Judges 21: The powerful of the society did what was right in their own eyes to oppress the weak

Without the absolute standard of God and without the fear of God, the powerful of the Israelite society wielded its force to justify its irrational decision based on hypocritical oaths to exploit the weak.

There is no righteous person, not even one (Romans 3:10). This chapter gives more reason for me to place my hope in Christ.

Summary of Judges 21

After almost annihilating the Benjamin tribe down to only 600 men, the Israelites started to feel sorry for them, becoming afraid of missing one entire tribe of Israel. Because they had sworn to the LORD not to give their daughters to Benjamin, they needed to find a solution for the remaining Benjamin.

First, they decided to punish the men of Jabesh-gilead (probably part of either the Gad tribe or the Manasseh tribe), who did not participate in this war, by killing their men and giving their women, 400 in total, to the remaining Benjamin men as their wives. Because they still needed at least 200 more women, the Israelites came up with another “brilliant” solution. Second, the Israelites schemed to use the annual feast of the LORD at Shiloh where many young women would participate. The Israelites covertly told the remaining Benjamintes to hide in wait in the vineyards to catch them (in fact, abduct them) as their wives. In this way, the Israelites do not violate their oath not to give their daughters to Benjamin, but still fulfill their solution to prolong the Benjamin tribe.

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Incorrect Self-Reflection

After unleashing their anger by indiscriminately killing almost all the Benjamites, the Israelites came to feel sorry for themselves. Then, they began to blame God, by saying “Why, O Lord, God of Israel, has this come about in Israel, so that one tribe should be missing today in Israel?” (Judges 21:3).

This response by the Israelite reflects their utter inability to correctly self-reflect. The indiscriminate killing of the Benjamin tribe was done by the united Israelite force. The LORD never commanded them to do this. The Israelites were proving themselves to be a fool by raging against the LORD over the result that they caused (Proverbs 19:3 The foolishness of a person ruins his way, And his heart rages against the Lord). They could have stopped after convincingly defeating the armed soldiers of Benjamin of 26,000. They certainly did not have to kill almost all the inhabitants, including unarmed elders, women, children and other people.

Then, they arose early the next day and built an altar to give burnt and peace offerings (Judges 21:4). They displayed an action of “piety,” but with a distorted heart condition. We call this hypocrisy.

Extremely Legalistic about Oaths

To the Israelites, keeping oath was extraordinarily important. It must never be broken – even if it seemed to contradict the laws and character of God. Let’s call this the “idolization” of oaths.

They had sworn not to give their daughters to Benjamin (Judges 21:1). They also desired to restore the Benjamin tribe (whom they destroyed almost completely). The Israelites needed to find at least 600 wives without violating their oath. In order to fulfill these two desires, they came up with two “brilliant” solutions, which were evil and absurd.

The First Scapegoat: People of Jabesh-gilead

The Isrealites took an oath to punish the people who did not come up to participate in the war. The first scapegoat was the people of Jabesh-gilead. The Israelites sent 12,000 men to kill all the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead except for women eligible for marriage.

This decision is very difficult to understand. The Israelites felt sorry for the annihilating Benjamin tribe, then they sent 12,000 men to kill additional Israelites. They were able to acquire 400 young women. Imagine the traumatic scar that will remain forever with these 400 young women, who suddenly lost their loved ones and would be given to men whom they have never met before!

The Israelites proclaimed peace to Benajmin (Judges 21:13). This verse caused me to chuckle cynically because they proclaimed “peace” after killing 99% of the entire Benjamin people. They then handed over 400 captured women to 600 remaining men of Benjamin.

They still needed to find 200 more.

The Second Scapegoat: Women of Shiloh Festival

The Israelites came up with the second evil, brilliant idea. They told the remaining Benjamites that there would be an annual feast in Shiloh where young women would come out to dance. The Israelites told the Benjamintes to use that opportunity to take them as their wives. In fact, the Israelites were telling the Benjamites to abduct (in a benign term) them. I don’t see how this differs from human trafficking.

The men of Benjamin did as suggested by the Israelites. And this action did not violate their oath – technically. Those Israelite families whose daughters were abducted by the Benjamites did not “give” their daughters to them. They were only abducted. This was their rationale.

