And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities, twenty-six thousand men that drew sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
Israel demanded that Benjamin hand over the criminals of Gibeah. Benjamin counted soldiers instead, and the count included Gibeah's own 700 men, listed apart from the rest yet firmly on the tribe's side.
This count is where Benjamin stops watching Gibeah's sin and joins it. One writer traces how a whole tribe slid that far.
As for Benjamin, they had sinned badly by upholding evil among them. Israel's protest did not humble them. It pushed them into the most serious act of all: going out to battle against the people of Israel. Then, far worse, they allied themselves with evil. Because they would not humble themselves, terrible results followed. They did not judge the evil. Worse, they excused it, and that excuse was fatal. They took the side of the wrongdoers against the people of God. True, they made it look as though the inhabitants of Gibeah were no part of them. Yet they counted them, and they used their seven hundred chosen warriors.
Benjamin did not lack conscience. But Israel's demand came as a blunt order, and the tribe closed ranks.
It is a curt and short message, and it has the effect you would expect. It stirs up Benjamin against his brothers. Israel summons the whole tribe. The case turns into a matter of tribal pride, and Benjamin lines up against all Israel. The wicked men who did the crime are finished; they drop out of the account. You hear no more of the wickedness. Do you not think there must have been as much conscience in Benjamin as there was in all the other tribes? Suppose the matter had been handled in the fear of God, in dependence on Him. Would Benjamin not have been as ready as the rest of Israel to clear himself of that awful shame? But this bluntness, this harshness, above all this hidden pride, stirs up the worst passions in the human heart. At once Benjamin forgets the corruption entirely and says: we will stand out in the face of all Israel, and we will not let ourselves be trampled on.
Sheltering the guilty is not neutrality. It is a change of side, and one writer weighs the strength evil gathers while no one judges it.
But a still darker complication arises (Judges 20:12-17). Israel asks the tribe of Benjamin to hand over the guilty for judgment. Benjamin ignores what righteousness demands and takes up arms to defend the wicked offenders. Such is the awful power that evil wields that complicity with it is quite unhesitating and bold. Let us not underestimate how formidable evil becomes. It gains that power when people tolerate it, shelter it and cherish it in secret for years. Let us take care that our sympathies are not linked with the wrong camp.
The count includes men who did nothing at Gibeah. God still holds the whole tribe guilty, and one writer shows the wisdom in that.
When Gibeah committed that awful sin (Judges 20, 21), God held the whole tribe of Benjamin responsible, because they refused to give up the offenders. And can we not see the wisdom of God in holding those who associate with evil as responsible as the ones who do it? What guarantee would there be that evil would ever be judged? Unjudged sin would defile the whole company of Christians, all because some are falsely tender or indifferent.
The numbers were hopeless for Benjamin. What the tribe had was skill in war, and that is what it leaned on.
But Benjamin refuses the appeal and gathers to defend Gibeah with sullen determination. They are trained fighters, and they seem to rely on that. Yet they are little more than a fifteenth of the forces facing them. Israel also has the house of God, and it is not doubtful for a moment which side He will be on. How fearful, then, must be the condition of those who can fling themselves into the opposing ranks!
Yet numbers did not settle this war. Israel asked God who should lead, and the answer exposed something in Israel too.
Benjamin had 26,000 warriors as well as 700 men of Gibeah, a formidable warrior tribe. Israel's army numbered 400,000, over 15 times that size. So you would expect Israel to win. However, Israel knew they should ask God, and asked Him which tribe should go first, and were told, "Judah first" (v. 18). Judah means "praise." But Israel was more intent on revenge than on praise, and did not realise their attitude was wrong.
- Counted. Benjamin made a choice — count soldiers rather than hand over criminals. Gibeah's 700 were listed apart, yet fought for the tribe.
- Excused. The tribe would not humble itself. So it did more than tolerate the evil: it took up arms for the wrongdoers against God's people.
