Judges 20 Study Notes

20:22-25 In spite of this initial setback, Israel persisted in the conflict. They sought the Lord again and wept before him, as they had in 2:4-5. They asked for confirmation of their course: Should we again attack our brothers the Benjaminites? The answer was affirmative, but once again they were defeated by the Benjaminites.

20:26-28 A third time, they went to the Lord. This time, in addition to weeping, they fasted and made offerings in recognition that their covenant relationship with God was broken and needed to be restored. They had also apparently brought the ark of the Lord from Shiloh, where the tabernacle was at this time, to Bethel, perhaps as a good-luck charm (cp. 1Sm 4). The high priest at this time was Phinehas, grandson of Aaron, a detail suggesting that the events described in this chapter took place at an early stage of the period of the judges. The Lord once again responded to their request for guidance, telling Israel that on the next day he would hand Benjamin over to them.

20:29-35 This time, Israel’s strategy was more complex, including a frontal assault combined with an ambush, a tactic borrowed from the attack on Ai in Jos 8. The main battle proceeded as before, with the Benjaminites coming out of the city to attack the Israelites and succeeding in inflicting casualties upon them. The Benjaminites believed that another victory lay in front of them. Like Samson, they assumed that nothing had changed, not knowing that the Lord was about to hand them over to their fate. However, the Israelite strategy was to absorb these losses and retreat before the Benjaminites, drawing them away from the city. Once they had successfully lured them away, they took up battle positions at Baal-tamar, an otherwise unknown location. Meanwhile, the Israelites who were hidden in ambush emerged, and ten thousand of them assaulted Gibeah. The Benjaminites continued to fight, but they were defeated; this time the casualties were virtually all on the Benjaminite side.

20:36-41 The ambush at Gibeah was a complete success, and the whole city was put to the sword. A great cloud of smoke signaled the Israelites’ success and announced the doom of the Benjaminites. Finally, when it was too late, the Benjaminites realized that disaster had struck them.

20:42-48 The defeated Benjaminites fled east, toward the wilderness, but there was no escape. Caught between the Israelite army and the troops emerging from Gibeah, Benjamin’s army suffered a total of twenty-five thousand casualties (vv. 44-45). A tiny remnant of six hundred men escaped and hid at Rimmon Rock, where there were many caves in which to hide. Meanwhile, the Israelite army returned to Benjamin and carried out a war of total destruction against its remaining occupants, human and animal, like those waged against the Canaanite population of the land. The tribe of Benjamin was almost completely destroyed.