Judges 20:18-48

EXPOSITION

20:18

The house of God. In this rendering the A.V. follows the Vulgate, which has in domum Dei, hoc est, in Silo. But the Septuagint has βαιθὴλ, and all the ancient authorities, as well as modern commentators, generally agree in rendering it Bethel. The reason, which seems a conclusive one, for so doing is that the Hebrew בית אל invariably means Bethel, and that the house of God is always expressed in Hebrew by בית האלהים (beth-ha-elohim). The conclusion is that at this time the ark of God, with the tabernacle, was at Bethel, which was only seven or eight miles from Shiloh. Bethel would be eight or ten miles from Gibeah, i.e. about half way between Shiloh and Gibeah. Asked counsel. The same phrase as 1:1, where it is rendered simply asked (see note to 1:1, and 1:23, 47). In following this precedent the Israelites put the men of Gibeah on the footing of the Canaanite inhabitants of the land. With reference to 1:9, it is worth considering whether this is not the fulfilment of the purpose there expressed by the Israelites, to go up against Gibeah by lot; either by understanding that the answer asked was given by a Divinely-directed lot, according to which Judah's turn came first (see Joshua 7:14-18; 1 Samuel 14:41; Acts 1:24-26; etc.), or by taking the expression by lot in a wider sense, as meaning generally Divine direction.

20:20

The men of Israel—meaning here of course the men of Judah.

20:21

Came forth out of Gibeah, etc. Gibeah (sometimes called Geba, literally, the hill) was doubtless very difficult to assault, and the steep approach greatly favoured the defenders. The men of Judah probably came up carelessly, and with an overweening confidence, and so met with a terrible disaster. The word destroyed here used is the same as is applied to the destroying angel (Exodus 12:23; 2 Samuel 24:16; see also 2 Chronicles 24:23).

20:23

And the children of Israel went up and wept, etc. This verse must precede chronologically 20:22, and explains the circumstances under which the battle referred to in 20:22 took place. The unexpected repulse they had met with had begun to produce its intended effect. There was a humbling of themselves before God, a brokenness of spirit, a deepened sense of dependence upon God, and a softening of their feelings towards their brother Benjamin. All this was shown as they again went to the tabernacle at Bethel to ask the Lord ( 20:18).

20:24

And, or so, repeating what had been said in 20:22, but giving it this time as the result of God's answer recorded in 20:23. The second day. Not necessarily, or probably, the next day, but the day of the second battle.

20:25

Of the children of Israel. We are not told upon which tribe the lot fell, or the answer was given, that they should go up the second day.

20:26

Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, etc. Observe the word all, twice repeated, as showing how the whole congregation was roused and stirred to a man by this second reverse. The people, as distinguished from the men of Israel, the army, probably means the non-fighting people, the aged, the infirm, women, etc. The house of God. Render, as in 20:18 (see note), Bethel. Sat there. Sitting with the Jews, especially on the ground, was the attitude of grief and mourning (Job 2:13; Isaiah 47:1, Isaiah 47:5; Lamentations 2:10, etc.). The Jews at the present day often sit on the ground at the place of wailing in Jerusalem. Before the Lord, i.e. before the tabernacle (see 11:11, note), Fasted until evening. The usual time for terminating a fast among the Jews, as at the present day among Mahomedans. For similar fasts on solemn occasions of national guilt or grief, see 1 Samuel 7:6; 2 Samuel 1:12; Jeremiah 36:9; Nehemiah 9:1; Joel 1:14, etc. Peace offerings. Usually thank offerings (Leviticus 3:1-17.; Leviticus 7:11, Leviticus 7:12), but applicable to any voluntary sacrifice of which the flesh might be eaten the same day, or the day following, by the offerer (Le 7:15, 16). Doubtless the people at the close of their fast ate the flesh of these peace offerings.