- Provoked. A curt demand stung tribal pride, and the wickedness dropped out of sight. Force alone does not reach a conscience.
- Liable. God holds those who shield offenders as guilty as the offenders. Otherwise nothing would guarantee that evil is ever judged.
- Outnumbered. Benjamin trusted its skill against fifteen times its number. But God's side is never in doubt, and Israel's revenge needed judging too.
Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; all these slang stones at a hair [breadth], and missed not.
Verse 16 pauses in the middle of Benjamin's army list to describe its sharpest edge: seven hundred picked men who never missed. The real question is not their skill, but whose side it served.
The sling was a shepherd's tool before it was a soldier's.
A simple weapon for throwing stones. You could easily make one from a piece of leather with a small hole in the centre, and having two strings attached. The slinger put a stone in the hole in the leather, swung it round hard, and let go of one string to send the stone flying. Shepherds used it to keep off animals such as wolves; David had one with which he struck down Goliath. We read of some who were so skilled with it that they could throw a stone to a hair's breadth. It is mentioned among the weapons of war.
This was Benjamin's trademark. One writer, quoting an older Bible translation, connects the skill to the ground they lived on.
Benjamin was counted the least of the tribes. Standing with the other tribes and represented by its chief magistrate, it earned the rather dismissive title "little Benjamin with their ruler." Yet it was strong enough, on one occasion, to defy for a time the combined forces of the other tribes. It was known for the remarkable skill of its slingers. Its land was full of rocky mountains, and probably of game that the sling was good for catching. That may go some way to explain this trait.
The tribe's name points to a right hand; its best fighters used the left.
Benjamin means "the son of my right hand," and it suggests the perfection of our standing before God... As to our standing, we have a perfect one; we are complete in Christ before God, and Christ in us has complete control. But that means there is no power of my own. He is the son of God's right hand; his own right hand is useless. That is the hand of natural power, and he is simply a poor, left-handed man, helpless in himself.
The same skill that once delivered Israel through Ehud is now turned against Israel.
They did put on an appearance of acting apart from the men of Gibeah. Yet they counted them in and used their seven hundred chosen warriors. In this army the "left-handed" matched the chosen men of Gibeah in number. That weakness became strength in the Lord's service when Ehud was the one fighting. Here the left-handed were skilful against the Lord. The hand that should have been ready in defence was strong to attack and deceive those who faced them.
Another writer asks how a whole tribe came to take that side.
The tribe of Benjamin is asked to hand over the guilty for judgment. They ignore the demands of righteousness and take up arms to defend the wicked offenders. Such is the awful power that evil wields that complicity with it is quite unhesitating and bold. Do not underestimate the formidable power of evil. It gains that power when people tolerate it, shelter it and cherish it in secret for years.
Benjamin's confidence rested on skill. Israel's real advantage lay elsewhere.
Benjamin's men are practised warriors, and seem to build on that, though they are little more than a fifteenth part of the combined forces opposing them. Israel has, too, the house of God; and it is not for a moment in doubt which side He will be on. How fearful, then, must be the condition of those who can throw themselves into the opposing ranks!
But numbers alone did not settle this war.
This has a lesson for us, telling us that sin is far too strong for us. We can never gain the victory over it in our own strength. Even a majority cannot win in such a battle. Only God can defeat the awful power that sin has wielded in raising itself against His people.
The skill itself is not condemned. Turned the right way, it is exactly the kind of person God looks for among His own.
Benjamin is the type of the aggressive soldier — not the shield-bearer, but the swordsman or the slinger. Benjamin had such men at another day... God wants this in His people too: not just holding the fort, but going out to war — to win the land, or to rescue brothers.
- Aim — Seven hundred men could put a stone where they wanted. The verse praises the precision; the chapter asks what it was aimed at.
- Weakness — The left hand marks a man with no strength of his own. Benjamin's name says the strength belongs to God's right hand, not his.