Where was the fear of God in Israel?

Victims were… the Weak

Jabesh-gilead was a small town. They became the first scapegoat of the Israelites’ plan to restore Benjamin. They were a small, weak town.

Women at the Shiloh festival were abducted by the Benjamites against their will. What do you think their family backgrounds were? The influential and powerful families would have known about this secret scheme agreed between the Israelites and Benjamin to abduct young women. Therefore, those young women from powerful families would not have participated in the Shiloh that year. However, those families that did not belong to the “powerful” group of society would probably just have sent their daughters to the annual festivals. It was very likely that their daughters were captured by Benjamin. Again, the victim of this whole scheme was the weak families.

Absence of Spiritual Leadership

This happened during the time when Phinehas stood before the LORD (Judges 20:28). What was he doing when all these absurd actions and decisions were made by the Israelites?

Note that Phinehas was a zealous person who did not take any sin lightly. He took a spear in his hand and pierced Zimri, the leader of Simeon tribe, and the Midianite woman through their body to kill them because of their indecent act in the presence of the assembly (Numbers 25). It is hard to imagine a person with this much zeal stood by when the Israelites were killing each other and made up a plan to abduct young women against their will.

Perhaps, he was too old to do anything. Or, at the very worst scenario, he allowed himself to succumb to be complacent with a rising tide of the idol worship. He no longer was a person once he had been in the earlier days of Joshua.

Conclusion

The book of Judges depicts the Israelites who became worse than the surrounding nations of Canaan. They showed no fear of God. They oppressed the weak. They took their oaths seriously while neglecting all the things that reflect the heart and the character of the LORD their God.

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25)” is indeed a fitting conclusion statement.

Let me add a few phrases on this verse based on what I saw in the final chapter.

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone (the powerful of the society) did what was right in his own eyes (at the expense of the weak, marginalized of the society).

Judges 19-20 Part 2: Vanity of Vanities!

Unity is often considered good. But, what about the unity demonstrated by the sons of Israelites against the Benjamites in Judges 20? It was a distorted unity, driven by emotion that was not necessarily aligned with the value of God, which eventually morphed into a devastating civil war with a colossal amount of human casualties. I call this vanity of vanities.

Summary of Judges 20

In response to the gruesome death of the Levite’s concubine, the whole Israel arose in anger to punish the men of Gibeah, which belonged to the Benjamin tribe. Israel told the Benjamin tribe to hand over the worthless fellows in Gibeah, but the Benjamin tribe refused and two sides were ready to go to war. On the side of Israel were 400,000 men and Benjamin had 26,000 men.

Despite having 400,000 men, Israel were soundly defeated in the first two days of the battle, losing 22,000 and 18,000 for the first and the second day, respectively. The Israelites wept before the LORD and gave peace and burnt offerings. With the LORD’s promise to deliver them on the third day, Israel was able to defeat the Benjamites in the highways, almost annihilating them. Only 600 men survived and fled to the rock of Rimmon.

United Israel

Unity is rare these days and is often considered good. But, would you classify the unity that the sons of Israel demonstrated as one man righteous in the eyes of the LORD (Judges 20:1, 8)? Let’s find out as we examine the subsequent actions by the Israel congregation.

The Real Cause of the Anger

What was the true source of anger that the Israelites displayed? At the surface level, the trigger of the anger was the gruesomely dismembered concubine. Let’s dig deeper.

Was it the evil action by the men of Gibeah, which contradicted the word and character of the LORD God, that angered the Israelites? That would have been ideal, which would render their anger just before the LORD God.

Unfortunately, this hypothesis does not seem to hold very strong. Overall, the Israelites were inert to other sins as grievous as the death of the concubine. Deuteronomy 13 stated that anyone worshiping the idol and enticing others to worship other gods must be put to death. However, the Israelites did not respond at all to an idol worship set up by Micha’s family, which influenced a large area of their neighbors (Judges 17-18). In contrast, the Israelites arose in unity against the death of a concubine. They seemed to be very selective in the kinds of sin they reacted.