20:27

Enquired of the Lord. In the Hebrew, Asked the Lord, as in 20:18, 20:23. For the ark of the covenant, etc. A most important statement, defining the time of these occurrences, within the lifetime of Phinehas, and also giving a strong intimation that the writer of these words lived after the tabernacle had been removed from Shiloh and its neighbourhood to Jerusalem. Was there. Where? The natural answer to be given is, At Bethel; for Bethel is the only place that has been named. But it is not in accordance with the other intimations given us concerning the tabernacle, that Bethel should be its resting-place under the high priesthood of Phinehas. In Joshua 18:1 we have the formal pitching of the tabernacle of the congregation at Shiloh; in Joshua 22:12 we find it there, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest before it; in 1 Samuel 1:3; 1 Samuel 2:14; 1 Samuel 3:21; 1 Samuel 4:3, we find it settled there till taken by the Philistines; and in Psalms 78:60 we find Shiloh described as the abode of the tabernacle till its capture by the Philistines, and there is no hint anywhere of Bethel or any other place having been the resting-place of the ark before it fell into the hands of the Philistines. Neither, again, is the explanation of some commentators, that the words the ark … was there in those days implies "that the ark of the covenant was only temporarily at Bethel," at all satisfactory. In those days has naturally a much wider and broader application, like the expression ( 17:6; 18:1), In those days there was no king in Israel, and contrasts the time of Phinehas and the judges with the times of the monarchy, when the ark and the high priest were at Jerusalem. Unless, therefore, we understand Bethel in Psalms 78:18, Psalms 78:26, Psalms 78:31 to mean the house of God, which seems quite impossible, we must interpret the word there to mean Shiloh, and suppose that the writer took no count of the temporary removal to Bethel for the convenience of consultation, but considered that it was at Shiloh in one sense, though momentarily it was a few miles off. Possibly too in the fuller narrative, of which we have here the abridgment, the name of Shiloh was mentioned as that to which there referred.

20:29

Set liers in wait. Made wiser by misfortune, they now act cautiously.

20:30

As at other times, or, this time as the other times (see the same phrase, 20:31, 16:20; Numbers 24:20).

20:31

The house of God. Here manifestly Bethel, as in the margin. Gibeah in the field. The A.V. is the natural rendering of the Hebrew words, which imply a Gibeah in the field different from Gibeah, as the Septuagint seems to have understood them ( γαβαὰ ἐν ἀγρῷ). It is a happy conjecture, borne out by the existing roads, that this Gibeah-in-the-field is the same as Gobs, now Jeba. Indeed it is almost impossible to conceive how the pursuers, coming out of Gibeah, could be described as coming to two highways, of which one led to Bethel and the other to the very place they had come from. The latest explorers of the district fully concur in this identification of Gibeah-in-the-field with Jeba.

20:32

And the children of Benjamin, etc. This verse is parenthetical, being explanatory of the conduct of both parties. The Benjamites pursued recklessly, because they thought the fight was going as on the two previous days; the Israelites fled in order to draw them to the highways, and so to enable the ambushment to get between the Benjamite army and the city.

20:33

Rose up out of their place. The narrative is singularly obscure and broken, and difficult to follow. But the meaning seems to be, that when the Israelite army had reached Baal-tamar in their flight, they suddenly stopped and formed to give battle to the pursuing Benjamites. And at the same time the liers in wait came out from their ambushment and placed themselves in the rear of the Benjamites on the direct road to Gibeah. Baal-tamar, a place of palm trees. The site has not been identified, but may possibly, or probably, be the same as the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel ( 4:5). The meadows of Gibeah, Hebrew, Maareh-Geba, may very likely have been, as the Septuagint takes it, a proper name, denoting some locality outside Gibeah (here called Geba) where the ambush was concealed. The meaning of the word maareh is thought to be a bare tract of ground without trees—something like a heath or common. It may have had pits, or deep depressions, where the ambush would be hid both from the city itself and from the high road, or other facilities for concealment.

20:34

Against Gibeah, i.e. against the army of Gibeah. The sense seems to be that the 10,000 Israelites who had been fleeing before Benjamin, and drawing them away from the city, now faced them, and commenced a resolute attack upon them, which at first the Benjamites, not knowing of the ambushment in their rear met with equal resolution, so that "the battle was sore." But the result, the details of which are given at length in 20:36-46, was that 25,100 Benjamites fell that day (see 20:46).