- Reversal — The same left-handed skill once freed Israel under Ehud. Here it is "skilful against the Lord," because Benjamin defended the evil in Gibeah.
- Odds — Benjamin built on training, Israel had the numbers, and only God can break the power of sin.
- Redirection — God does want slingers who do not miss: the marksman is not the problem, the target is.
And the men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword all these were men of war.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the children of Israel arose and went up to Bethel, and inquired of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And Jehovah said, Judah first.
Israel has raised a huge army to punish a terrible crime. Only now do they turn to God — and they ask who should lead the attack, not whether to attack at all. The verse looks like an act of faith. Commentators ask whether it was.
Israel went to Bethel to ask God. But the tent of worship stood somewhere else. One writer asks what that says about the state of the land.
From the story it appears that the ark of the covenant was in one place (Bethel). The tent of meeting was in another place (Shiloh) — and the ark with its mercy seat was the main feature of that tent... Yet the children of Israel went to Bethel to ask God for counsel through Phinehas the high priest. They went there because "the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days"... No one tells us why the ark was at Bethel, and not in the tent at Shiloh, where it stood later in Eli's day. Wasn't this serious break in the order of worship a sign of the lawlessness spreading through the land?
They had settled everything before they asked God. The way they word their question gives them away.
God leaves them alone; He does not check what was so obvious, He does not hinder it, and they are going to bring God into it. But notice: their first question is not even, "Shall we go up?" It is, "Who shall go up first?" They had already decided to go up against Benjamin. They were going to take vengeance on the whole tribe. The only thing they want the Lord to tell them is who goes first. He takes them at their word, and lets Judah go first.
Their inward state, not just their planning, shaped the question. And Gibeah, the town where the crime happened, was not the only party God meant to discipline.
Israel at first did not even take counsel with the Lord to learn how the sin should be dealt with. They acted from natural anger — which was still quite righteous... The evil that needed correcting had so dulled them spiritually that they never thought of waiting on the Lord first, to learn what should be done. They settle their course of action before they consult Him, for they were far from Him... Gibeah well deserved this discipline. But to carry it out, Israel itself needed discipline, and God let them all take part in it so that it would take effect on them all.
God's answer named one tribe. The meaning of that name carries a lesson.
Judah means "praise." That surely implied that God's honour always comes first when evil must be faced and judged. So there was no doubt that God meant Israel to attack Benjamin. Yet Israel still lost the first battle, and Benjamin killed 20,000 of their men!... Why did they lose? Because they had forgotten to judge themselves first, for we are in no condition to judge evil if we do not first judge ourselves as in the eyes of God.
God gave them a real answer, and they still lost the first battle. One writer explains what kind of answer folly gets.
They decide it all out of their own heads. Then they turn to God and ask Him to bless their effort to wipe out Benjamin... God does not fail to deal with us on our own ground. According to our folly He may answer us, as well as withhold an answer. But in the end He acts in His own way, which will always be what we little expect.
Being right about the crime did not make them fit to punish it.
But being fit for God to use against evil takes much more than being willing to be His instrument. They are too ready, as we see in the result. Their wrath is too prompt, too unyielding, too unsparing. Theirs is the reckless haste of revenge, not the solemn, careful work of God's judgment. They do not remember their own sins, bring no sin offering to God, no tears of repentance. They build on their numbers.
The loss changed the way they prayed — and the way they spoke of Benjamin.
What grace God displayed in this defeat! Israel had to learn this. In a fight between brothers there could be no winners and no losers. All had to lose so that the Lord could triumph at the end... First: it led them to seek the Lord's presence again. Second: instead of human anger, sorrow according to God filled them, and their tears proved it... Fourth: they learned to lean more truly on the word of God. They no longer said, "Who shall go up first for us?" but "Shall I go up again?" Fifth: love for their brother in his fall came back at last.
- Decide, then ask. They settled the war first and brought God in afterwards, asking only who should lead.
- Answered, then beaten. God replies on the ground we choose — a real answer to a shallow question, followed by defeat.