Then, what was the main factor that prompted the Israelites’ strong reaction? I believe it was a stark visual image of the gruesome death, not the violation of the word of God, that brought the Israelites together. In other words, it was mainly their emotion, which was stirred. The Israelites seemed to be very shaken by the image and the visibility of sin. Those invisible sins (i.e. idol worship) were as grievous as all other sins according to the word of the LORD. However, Israelites’ response to sin was very selective and emotionally-driven in accordance to their eye, not necessarily to the standard of the LORD God.

Benjamin Scoffs

With only 26,000 men, Benjamin was facing an incredible uphill battle against 400,000 Israelites. They had a chance to avoid the war by handing over their worthless fellows, those men of Gibeah, to the Israelites (Judges 20:13). By refusing the term, they decided to venture into this dangerous territory of fighting against the army fifteen times larger than them. Why?

First, they probably scoffed at the “righteous” act feigned by the rest of the Israelites, who demanded their worthless fellows for punishment. The entire Israelites had been influenced by idols, and the “lewd and disgraceful” acts were not just limited to the events that took place in Gibeah. The rest of the Israelites were little better morally than Benjamin, and Benjamin refused to cooperate.

Second, it was possible that Benjamin believed that they would be able to repel 400,000 Israelites with strategic battle engagements. They had 700 expert slingers and seemed to be confident if they would use their city to their maximum advantage (their confidence was not groundless as they caused 40,000 casualties to the Israelites in the first two days – more detailed explanations later).

Third, the worthless fellows could have been the leadership or at least had strong ties to the leadership of the Benjamites. Their action was tolerated and it showed how far, not only the men of Gibeah but also the entire Benjamites had fallen to the nadir to the idol-centric society. These immoralities were deeply entrenched into the fabric of their mind, heart, and soul.

Battle in the First Two Days: Similar to 300 Spartans vs. 10,000 Persians

In the first two days, the Israelite forces were soundly defeated. Although they inquired of the LORD, they were defeated on the first day, losing 22,000 men (Judges 20:21). They wept. On the second day, they were defeated again, losing 18,000 men. After the defeat, they went up to Bethel and wept bitterly. They offered both burnt and peace offerings.

Why were the Israelites defeated so soundly, losing 10% of its 400,000 forces within just two days? I think the key was Benjamin’s use of a key geographical advantage by fighting the Israelites in the city (Judges 20:31). We can draw some insights from the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. between 300 Spartans vs. 10,000 Persians in a narrow path where the size advantage of the Persians was rendered useless. Because of the narrow passage, the fight was a series of 300 vs. 300 rather than 300 vs. 10,000.

Similar to the Battle of Thermopylae, Benjamin fully took advantage of the city and its narrow paths, where the size of the army became significantly less relevant. In that setting, the accuracy of attack, such as that by 700 expert slingers, was able to make the most damage. The large army of the Israelites became their target practices in the city. This was the main reason for Benjamin’s resounding victories in the first two days.

Battle in The Third Day

Benjamin seemed to have become very confident as a result of convincing victories in the first two days. On the third day, when the Israelites attacked and started to run away, the Benjamites left the city and started to chase them to the highway (Judges 20:31). Chasing the Israelites to the highway was Benjamin’s crucial mistake. But it was an opportunity for the Israelites to implement very similar tactics (ambush and lure) that Joshua used against Ai (Joshua 8).

The moment they left the city to chase the Isrealites to a spacious highway, Benjamin lost their battle advantage. In an open highway, the advantage of the army size becomes very relevant. As Benjamin started to chase, the ambushed Israelites sneaked and set the city on fire. The Benjamites were surprised, stopped chasing and headed back to the city. The Israelites, who were running away, turned around to chase the Benjamites heading back to their city. The ambushed Israelites who set the city on fire came out to face the Benjamites. As a result, the Benjamites were completely surrounded by a significantly large army of the Israelites. The accuracy of slingshots become irrelevant in this open highway. The Israelites were able to overwhelm Benjamin, almost annihilating them (Judges 20:35).

Benjamin’s mistake was leaving the city to chase the Israeltes to the highway as a result of being carried away from the victories of the first two days.

