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.