- Judah means praise. The tribe named first points to God's honour as the reason for acting, not human anger.
- Judge yourself first. Anger at another's sin without self-judgment leaves you unfit to deal with the evil.
- Defeat teaches prayer. Loss changed "Who goes first?" into "Shall I go up?" — and turned an enemy back into "my brother."
And the children of Israel rose up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.
Judges 20:19 is a single line of military routine. The whole nation breaks camp at dawn and lines up against one town of Benjamin. Everything hangs on what came just before and just after. They had already settled their plan, and only then asked God who should lead. Then the far smaller tribe cut them down by the thousand.
No word from God launched the march on Gibeah. The people made their plan first, then brought it to God for approval.
There is no question that the course the men of Israel took was bound to make the difficulty a thousand times worse. It was purely human. Where was their humiliation and grief before the Lord? They decide matters first. The case becomes only another instance of man's folly in dealing with evil. Having decided on their own, they then turn to God and ask Him to bless their effort to wipe out Benjamin.
The crime at Gibeah deserved punishment. But wanting evil punished and being fit to punish it are two different things.
Being fit for God to use against evil takes much more than being willing to be His instrument. They are too willing, as we see in the result. Their anger is too quick, too unrelenting, too merciless. Theirs is the reckless haste of revenge, not the solemn discernment of divine judgment. They do not remember their own sins, they bring no sin offering to God, no tears of repentance. They build on their numbers, and no doubt on the justice of their cause too. But they do it in self-righteousness, never suspecting themselves. So they go up to strike, and they are struck heavily, disastrously.
Their own message to Benjamin gives them away in one pronoun.
Israel looked on Benjamin as an enemy. Despite the fair show of unity, they did not treat the sin of one tribe as the sin of all the people. They said, "What wickedness is this that is done among you?" (v. 12) — not "among us." Zeal was not lacking, but it did not make up for having left their first love. … They added, "that we may put away the evil from Israel" (v. 13), but where was their brotherly affection? This is always the danger connected with discipline.
Israel camped against Gibeah sure of their cause. One writer warns against counting only two sides.
There are three sides to a thing more often than two. People sometimes say there are two sides: if A is right, then B is wrong. Is there not another side? Suppose both are wrong. That is the point. There is the side of one, the side of the other, and there is God's side. The point is to take His side, even if it seems the slow side at first. That is better than the harsh, careless judgment of evil, which by its very severity lessens the sense of sin in the soul.
The defeats that followed were not God siding with the guilty. Israel needed the discipline too.
Jehovah allowed all this so that the people might learn where they were. The evil that needed correcting had so dulled their spiritual state that they never thought of waiting on Jehovah first to learn what to do. … Gibeah well deserved this discipline. But to carry it out, Israel itself needed discipline, and God let them all share in it so that it would take effect on them all.
One writer counts five changes the defeat produced.
What grace God showed in this defeat! Israel had to learn that in fights between brothers there could be neither winners nor losers, but that all must be beaten for the Lord to triumph in the end. … First: it led them to seek Jehovah's presence again. Second: human indignation gave way to sorrow according to God, and their tears proved it. Third: their sorrow was not passing, for they wept until evening. Fourth: they learned to depend more truly on the word of God. They no longer said, "Who shall go up first?" but "Shall I go up again?" Fifth: affection for their brother in his fall was at last revived.
One writer points to the question Israel never asked.
The second time they weep before the Lord and ask, "Shall I go out again to battle against my brother Benjamin?" The Lord answers, "Go up," for nothing could change their need to judge the evil. But they had not considered "how" to go up — that is, in what spirit, and with what resources.
- Order. They planned first and asked God last. The plan came before the word, and the campaign failed before a sword was drawn.
- Question. Their prayer was "who goes up first," never "shall we go" or "how shall we go" — the "how" was the one thing they had not considered.
- Pronoun. "Among you" instead of "among us" made the sin Benjamin's alone, when the whole nation needed judging.