Emotionally-Driven Indiscriminate Killing

After seizing victory against the armed men of Benjamin, the Israelites seemed to have unleashed all of their anger by indiscriminately killing almost all the inhabitants of the Benjamin tribe, including the old, the young, women, children, cattle and all the properties (Judges 20:48). Did they really have to go this far?

Remember the way in which the Israelites processed the gruesome death of the concubine. They reacted harshly with emotion against the unwholesome image of the concubine’s death. Similarly, they were driven by emotion to kill unarmed civilians of the Benjamin tribe – their fellow Israelites. The command to kill all was to be applied to the inhabitants of the Canaanites who had no fear of God. However, instead, we see the Israelites indiscriminately killing their fellow tribe people of Benjamin.

Recap of the Outcome: Was the War Worth it?

The gruesome death of the concubine and the Levite’s disturbing action exploded into a civil war. Although the death of the concubine was sad, let’s assess the total casualties objectively: 40,000 Israelites, 26,000 Benjamin men of war, and almost all the elder, young, women of the Benjamin tribe (let’s say conservatively 50,000).

In total, the death of the concubine led to a series of actions, which resulted in 120,000 deaths. An extremely high cost to pay. Then, what were the benefits from this war? I am not so sure.

The sad news would be that the collateral damage of the civil war continued to expand to more people in the next, the final chapter of Judges.

Conclusion

Meaningless! Meaningless! The Israelites mobilized their army to punish the Benjamites. They lost more than 40,000 soldiers. Benjamin, by refusing to hand over their worthless fellows, almost got wiped out. And what was the benefit? Almost nothing. This was a meaningless civil war.

Again, this event signifies how the world operates without the goodness of God.

Judges 19-20 Part 1: The Levite the Loser

In Judges 17-18, the event revolved around the Levite who became a priest for the household-level idol worship service then was “promoted” to a priest for the tribe-level idol worship service. The story shifts to the second Levite, filled with shocking events.

The event in Judges 19 is not something you will hear in Sunday school. Nevertheless, it is an important story that depicts a pitiful fall of the people of God, especially the Levite. Let this be a warning to us.

Summary of Judges 19:1-20:7

A certain Levite from the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine. But the concubine was unfaithful and ran away. The Levite searched for her and took her back from her father’s house with kind words. On their way back to home, they decided to spend the night in Gibeah, a city that belongs to the Benjamin tribe

While no one showed hospitality to the Levite and the concubine, an old man showed up later in the evening and invited them to his house. However, certain worthless men of Gibeah surrounded the house to harm them. The Levite brought the concubine out to them. They abused her all night, and she died. The Levite cut her body in twelve pieces and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.

In response to the gruesome death of the concubine, the whole Israel arose in anger to punish the men of Gibeah, which belonged to the Benjamin tribe. The Levite provided his testimony of what the men of Gibeah did to him and his concubine.

Levite Took a Concubine

A Levite from the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine for himself (Judges 19:1). Notice this: For himself, he took a concubine. We are not sure the exact reason that he took a concubine – to have children because of his barren wife, or for purely physical pleasure. Regardless, the action was for himself.

What was the role of the Levites? In micro-perspective, they need to be demonstrating holiness in their individual life, including decisions related to marriage (Levite 21:7). Taking a concubine certainly did not fit well into a “holiness” category. In macro-perspective, they were to remind the Israelites of the LORD God. They were to serve as a sign that points to God. When Joshua allotted land to the twelve tribes, the Levites resided in 48 cities throughout the twelve tribes of Israel (Joshua 21). Their role was to remind the rest of the Israelites that the land was given by God and God would be the center of their lives.

Taking a concubine was probably an acceptable norm at that time in society. However, the Levites were to represent God and the word of God above the social norm. For this Levite, a societal norm was more important than the word of God.

Levite Searches for the Concubine

The concubine went away from the Levite to her father’s house. Despite her unfaithfulness, the Levite rose to search for her with tender words and brought a pair of donkeys as a gift (Judges 19:3). He stayed with his father-in-law and her for several days.

Up to this point, the Levite seem to be a genuine person who cared about the concubine. Well, let’s continue to read the story to see if that was the case.

