Judges 20:7-17

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

8 All the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn 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 and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to get victuals for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have worked in Israel.

11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

12 The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is happen among you?

13 Now therefore deliver up the men, the base fellows, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers the children of Israel.

14 The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

15 The children of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; everyone could sling stones at a hair-breadth, and not miss.

17 The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men who drew sword: all these were men of war.

Judges 20:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 20

This chapter relates, how that there was an assembly of the children of Israel at Mizpeh, upon what had happened to the concubine of the Levite, where he appeared and related the whole affair to them, Jud 20:1-7 upon which they unanimously agreed to chastise the inhabitants of Gibeah for what they had done, Jud 20:8-11, and in order to do that sent to the tribe of Benjamin to deliver the guilty, but instead of that they took to their arms, and prepared for battle in defence of them, Jud 20:12-17 and two battles ensued on this, in which the Israelites, who were on the right side of the question, were worsted, Jud 20:18-25 but upon their seeking the Lord again, and their humiliation before him, they engaged a third time in battle, and got an entire victory over the Benjaminites, and destroyed them all excepting six hundred men, Jud 20:26-48.