- Defeat. Losing to the guilty tribe was not God defending sin. It was grace: in a fight between brothers, all must be beaten before the Lord can triumph.
- Fruit. The chastening did what indignation never could. They sought God's presence again, wept until evening, leaned on His word, and called Benjamin "brother" again.
And 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.
Israel's huge army lines up at Gibeah. They have a righteous cause, a united nation, and an answer from God about who should lead. Then they lose twenty-two thousand men. This verse marks the moment the two armies faced each other. It raises the hardest question in the chapter: how can people be right about the evil they fight and still lose to it?
Israel's outrage at the crime in Gibeah was genuine, but the plan came before the prayer. One writer points out what they never asked God: how to deal with the sin. They asked only who should march first.
At first Israel did not even ask the LORD how to deal with the sin. They acted out of natural anger (which was still completely righteous). The LORD allowed all this so that the people might learn where they stood... They settled their plan before they consulted Him, because they were far from Him. They only ask who should go up first... Gibeah fully deserved this discipline. But to carry it out, Israel itself needed discipline, and God let everyone share in it so that it would take effect on everyone.
Israel was ready to act against evil. One writer asks what God looks for beyond readiness.
Being fit for God to use against evil takes much more than being willing to be His instrument. They are too ready, as the result shows. Their anger is too quick, too unbending, too merciless. Theirs is the reckless rush of revenge, not the solemn care of God's judgment. They do not remember their own sins. They bring no sin-offering to God and no tears of repentance. They build on their numbers, and no doubt on the justice of their cause as well, but in self-righteousness and with no suspicion of themselves. So they go up to strike, and they are struck down heavily and disastrously.
The men who formed up against Gibeah applied one standard to Benjamin and another to themselves.
These people were thirsty for blood. That is what marks them. I do not see any horror at the sin. I do not see a spirit crushed that such evil could happen in Israel at all. In fact, if they were going to hold Benjamin so strictly to his responsibility, why could they not do the same for the whole nation?... Ah, there was the snare. It was pride and self-righteousness in their own heart.
Losing the day does not prove Israel was wrong to go out. One writer keeps two things apart: their failures, and the rightness of their cause.
It is easy to mark where they failed. They did not begin by humbling themselves before God for their own sin, and for the sin of their brother Benjamin. They did not first ask God's counsel. And they seem to have had little love for their brother Benjamin... But it would show great spiritual blindness, and twist this scripture, to condemn the path Israel took here because they failed while walking in it. Their cause was righteous. Their battle was the Lord's. Yet those who fought it needed His correction and discipline before He gave them victory.
The defeat here was not God giving up on His people. One writer counts the fruit it bore.
What grace God showed in this defeat! Israel had to learn that when brothers fight each other, there can be no winners and no losers. All must lose, so that the Lord may triumph in the end... See what fruit their discipline bore. First: it led them to seek the LORD's presence again. Second: instead of human anger, sorrow according to God filled them, and their tears proved it... Fourth: they learned to depend more truly on the word of God. They no longer ask, "Which of us shall go up first?" but "Shall I go up again?" Fifth: love for their brother in his fall came back to life at last.
One writer asks why God's people so often lack the power to deal with evil.
Take worldliness, take greed, take abusive talk, backbiting and lying. Where do you find among the people of God the power to deal with them? Does God want evil like that dealt with in His Church? He certainly does. So why is there no power to deal with it? It is because, first of all, there must be the deepest judgment of self. I must feel my own sin and shortcoming, and judge myself without flinching, if I am to carry out any discipline on my brother.
- Right cause — Gibeah's crime deserved judgment. Writers agree that Israel's battle was the Lord's.
- Wrong order — they settled what to do before asking God how, asking only who should go first.
- Unfit instruments — readiness to strike is not fitness to strike. They came with numbers, and no tears for their own sin.
- Shared guilt — they held Benjamin to a standard they never turned on themselves. God's discipline fell on both.
