The big picture
The tribes of Israel, God's people, gather at Mizpeh, a meeting place, after receiving parts of a murdered woman's body. Her husband, a Levite from the tribe linked with sacred service, reports what happened in Gibeah, a town of Benjamin. Benjamin is itself one of Israel's tribes. It refuses to hand over the attackers. A demand to punish wicked men becomes a war among relatives, with heavy losses before Benjamin is almost wiped out.
In this chapter
- Benjamin Defends the Men of Gibeah Judges 20:1-17
Four hundred thousand fighters gather with Israel's leaders.
- Two Defeats Bring Tears and More Questions Judges 20:18-28
Israel asks God which tribe should lead, and he names Judah.
- An Ambush Leaves Benjamin Nearly Destroyed Judges 20:29-48
Israel sets an ambush and draws Benjamin away from Gibeah.
Central truth
Benjamin's refusal to surrender Gibeah's attackers turns Israel's demand for punishment into a devastating war against one of its own tribes.
Scripture beside the summary
Judges · King James Version · 48Judges 20:1-17
Benjamin Defends the Men of Gibeah
Four hundred thousand fighters gather with Israel's leaders. The Levite says Gibeah's men sought to kill him and raped his concubine until she died. He reports cutting up her body and sending it through the land. He does not mention that he handed her outside. The tribes agree to act and arrange supplies. They ask Benjamin to deliver the guilty men for death, but Benjamin refuses. Instead, it gathers fighters at Gibeah, including skilled left-handed slingers. The rest of Israel now faces armed resistance from its own brothers.
In everyday life
The disciplinary chair hears a club member describe serious harm while leaving out his own part in exposing the victim. When the club protects those accused, a larger dispute forms around the original wrong. She must separate loyalty from a fair account of events. Israel's dispute becomes armed conflict with mass death, not an internal hearing.
Notice
Judges 20:13 Benjamin is asked to hand over specific guilty men before the battle begins. Its refusal makes the tribe's wider defence part of the unfolding crisis.
Judges 20:1-17
King James Version1Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh.
2And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.
3(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness?
4And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.
5And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead.
6And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.
7Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.
8And 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 into his house.
9But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it;
10And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.
11So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.
12And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you?
13Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel:
14But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.
15And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
16Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.
17And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.
Judges 20:18-28
Two Defeats Bring Tears and More Questions
Israel asks God which tribe should lead, and he names Judah. Benjamin kills twenty-two thousand of Israel's men in the first battle. Israel weeps and asks whether to fight its brother again. God tells them to go, but eighteen thousand more die the next day. The people return to God, weeping, fasting and offering sacrifices. Phinehas, a priest, serves before the ark, the sacred chest linked with God's covenant. They ask whether to continue or stop. This time God promises to give Benjamin into their hands on the next day.
In everyday life
The search coordinator returns to the command tent after two rescue attempts fail. The team grieves the losses and asks whether another attempt is right. Resolve alone no longer answers their questions. They need guidance about what to do next. Israel consults God in a civil war, and its final answer includes a promise of victory.
Notice
Judges 20:28 The last question allows for stopping as well as continuing. God's answer now promises the next day's outcome, which the earlier instructions had not stated.
Judges 20:18-28
King James Version18And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first.
19And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah.
20And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah.
21And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men.
22And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.
23(And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.)
24And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.
25And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
26Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
27And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
28And 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 Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.
Judges 20:29-48
An Ambush Leaves Benjamin Nearly Destroyed
Israel sets an ambush and draws Benjamin away from Gibeah. Benjamin thinks another victory is beginning, but hidden troops enter the town and kill its people. Rising smoke marks the trap. Israel turns, and Benjamin's men flee as their defeat becomes clear. God brings Benjamin down before Israel. Thousands die in battle and pursuit. Six hundred escape to the rock Rimmon and remain there four months. Israel then attacks Benjamin's towns, killing people and animals and burning the places it reaches. A tribe's defence of offenders ends in ruin across its land.
In everyday life
The emergency planner walks a flooded street after a rushed repair sends water into another district. Empty homes show how many lives now carry the cost. She counts shelter needs rather than treating the protected district's safety as the whole result. A local solution has spread the loss. Benjamin's defeat involves God's judgement and widespread killing, not a failed repair.
Notice
Judges 20:47 Six hundred men survive by fleeing to the rock Rimmon. Their small remnant matters because the following destruction reaches Benjamin's towns as well as its army.
Judges 20:29-48
King James Version29And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah.
30And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.
31And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
32And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways.
33And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.
34And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them.
35And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.
36So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah.
37And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword.
38Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city.
39And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle.
40But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven.
41And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them.
42Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them.
43Thus they inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.
44And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour.
45And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.
46So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour.
47But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.
48And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Judges 20:1 begins with “Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto…”
Where the chapter turns
Judges 20:23 forms a natural hinge: “(And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the…”
The final note
Judges 20:48 leaves the reader with “And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast…”
A word trail through the chapter
The words Israel, children, Benjamin, Gibeah, battle, LORD help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- behold
- look, or pay close attention
- unto
- to
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