20:36-41

The children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten. Not of course after 25,000 of them had been smitten, but at that period of the battle more fully described in 20:40, 20:41, when the Benjamites, looking behind them, saw Gibeah in flames, and immediately broke and fled towards the wilderness. In the latter half of this verse and in the following verses to 20:41 the writer recapitulates all the preceding circumstances, some of which have been already mentioned, which led to the particular incident mentioned in the beginning of the verse, that "Benjamin saw that they were smitten;" viz; the feigned flight of the Israelites, the seizing and burning of Gibeah by the liers in wait, the signal of a great smoke, and the turning again of the flying Israelites. It was then that "the men of Benjamin saw that evil was come upon them," and turned their backs and fled. Thus 20:36 (latter half)-41 bring us back through the details to the identical point already reached at the beginning of 20:36. In 20:39, 20:40 there is another retrograde movement in the narrative, in which the statement of 20:31, 20:32 is repeated in order to bring into close juxtaposition Benjamin's keen pursuit of the enemy with his terror when he saw the smoke rising in his rear. Hasted ( 20:37). This is an amplification with further particulars of 20:33. The liers in wait not only came forth out of their place, but they made a dash to get into Gibeah before the men of Gibeah, who were pursuing the flying Israelites, could be aware of their intention. Rushed upon. Perhaps better rendered fell upon. It is exactly the same phrase as 2 Samuel 27:8, there rather tamely rendered invaded and in verse 10 made a road. Drew themselves along. Some take the word in the common sense of blowing the trumpet, but it rather means spread themselves out ( ἐξεχὺθη, LXX.) through the defenceless city, so as to slay and burn in all parts simultaneously. That they should make a great flame with smoke, etc. (verse 38). The Hebrew of this verse is difficult to construe, but the A.V. gives substantially the right sense. They seem to be the very orders given to the leader of the ambush. "Make them (the ambush) multiply to send up (i.e. send up in great quantities) the column of smoke from the city." It seems that the appearance of the smoke was the signal for the Israelites to turn (verse 41). The flame, etc. (verse 40). Rather, the column began to go up in (or as) a pillar of smoke. The flame of the city. Literally, the whole of the city, meaning of course the whole city in flames.

20:42

Therefore they turned their backs, etc. The narrative now at length advances one step. The result of the Benjamites finding themselves between the ambushment and the army of Israel was that they took to flight in an easterly direction ( 20:43) toward the wilderness, i.e. the wilderness described in Joshua 16:1 as "the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho throughout Mount Bethel," where the direction of the wilderness relative to Ephraim is also described as being "on the east." In like manner Zedekiah fled towards the plain (arabah) or plains of Jericho—a term nearly synonymous with wilderness (2 Kings 25:4, 2 Kings 25:5). Them which came out of the cities, etc. This is a very obscure passage, and is very variously explained. Those which came out of the cities must be the same as are so described in verse 15, and designates the Benjamites who were not inhabitants of Gibeah. The simplest way, therefore, to understand the passage is to render it without reference to the accents: "And the battle overtook him and those that were from the cities (i.e. the men of Gibeah and the rest of the Benjamites), destroying him (the whole Benjamite army) in the midst of him," i.e. going right into the midst of them, and destroying right and left. Some, however, render it in the midst of it, i.e. of the wilderness. The plural participle destroying agrees with the singular noun of multitude, the battle or war, meaning all the men of war.

20:43

Thus they inclosed, etc. Another difficult passage, having all the appearance of being a quotation from some poetical description of the battle. The tenses of the verbs and the absence of any conjunctions in the Hebrew makes the diction like that of 5:19. The italic words thus and the two ands ought to be omitted, to give the stately march of the original. "They inclosed, etc.; they chased them; they trod them down," etc. They inclosed seems to refer to the stratagem by which the Benjamites were surrounded by the ambush in their rear and the Israelites in front. Then came the pursuit—"they chased them;" then the massacre—"they trod them down." The three verbs describe the three stages of the battle. With ease. It does not seem possible that the Hebrew word menuchah can have this meaning. It means sometimes a place of rest, and sometimes a state of rest. Taking the latter meaning, the words they trod them into rest may mean they quieted them by crushing them to death under their feet, or in rest may mean unresisting. Some render it unto Menuchah, as if Menuchah was the name of a place, or from Nochah, as the Septuagint does. Others, at the place of rest, i.e. at every place where they halted to rest the enemy was upon them.

20:44-46

And there fell, etc. The account in 20:35, anticipating the details of the battle, had already given the gross number of casualties in the Benjamite army on this disastrous day as 25,100. We now have the items of the account, viz; 18,000 in the pursuit, in the open plain; 5000 in the highways, i.e. either the highways mentioned in 20:31, or, as the expression gleaning rather intimates, the highways by which straggling bodies tried to reach any neighbouring cities after the great slaughter had taken place; and 2000 more who were making from Gidom; in all 25,000, which is only 100 men short of the reckoning in 20:35. The rock of Rimmon. See 20:47, note. Gidom. Not elsewhere mentioned, nor identified with any modern name.