- Grace in defeat — their losses broke their self-confidence. Defeat gave back what they had lost: God's presence, real sorrow, trust in His word, and love for a fallen brother.
And the children of Benjamin went forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty-two thousand men.
God Himself had told Israel which tribe should lead the attack. Yet the day ended with twenty‑two thousand of their own men dead on the ground. How can a people be right in their cause, guided by God, and still be crushed?
A defeat does not prove God has switched sides. One writer separates the rightness of Israel's cause from the state of the men who carried it:
When we think about how sinful Benjamin defeated righteous Israel in Judges 20, we can see there was a reason for Israel's repeated humiliation. But it was not a lack of integrity. I think the loose state of the nation had made Benjamin's sin possible, and Israel was probably self‑righteously angry. Their defeats did make them humbler before God and gentler towards Benjamin. But they did not turn back from what they were doing — the judgment of the sinful tribe, and in the main they were right about it.
Israel did the right thing on the surface: they asked God before moving. They never examined the spirit they brought to the battle.
The united people, on the other hand, did ask God for guidance. They asked who should lead the attack on Benjamin, and the answer came: "Judah shall be first." But being fit for God to use against evil takes much more than being willing to serve Him. They are too ready, as the result shows. Their anger is too quick, too unforgiving, too harsh. Theirs is the reckless haste of revenge, not the careful weighing of God's judgment. They do not remember their own sins. They bring no sin‑offering to God, no tears of repentance. They rely on their numbers... So they go up to strike, and they are struck down hard and with disaster.
One writer explains the guidance Israel was given, and then the reason they fell. Self‑judgment comes before judging anyone else.
Judah means "praise," and this surely implied that God's honour is always the first thing to consider when evil must be faced and judged. So there was no doubt that God meant Israel to attack Benjamin. Even so, Israel clearly lost the first battle... Why did they lose? Because they had forgotten to judge themselves first. We are in no condition to judge evil if we do not first judge ourselves as God sees us. They had not even asked what their attitude should be. Should it be only anger and righteous indignation? Oh no! The very fact of evil in the nation should have humbled them before the Lord.
The same writer puts the rule plainly for anyone ready to correct someone else:
If we think we can win over evil, we will find ourselves badly defeated, as Israel did... for if we judge others without first judging ourselves, God will humble us.
The winning side had its own guilt. Benjamin defended the evil among them instead of judging it.
As for Benjamin, they had sinned terribly by defending the evil among them. Israel's protest, instead of humbling them, drove them to their most serious act... Because they refused to be humbled, the results were terrible. They did not judge the evil. As a direct result they excused it, and that was fatal. They took sides with the evil‑doers against the people of God.
One writer reads this defeat as grace. A quarrel between brothers has no clean winner, so God levelled both sides before He gave anyone the victory.
What grace God showed in this defeat! Israel had to learn that, in fights between brothers, there could be neither winners nor losers. All had to be defeated so that the Lord could win in the end. God used this defeat to restore His beloved people. Israel came out stronger from a battle that had cost him his troops, because he came out of it truly judged by God Himself.
The victory finally came to men God had brought low. One writer makes this the pattern for handling evil among God's people:
Benjamin was defeated by a humbled people who showed themselves weaker than he was. This is the principle behind all discipline in the church. Without love, without dependence on God and His word, without self‑judgment, discipline will always fall short.
- Guidance — God really did send Israel against Benjamin. But being sent by God is not the same as being fit for Him to use.
- Cause — Israel marched out in quick, harsh anger, never remembering their own sins, and trusting their numbers.
- Collapse — the 22,000 fell because they judged another's evil without first judging themselves, and God humbles anyone who does the same.
- Grace — the defeat was mercy: among brothers there could be no winners until all were brought low, and the loss itself did the work of restoring them.
- Result — a humbled people, weaker than Benjamin, finally beat him — and that is how discipline must always be done: with love, dependence, and self‑judgment.