable proximity to violent death such recent history would result in, it’s intriguing and perhaps instructive to realise that the tribes were shocked and deeply disturbed by the arrival in their midst of the pieces of the concubine’s dismembered corpse.

Evidently, life was still precious in their eyes, and they saw evidence of such brutality as this as unprecedented despite their recent history. This seems to indicate that the wars which were conducted against the Canaanites must have been done so in a judicial and restrained way intentionally devoid of gratuitous murder and sadistic cruelty. Such would be consistent with the revealed character of Yahweh their God.

A brief message of limited explanation must have accompanied the parcels that each tribe received and it evidently ended with an impassioned appeal: ‘Consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds’, perhaps more accurately translated: “Think about her! Consider it! Speak up!”

And think about her they did.
Before long the land was abuzz with the news of what had occurred in Gibeah.
The poor victim consumed their thoughts and one can hear the audible gasps and expressions of disgust as thoughts on the crime of Gibeah were exchanged and hurriedly repeated from village to village throughout the land.

Spontaneously and haphazardly, outraged men gathered, first on street corners and in the market places, but increasingly in a more formal and deliberate manner as serious discussions in the village squares turned into formal councils in which tribal elders met and conferred.

The voices for justice and reprisal grew louder, alarmingly strident and ominously unanimous.

The march to civil war and excessive human vengeance had begun.
 

Clarity

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Chapter 19 in Reflection – Post 16

In reflecting briefly on chapter 19 before moving on, there is no doubt that there are aspects of this story that seem utterly incongruous to us. We are not likely to have found anyone in this story who impresses us as being morally superior. It doesn’t matter who we examine, we are perplexed and disappointed.

We are outraged and disgusted firstly of course, with the men of Gibeah for their shameful behavior and sickening depravity.
We feel grateful at first to meet the ‘old man’ who was a temporary resident in Gibeah until his hospitality is manifested to such an absurd extreme as to have him offer his daughter and his guest’s concubine to the men of Gibeah.
We might wonder if he only ever had the concubine in view and the mention of his daughter was a mere stratagem to prompt the Levite’s hand, but by this stage we can hardly be sure of anyone’s thinking.
And lastly, perhaps chiefly we are baffled and repulsed by the Levite himself, for his cowardly self-preservation and heartless treatment of his concubine whom he gave over to the men of Gibeah.

How could he do this? What was he thinking?
Had the frustrations in departing from Bethlehem resulted in new tensions in their already fragile relationship?
Having achieved his objective and having her in his possession again, was it time to mete out some punishment for her behaviour 4 months previous?
Did he view her as already defiled in some way so therefore whatever transpired when he put her outdoors was irrelevant?
Or could it be we are being too harsh in our judgment and failing to appreciate the behaviour that mortal fear can engender?

A brief summary of the Levite’s actions in this chapter:

◦ Waits four months to initiate reconciliation with his concubine
◦ Travels some distance and speaks tenderly to her winning her heart again and an invite into her father’s house
◦ Tarries 4 days eating and drinking with his father in law at Bethlehem
◦ En-route home, he refuses to stay in a Canaanite city (Jebus)
◦ He presents himself in Gibeah as a Levite on the way to the House of God
◦ Grabs his concubine and thrusts her into the street to certain abuse in order to save himself
◦ Apparently retires for the night, learning nothing more of her predicament until the morning when he discovers her on his way out
◦ Expects the woman to rise up at his command
◦ Carries her to his home and dismembers her for purposes ensuring vengeance is wrought on Gibeah

An enigma indeed. And it is significant that after one more part to play in chapter 20, he if off the scene and unheard of again. And this probably suits us just fine.

Perhaps at the end of the story we feel the most sympathy for the woman herself who was the victim of the crime and whilst that may be appropriate, we must also remember that at the beginning of this story even her character is depicted in a rather ambiguous light.

The fact is that almost everyone in this story is either flawed, contradictory or inscrutable to some degree and this is partly due to the the brilliance of the narrator. It’s his intention to create this effect and he has done so masterfully. It is, after all, a record of ‘every man doing that which is right in their own eyes’.

I’m going to let Joan Thomas, writing about this chapter in 1972 have the last word for this post:

Perhaps it is significant that in the whole of this distressing chapter there is no mention of God, no prayer for help, no appeal made in His name by any of the people concerned, yet the chief character was a Levite, who was supposed to teach the people the ways of God. We can but deduce that God had ceased to be a part of their lives; there was no personal awareness of His presence, not even when in great trouble. It is a warning.
 

Clarity

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The Muster of the Tribes - Post 17

It was a spirit of righteous indignation that quickened the step of the marching footmen that were converging on the city of Mizpah. The great muster of the tribes was underway. Never in its short history had the nation of Israel been so united in a cause as they are now marching on their brother Benjamin. There is grave wrongdoing to be punished and it will be done so by means of a holy war. This war will be initiated on the assumption that Yahweh Himself is at one with their spirit and judgment. And how could it be otherwise? Everyone knew what that poor woman had suffered. Gibeah must burn.
The first verse of Judges 20 is jam packed with information. There are keys in this verse that unlock this whole section. Let’s not miss them!