20:47

But six hundred men turned. If these 600 survivors are added to the 25,000, or 25,100, enumerated as slain (verses '35, 44), it gives a total of 25,700. But the total number of Benjamites, as given in 20:15, was 26,700. There remain, therefore, 1000 men unaccounted for. These may, have been killed partly in the two first days successful battles ( 20:21, 20:25), and partly in the different cities into which they had escaped, when the general massacre recorded in 20:48 took place. The rock Rimmon. There are two proposed identifications of this place. One makes it the same as Rummon, "a village perched on the summit of a conical chalky hill," "rising on the south side to a height of several hundred feet from the Wady Muti-yah," and defended on the west side "by a cross valley of great depth," which lies three miles east of Bethel, and seven miles northeast of Gibeah (Tulell el-Ful), and is situated in the wilderness between the highlands of Benjamin and the Jordan. This is advocated by Robinson ('Biblical Researches,' 1.440), by Mr. Grove in the 'Dictionary of the Bible,' and by Lt. Conder. The other is advocated by Mr. W. F. Birch. This identifies it with the Wady er-Rummon, discovered by Mr. Rawnsley, where there is a vast cave, Mugharet el Jai, about a mile and a half from Geba, capable, according to the local tradition, of holding 600 men, and used to the present day by the villagers as a place of refuge from the government persecutions According to this view, the statement that they abode in the rock Rimmon is strictly correct.

20:48

Turned again, not the same word as the turned of 20:45, 20:47, but turned back, came again by the way by which they had gone in pursuit of the Benjamites, and on their return towards Bethel ( 21:2) entered into all the Benjamlte cities, which lay thick together east and north of Gibeah, and ruthlessly put all the remaining population to the sword; burning all the cities, and treating the whole tribe of Benjamin, with all that belonged to them, as a 'herem, a thing devoted to utter destruction, like Jericho.

HOMILETICS

20:18-48

Pure and impure zeal.

That the indignation of Israel was justly excited by the wickedness of the men of Gibeah who can doubt? That they had a just cause of quarrel with the men of Benjamin for refusing to join them in the punishment of the offenders is no less certain. But that the merciless destruction of the whole tribe by fire and sword was a ferocious and cruel deed equally admits of no contradiction. A state of mind, therefore, was generated between the first rising of their wrath on account of the foul crime of their countrymen, and the final execution of the fierce vengeance, which calls for our notice and our reprobation. That state of mind was what the Greeks called ζἧλος, a burning, unreasoning passion or heat, which hurries men on to words or actions of which in their cooler moments they repent and are ashamed. Under the influence of such passion, whether it be anger, or jealousy, or envy, or any other intemperate emotion of the mind, men are no longer their own masters. As in the case of that state of feeling which we lately considered under the name of temper (Homiletics on 20:1-17), reason ceases to guide and control the actions, and the voice of conscience cannot make itself heard. The man is like a ship without a rudder, driven by the storm whither he would not. Now when we consider that under the influence of passion we are liable to say and do things that are wrong, and that are very contrary to our own real feelings and opinions, and, maybe, very hurtful to our neighbours, it is obvious how watchful every Christian man should be to keep such passion under strict control, and to set a watch upon the various movements of his heart. This is doubly necessary, because, as we have seen in the history before us, what in its beginning is right is apt in its course to become wrong. It is not merely a question of degree. But for the most part the nature of the passion changes in its onward flow. Thus, in the case of the Israelites, the first feeling of indignation at a great wrong, the shame at the pollution of the name of Israel, their common inheritance, and their grief at the dishonour done to the name of God, were righteous and commendable feelings. There was no need to water them down or to reason them away. It would have been base and wrong not to follow them out to their legitimate consequences in action. But in the course of doing so the pure stream became fouled by far baser passion. Anger at the contradiction and opposition offered to themselves, wounded pride at the success of their adversaries in the first days' battles, the fierce determination to quell and destroy their enemies, and the heat and blood-thirstiness which are the natural result of war and strife, lashed them into madness. And so it is with ourselves. In war, in politics, in private quarrels, though we may begin by being in the right, yet the original cause is often lost sight of in the progress of the strife, and new jealousies, personal enmities, selfish resentments, and unwarrantable violence of feeling, which spring up, as it were, by the way, are allowed to get possession of us, and hurry us on to injustice and wrong. But especially does this painful narrative suggest a caution to those who take upon themselves to be the champions of right as against wrong to be very careful that no mere passions mix themselves up with their championship. We would say to every Christian brother, Be very zealous for right against wrong. Be very zealous for truth against falsehood. HAVE NO RESPECT OF PERSONS; and be as firm in rebuking wrong when it is found in those nearest and dearest to you as when it is found in strangers or enemies; and when it is found in the great and honourable, as when it is found in the meanest and lowest of mankind. But be very careful to keep your zeal pure. Let it be a simple zeal for God's honour and glory, and for his law and his truth. It will then never betray you into wrong speaking or wrong doing; and, moreover, it will effect its purpose among men. It will be a real witness for God, and it will make itself felt. While mere anger and passion are utterly feeble and worthless, and usually injure the cause they are meant to serve, the calm, steadfast opposition to wrong, by word or deed, will always have its weight. Such was the testimony of the words and life of the Lord Jesus upon earth. His zeal for his Father's honour was as a consuming fire; but it went hand in hard with an inexhaustible patience and gentleness towards men. We always feel in reading the Gospels that his severest rebukes sprang from his hatred for sin, and were combined with infinite love for the sinner. His whole life was a protest against wrong, but as gentle as it was firm, as winning as it was decided. Such should be the rebukes of his disciples—springing from principle, not from passion; severe, yet tender; unflinching, but never given without necessity; not unmixed with sympathy for the pain they cause, and anxiety to add the balm of love and forgiveness so soon as they have wrought repentance; never aggravated by personal feelings or heat of anger; never uttered in scorn, or with a sense of the rebuker's own superiority; but the outcome of an upright mind hating evil and zealous for God's honour, yet at the same time clothed with humility and tempered with heavenly charity.

