Judges 20:1–21:25

August 1st, 2023| Topic: aBeLOG, Judges | 0

Ungodly acts of revenge and godless attempts to remedy past misdeeds onmly lead to more evildoing, wreaking havoc in the community.

The first part of Judges 19–21 described the rape and murder of one Israelite woman—viewed by the nation as a crime. The last part, 20:1–21:25, describes two separate kidnappings/rapes, of four hundred and two hundred Israelite women, respectively—viewed by the nation as acceptable. Chaos reigns and, in the end, the nation spirals into a horrific civil war. Appropriately, Judges 19–21 is bounded on either side by the dire remark of the narrator: “there was no king in Israel” (19:1; 21:25). And as go the leaders, so go the people! Canaanization.

War and preparations for war take up a sizable chunk of Judges 20: mustering of troops, but it is not to fight foreigners; it is to fight kith and kin!

After the Levite’s accusations against Benjamin are heard, no other witnesses are sought, no investigations are made as to the veracity of the his story, and no attempt is made to hear from the other side (20:4–11). And, worst of all, no input from deity is solicited, despite all the outward piety exhibited. And ultimately, no one wins this war. Yahweh punishes both parties, the Benjaminites and the rest of the Israelites: 65,000 perish (40,000 Israelites: 20:21, 25; and 25,000 Benjaminites: 20:46).

Judges 20:1–48 has essentially two scenes: preparation for war (20:1–17), and execution of war (20:18–48). The assembly of the Israelites in 20:1 would have been the ideal occasion for Israel to seek Yahweh’s judgment on the matter of the Levite’s concubine and the Gibeahites. Unfortunately, the Israelites are not interested in divine opinion. Instead, this battle would turn out to be another instance of revenge killing in the book of Judges, though the scale is far broader and more extensive than that initiated by Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, or even that despotic tyrant of an avenger, Abimelech. Canaanization!

The Israelites appear to be more willing to fight and defeat their own, than they are to overcome foreigners. They are more eager to “do what is right in their own eyes,” than to “do what is right in Yahweh’s eyes.”

It is only at the conclusion of this bloody civil war that the Israelite victors consider the repercussions of their brutality. One notices that this time they have assembled before Elohim, not Yahweh: all is still not right here, despite the grief. The “God of Israel” is interrogated as to why this happened “in Israel” so that one tribe is missing “in Israel”—a clear attribution of fault to Israel’s deity. Yahweh, they allege, has failed in his status as patron of the nation.

After Benjamin was routed, only six hundred males (no females: all slaughtered apparently, 20:15–48) were left in the tribe for whom wives needed to be found if the tribe were to survive (20:47), since the rest of the Israelites had sworn not to give their daughters in marriage to any Benjaminite (21:1). So from a tribe that had not participated in the battle, they extract revenge again, killing everyone in Jabesh-gilead (21:10–11) but saving four hundred virgins for the six hundred Benjaminites. For the remaining two hundred bachelors, they are permitted to abduct the daughters of Shiloh (21:19–23).

And so you had kidnapping and rape in Judges 19 and in response, you have more kidnapping and rape in Judges 20–21, not to mention the slaughter of tens of thousands of their own. Justice, thereby, has been totally perverted on every side and on every count, with everyone doing “what was right in his own eyes” (21:25). The Canaanization of Israel is complete! And thus the book of Judges ends!

[For more details, see my Judges commentary.]