1 Then all the people of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, and the congregation assembled as one man to the LORD at Mizpah.


The assembly that gathers in Mizpah have come from all corners of the land, from the North to the South. How intriguing however, that it doesn’t say that. Instead we come across a phrase that has never been used in scripture before – ‘from Dan to Beersheba’.

Of course, it is not surprising that this is the first time we read this phrase for as we will recall, it is only very recently that this phrase could have the meaning ‘from North to South’.
Up until the events in Judges 18 which we have recently reviewed, Dan had not been situated in the extreme North of the land. Their inheritance had been South of Mount Ephraim.
Significantly, this phrase informs us that these 5 chapters (17-21) are chronological. The events of chapter 19-21 occur after the events of chapters 17 and 18.
This seems like a very obvious point, however the importance of noting it at this stage in our study cannot be overstated.


It also means that among the fighting men assembled against Benjamin are warriors with more recent experience in battle than perhaps any of the other Israelites gathered. Men of Dan.

We are also told that the land of Gilead has assembled. This refers to the three tribes that had settled on the East side of the Jordan, which were the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh (Joshua 22:9). There is an incident in the recent history of the tribes in which these three tribes of Gilead figured rather prominently. It is worth briefly recounting.

We read of it in Joshua 22 which records how the tribes on the West of the Jordan river suspected that the three tribes in the East had fallen into the rebellious sin of idolatry.
Concerned that their sin of idolatry would bring the anger of God upon the ‘whole congregation of Israel’, they had gathered against them for war just as they were now gathering against Benjamin.
Stridently, they reminded the tribes from Gilead of the warning in the law against idolatry. They also reminded them of recent events in which the the sin of one man – Achan in Joshua 7 had resulted in God’s anger falling on ‘all the congregation of Israel’. ‘That man’ they reminded them, ‘perished not alone for his iniquity’.
The tribes of Gilead were innocent. Their actions had been misunderstood. They explained the truth of the situation. Phinehas who had been the spokesman for the tribes of the West accepted their explanation. A crisis was averted. They were not guilty of the sin of idolatry. Everyone was relieved.


And now these three tribes of the East – Reuben, Gad and Manasseh are present with the rest of the tribes – gathered together against Benjamin in a case far less ambiguous than was their own.

There is something odd about the phrase ‘the congregation assembled as one man to the LORD at Mizpah
Did you pick it up? If the congregation wanted to assemble ‘to the LORD’, then surely the place to do it was at Shiloh where the tabernacle had been set up. (Joshua 19:5, Judges 18:31)
Instead the tribes make their way to Mizpah. Was Mizpah really the place to seek the LORD, or did they assemble there because it was a perfect staging ground for the war they had already decided to wage?


Some 4 miles north-west of Jerusalem, and situated on the loftiest hill in the region, Mizpah, meaning ‘watchtower’ was a border fortress that occupied a commanding position… in Benjamin.
Yes that’s right, it just so happens that Mizpah was one of the 26 cities given to Benjamin as an inheritance. (Joshua 18:26)
An appeal is yet to be made to Benjamin, but when it done so, it is done by representatives of a fighting force of 400,000 footmen already poised and ready for action inside their territory.
One thing is certain, that long before messengers were sent to appeal to the men of Benjamin, the men of Benjamin were already assembling a fighting force of their own.


2 And the chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 men on foot that drew the sword.

Assembled in a solemn and determined fashion, the 11 tribes of Israel come together in an impressive show of unanimity. Verse 1 had described their accordance in a vivid way. They came together ‘as one man’. It’s a phrase that will be repeated twice more in just the next few verses highlighting the extraordinary degree of unity which the tribes felt in relation to the crime of Gibeah and the need for a response.

We later find that only one village in Israel failed to respond to this call. Their absence did not go unnoticed as we will soon discover.

Such a gathering and such obvious unity would result in a heady atmosphere indeed and a phrase in verse 2 reveals to us how the gathered assembly view themselves – they are ‘the people of God’ united in a just and holy cause.

A holy God demands a holy people and a holy people must champion holy ways. Such are the noble and high-minded thoughts which creased the grave and furrowed brows of the ‘chiefs’ of the tribes as they ‘presented themselves’ before the holy congregation of armed foot-soldiers. There is an ugly speck in the eye of Benjamin to be removed – a task for ‘the people of God’ to be sure!

But the great one to come warned that examination of one’s brother should be preceded by an even closer and more searching examination of oneself.

Matthew 7
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?


Eleven tribes were now united ‘as one man’. It is how they viewed themselves, and tragically for them, God will indulge their perspective and also view them ‘as one man’ – tragically, for in their midst is a traitor. In their midst is a serpent. In their midst is one that with arrogance and hypocrisy stands as ‘one of the tribes of Israel’ to judge a brother guilty and worthy of utter destruction.

Guilty Benjamin will prove to be. Worthy of punishment he will prove to be.

But is he alone in this?

With all eyes turned toward the iniquity of one town in one tribe in which one woman had lost her life, those same eyes failed to look towards the North where a spiritual cancer, deliberately unleashed and hitherto unchecked was already taking the lives of thousands and threatening to spill beyond the tribe it had already permeated to the rest of the nation.