20:18

Cf. on 1:1-36. 1:1.—M.

20:26-28

The difficulty of punishing evil-doers.

It is a desperate strife. The avengers are at first punished more thorn the guilty. Yet they continue steadfast, and humiliate themselves before God.

I. PRIVATE WRONGS ARE PUBLIC MISFORTUNES AND DANGERS, It was a peril to all peace-loving citizens that one of their number should suffer outrage. Yet also was it a further trouble and loss to punish such transgressors. How many will rather suffer wrong than take the trouble to bring it to justice! This is treason to the commonwealth.

II. How HARD IT IS TO ROOT OUT AN INDIVIDUAL OR NATIONAL SIN. How many are found to sympathise with or condone the deed, and to shield the transgressor! What ties connect the transgressor with ourselves!

III. THE SIN OF ONE IS OFTEN DUE TO THE GENERAL SPIRIT AND CONDITION OF THOSE AROUND HIM; THEY ALSO ARE GUILTY WITH HIM. Benjamin is but an exaggeration of the prevalent tone and manners of the time. Many crimes and sins of individuals may be traced up to wider influences. The sin or the righteousness of our brother is, in a measure, our own. Vicarious suffering and atonement.

IV. THE DUTY OF RIGHTING WRONG MUST BE CARRIED OUT AT WHATEVER EXPENSE OF TROUBLE AND LOSS. The humiliation of Israel. Defeat only nerves them to a higher and more heroic struggle. Religious principle and feeling are more influentially present. The absolute claim of God's righteousness. Like Israel the Church has to right a great wrong; but in a different way. Frequent discomfiture. The difficulty of evangelising one's own neighbourhood; far less the world! Yet it has to be done, and it can be done; but not in our own strength. Only as we submit ourselves wholly to God and his Son can we fulfil the mighty task. Let us too wait upon God, and p. luck wisdom and heroism from defeat. The Spirit of God is with us, and the promise of Christ is ours.—M.

20:34

They knew not that evil was near them.

How descriptive this of all men I Our misfortunes often overtake us unawares. There is no earthly security. The sinner especially should not encourage himself in fancied immunity. The Son of man cometh as a thief in the night, for judgment and for reward.

I. THE UNCERTAIN NATURE OF THE FUTURE.

II. THE IGNORANCE AND HEEDLESSNESS OF SINNERS RESPECTING GOD'S JUDGMENTS.

III. How TO BE DELIVERED FROM FEAR AND THE REAL EVILS OF THIS IGNORANCE. A righteous life the great safeguard. But how attained? Christ's the only authoritative "Fear not." External evils will through him minister to our eternal welfare and well-being. This trust in him should he implicit, and an active force in every life.—M.