Israelite Society: Ominous and Disturbing Signs

On his way back home, the Levite decided to pass by Jebus, a foreign land, so that he could spend the night in Gibeah, a city in Benjamin, one of the twelve Israelite tribes. However, this decision turned out to be a disaster.

Hospitality to strangers was one of the backbone characteristics of the Israelite society based on the word of God. Abraham, as well as Lot, showed hospitality to travelers (Genesis 18-19). However, no one in Gibeah took them into their houses for the night (Judges 19:15). It was not until evening when an old man came out of the field to take them into his house. The old man warned them not to spend the night in the open square (Judges 19:20). This was the first ominous sign.

Then, the men of Gibeah came to the old man’s house, pounding the door, demanding to have relations with the man (Judges 19:25). The almost exact scene incident took place in Sodom and Gomorrah where all the men, both young and old, surrounded Lot’s house to have relations with the guests (Genesis 19:4). This showed that the Israel society, or at least the Benjamin tribe, had fallen to the level similar to people in Sodom and Gomorrah, which were eventually destroyed because of their wickedness by the judgement of the LORD God (Genesis 19:24-28). This was the second ominous, disturbing sign.

Levite to the Concubine: You Die, so I can Live!

When the men of Gibeah started to threaten, in order to mitigate the tension, the Levite seized his concubine and brought her out to them (19:25). The Levite, whom we thought could have been a “nice” guy who spoke tenderly to bring the concubine back to him even after her unfaithfulness, threw the concubine to the men of Gibeah, so that he could live.

Levite: the Mentally Ill?

The concubine died after being abused all night. The Levite did not even bother checking her status at all until morning. He took her body on the donkey and went back to his home as if nothing had happened. Then, he cut her in twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel (Judges 19:29).

Why did he cut his concubine? I think it is an understatement to say that this Levite was mentally ill. The Levite was called to cut sacrificed animals, not human bodies, in serving the LORD God.

Levite Testimony

In response to the gruesome death of the concubine, the whole Israel arose in anger to punish the men of Gibeah, part of the Benjamin tribe.

To the assembled Israelites, the Levite testified what happened to the concubine and him by the men of Gibeah (Judges 20:4-7). Although the overall story of the testimony generally depicted the correct result, a further examination of his testimony could reveal a few important aspects about the Levite and the Israelite society.

First, there was an important missing piece of information. He stated that men of Gibeah rose up against him to kill him, and ravished his concubine (Judges 20:5). However, a missing key info was that he, in fact, brought and gave his concubine to the men of Gibeah in order to save his life (Judges 19:25).

Second, the Levite said that he came with his concubine at Gibeah. The Levite was to represent God. The Levite was not to acquire a concubine as others did. Although this may have been acceptable in society’s norm, Levite acquiring concubine, who was not faithful, was not the way to represent God (Leviticus 21:7-9).

Third, his action of cutting the body into twelve pieces seemed to indicate the unhealthy mental status of the Levite. One of the main roles of the Levite was to cut the sacrificed animals, not a human body, into pieces for offerings before the LORD.

The second and third factor should have raised a red flag for the Israelites to examine the integrity of the Levite’s testimony. The Israelites could have sought to cross-examine Levite’s testimony (Proverbs 18:17: the first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him). The old man who sheltered the Levite could have been summoned to be a witness. In addition, they could have formally invited the Benjamin tribe to participate in this judicial process in a hope to convict their sin in a fair, transparent way, instead of condemning them early.

The testimony of the Levite actually reflected the wickedness of his character as much as the wickedness of the men of Gibeah of the Benjamin tribe.

The Overall Assessment of the Levite

Why did the Levite take the concubine in the first place? I believe it was for his physical pleasure. We can see that from how the Levite treated the concubine when he was in a crisis by throwing her into a dangerous situation under the men of Gibeah. He used her as a shield.

Why did the Levite cut her body in twelve pieces? Other than something off with his mental status, I think he became angry that his property was gone. Instead of seeing her in the image of God, he saw her as his property – nothing more. For that reason, he had no qualm in cutting her body in twelve pieces.

The Levite was called to represent God, showing mercy and love to neighbors and especially the weak. The Levite displayed nothing like that.

This behavior of the Levite was as sinful as that of the men of Gibeah.