But the perpetrators of this crime had found the perfect place to hide.
Taking their place among the ‘people of God’, they too expressed vehement outrage at the doings of Gibeah and thus escaped human scrutiny.


But there is One who sees all.

And as the Levite of ‘chapter 19 infamy’ stepped in front of the chiefs of the people to give context to his butchery and seal the fate of the whole tribe of Benjamin, someone stepped forward to ask him:

“Tell us, how did this evil happen?”

We are told that ‘the children of Israel’ asked this question.

And we wonder.

Could it be… might it have been… is it possible… that the question was asked by a member of the delegation from the tribe of Dan?
 

Clarity

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The Levite's Story - Post 18

Although it is stated that ‘all the tribes’ were represented at the great gathering in Mizpah, it is obvious that one tribe was excepted. Benjamin had not responded to the summons. Intelligence had reached Benjamin of the gathering forces and Judges 20:3 informs us that they were acutely aware of the presence of the standing army now mustered in their territory.

The concept of the nation of Israel gathering together to punish a rebellious tribe or city in their midst is not foreign to the law and in fact the law described certain scenarios in which just such a circumstance might occur.
However, the law was clear that prior to any collective action being taken, a painstaking and thorough investigation was to take place.

Deuteronomy 13
14-15 ‘…then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword…’

Armed, in position and of one mind, there was still the matter of thorough investigation and inquiry to go through. The tribes must hear of the matter. They must be given a full report, and so the Levite was summoned to give an account of the events which had occurred in Gibeah.

If the principle in the law that ‘only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established’ (Deuteronomy 19:15) was followed, we might imagine that the servant of the Levite and the ‘old man’ who was sojourning in Gibeah were also called upon to give an account of the events in Gibeah on that fateful night. If they were, we are not told and given the degree to which many of those present seem to have already arrived at their conclusion, we can’t be confident that the gathered tribes deemed further witness than that which the Levite gave as necessary. Perhaps they considered the concubine as having already provided her testimony.

After what we have read in Judges 19 of this man, there is no doubt that we would like to see him subjected to a thorough cross examination. It’s highly probable that we can think of a number of ‘searching questions’ we’d like to put to him. For this reason we watch and listen with interest as the first (and it seems ‘only’) ‘searching’, ‘diligent’ and ‘inquiring’ question is addressed to the Levitical butcher.

Judges 20
3 (Now the people of Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the people of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this evil happen?”
4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.

We are almost tempted to say ‘so far so good’, and yet with his phrase ‘Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin’ he seems to be deliberately widening the circle of complicity. He continues:

5 And the leaders of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house against me by night. They meant to kill me, and they violated my concubine, and she is dead.

We are not told in Judges 19 that it was the leaders of Gibeah that surrounded the house in which the Levite and his concubine were guests. This is seemingly new information. It may very well be true. However it does seem calculated to increase yet more the culpability of the tribe of Benjamin. The impression created by testifying that it was the ‘leaders of Gibeah’ is vastly different to if he had merely said ‘certain men of Gibeah’.

The Levite then relates that the men of Gibeah had intended to murder him. It may well be that what they had in mind would have resulted in his death and it may be argued that their intentions were akin to murder, and yet one cannot help but feel that the Levite is veiling some significant details in his recounting of the story here. He explains that they ‘meant to kill me’ and then seems to portray the men of Gibeah as having an inexplicable change of plan. They ‘violated’ his concubine instead. The outcome of their siege of the house, the means by which he escaped their ‘murderous designs’ and how the concubine ended up in their hands is conveniently passed over.
Perhaps the pity of the listeners for one who had endured such a traumatic ordeal caused them to spare him having to relive the incidents in detail resulting in him being allowed to gloss over some of the sordid (and inconvenient) details.

We probably feel as if we would be less inclined to spare him.

6 So I took hold of my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel, for they have committed abomination and outrage in Israel.

The Levite uses a couple of phrases for specific effect as he arrives at the end of his very brief recounting of the events in Gibeah.

It is to the ‘country of the inheritance of Israel’ that he had sent her. He masks the brutal nature of his own actions by presenting them in the light of the higher cause he was intending to achieve – defense of the sanctity of the holy land – ‘the inheritance of Israel’ and by so doing this appeals to their sense of righteous outrage.

The phrase ‘abomination’ (zimmâ) and ‘outrage’ (nĕbālâ) are words deliberately chosen. They echo passages of the law sure to strike a chord with ‘the people of God’. The word ‘abomination’ features prominently in Leviticus 18-20 where it is translated ‘depravity’ and used of incest and prostitution. The word ‘outrage’ is used of adultery and fornication. Both contexts in the law in which these words are used refer to purging out such behaviour ‘from your midst’. This is the Levite’s message.

He finishes with an appeal for their advice and seeming deference to their good judgment.

7 Behold, you people of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.”

Thus the Levite concludes his account of his sojourn in Gibeah. It is now over to the gathered ‘people of Israel’ to judge on the basis of what they have heard.

Will they be content with the facts as they have been presented? Has the Levite convinced them? Will their unity hold?