20:23

Lessons of defeat.

The Christian sometimes encounters defeat in the enterprises of spiritual warfare—in the battle of the inner life, in efforts to destroy the wickedness and misery of the world, in missionary campaigns.

I. DEFEAT SHOULD AROUSE REFLECTION. The Israelites had acted hastily under the impulse of sudden indignation. In defeat they were thrown back to think of the object and methods of their war. This war against a brother tribe was a terrible undertaking. Was it necessary? No war should be undertaken till it is absolutely necessary. It may be our duty to oppose our own brethren; but this should be done only after serious reflection. We are sometimes allowed to fail that we may consider more deeply all that is involved in actions attended with serious consequences.

II. DEFEAT SHOULD INDUCE HUMILITY AND REPENTANCE. The Israelites had been too self-confident. Enraged at the wickedness of one town, they had not realised their own sin, nor how this wickedness was but one act of national depravity. They were now the champions of justice. The position thus assumed by them would blind them to their own failings and stimulate pride. When Christian men do battle against some monstrous evil, they too are in danger of falling into similar failings of pride and self-righteousness. Defeat is then a wholesome humiliation leading to repentance. If we are to testify against the sin of others, we too must not forget that we also are sinners.

III. DEFEAT SHOULD LEAD US TO SEEK COUNSEL OF GOD.

1. The Israelites had consulted some oracle, some "gods," before going to war. After defeat they turned to the true God, the Eternal. We often need to fail before we will learn to pray. Then we see that our wisdom is to follow God's will.

2. The Israelites did not simply ask for success. They asked whether or no they should go up to war. We should not pray for God's blessing on the enterprise which we are obstinately pursuing irrespective of his will, but should first ask for light to teach us whether we should pursue it.

3. The Israelites did not ask for God's strength, but only for his guidance. Perhaps if they had invoked his aid they would not have failed a second time. We need trust in God and reliance on his help for perfect success.

IV. DEFEAT SHOULD LEAD TO RENEWED AND IMPROVED EFFORT. Through repeated defeats Israel persevered on to victory. So it is with the Christian. "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down" (Psalms 37:24).—A.

20:47

An escaped remnant.

I. THERE IS USUALLY AN ESCAPED REMNANT FROM THE MOST SEVERE PROVIDENTIAL ACT OF JUDGMENT. So it was in the flood, in the destruction of the cities of the plain, in the captivity, in the conquest of Jerusalem by the Romans. God does not totally destroy. Mercy is mingled with judgment. Though this is some mitigation of the calamity, it is no reason for rash indifference to danger, because

II. THE REMNANT DOES NOT NECESSARILY CONSIST OF BETTER MEN THAN THOSE WHO ARE DESTROYED. If one is taken and another left, this diversity of treatment is no proof of difference of character. As they who are subject to signal calamities are not to be regarded as especially wicked (e.g. Job, the men on whom the tower of Siloam fell, etc.), so those who are favoured by remarkable deliverances have no right to be considered especially virtuous. Their position is one to excite special gratitude, but not to encourage pride. Sometimes, indeed, it is dishonourable to them. It may be a result of cowardice, indolence, or falsehood. The traitor may escape while the true man falls. Barabbas escaped while Christ was crucified. In times of persecution the unfaithful are saved and the faithful suffer martyrdom.

III. THERE IS A PROVIDENTIAL END TO BE SECURED BY THE PRESERVATION OF A REMNANT. The idea of "the remnant" is familiar to the reader of Scripture (e.g. Isaiah 1:9). There must be some Divine purpose in it. Can we discover that purpose? Possibly it is this—every nation, every tribe, every community of men which has special characteristics of its own has also a special mission to the world dependent on those characteristics. If, therefore, it is entirely blotted out of existence, the fruits of that mission will be lost to the world. A remnant is spared that the special gifts may be transmitted through a small hereditary line, and thus be preserved and turned to the continued service of the world. Israel had a mission to the world dependent on her peculiar endowments. If the remnant of Israel had not been delivered from Babylon, this mission would have been destroyed, and the human side of the origin of Christianity, such as we now see it, made impossible. Benjamin had a mission. From this tribe sprang the first king of Israel and the chief of Christ's apostles. If the 600 Benjamites had not been spared St. Paul would never have appeared.—A.

Jdg_21:1-25

EXPOSITION

21:1

Now the men of Israel, etc. A circumstance not mentioned before is now brought forward, as is another in 21:5, on which the events about to be narrated in this chapter depend, viz, that the men of Israel had taken two solemn oaths at Mizpeh ( 20:1)—the one that no Israelite would give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite; the other that whosoever did not come up to the national assembly there should be put to death.

21:2

And the people, etc. The narrative now proceeds. After the people, i.e. the Israelite army, so described 20:3, 20:8, 20:22, etc; had finished the work of destruction in the cities of Benjamin, they returned to Bethel (the house of God, A.V here and in 20:18, 20:26, 20:31, where see notes), and, their rage having now subsided, gave way to violent grief on account of the destruction of Benjamin their brother. With passionate Oriental feelings they passed the whole day weeping, and probably fasting (see 20:26), before the tabernacle. Wept sore. Hebrew, wept a great weeping. The expression lifted up their voices shows that it was a loud wailing and lamentation,

21:3

And said. Better, And they said. One tribe lacking. The existence of the twelve tribes was an essential part of their covenant existence as the people of God (Genesis 35:22; Genesis 49:28; Exodus 24:4; Numbers 1:5-15; Joshua 4:3, Joshua 4:4, etc.; Matthew 19:28; James 1:1; Revelation 7:4, etc.). With one tribe missing Israel would be no longer Israel.

21:4

Offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. See 20:26, note.

21:5

And the children of Israel said. The idea evidently occurred to them that they might supply wives to the 600 Benjamites in the way that actually came to pass, and they asked the question, Who is there among all the tribes, etc; with this view.

21:6-9

And the children of Israel, etc. This verse goes back a little to explain why the children of Israel asked the question, viz; because they repented them for Benjamin, and wished to repair the mischief resulting from their rash oath not to give their daughters to a Benjamite; therefore they said (repeating 21:5), What one is there that came not up to Mizpeh? ( 21:8) and on numbering the people it was found that no one had come up from Jabesh-gilead. This is the first time that Jabesh-gilead is mentioned in Scripture. It comes up twice afterwards. First in 1 Samuel 11:1-15; on occasion of its being besieged by the Ammonites and rescued by Saul; and secondly in 1 Samuel 31:11-13, when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shah, and buried them at Jabesh, for which brave and pious act David thanked them (2 Samuel 2:5). The name of Jabesh is only preserved in the Wady Yabis, which debouches on the eastern bank of the Jordan about lat. 32'24. Robinson thinks the ruins called ed Deir in this valley are the remains of Jabesh, which agrees exactly with the situation assigned to it by Eusebius in the, Onomasticon.'

21:10, 21:11

Ye shall utterly destroy, etc. Devote to destruction, as a 'herem, an accursed thing. They followed in the severity of the punishment the precedent of the destruction of the Midianites (see Numbers 31:17), and even in the numbers sent to destroy them—a thousand from every tribe (Numbers 31:5). Revolting to our feelings as such wholesale massacres are, including women and children, it must be remembered in mitigation that the 'hereto was the solemn devotion of a thing or person to destruction under the sanction of an oath. Of the valiantest. The sons of valour simply means valiant men (2 Samuel 13:28; 2 Samuel 17:10).

21:12

To Shiloh, whither it should seem they had now taken the tabernacle back, the war with Benjamin no longer requiring its presence at Bethel Them. It is masculine in the Hebrew, though it refers to the women. So again in 21:22, their fathers and their brothers in the masculine (see above, 19:23, and 19:21, 19:22). It is perhaps an archaism. In the land of Canaan. This is inserted to contrast it with Jabesh in Gilead (Genesis 33:17, Genesis 33:18, and Genesis 8:5, note).

21:13

Translate the whole verse thus: And the whole congregation sent and shake to the children of Benjamin, etc; and proclaimed peace to them (see Deuteronomy 20:10). They sent ambassadors or heralds to them as it were with a flag of truce.

21:14

Benjamin came again, i.e. returned to their own homes in the tribe of Benjamin, as in 21:23. Yet so they sufficed them net—or, Yet so they (the Israelites) did not provide enough for them (the Benjamites); or, Yet so they (the Benjamites) had not enough for themselves.

21:16