Judges 20:8

THE UNANIMOUS DECISION TO AVENGE THE LEVITE

"And all the people came as one man, saying; We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will any of us turn unto his house. But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot; and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victuals for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly which they have wrought in Israel. So all the men of Israel were gathered together against the city, knit together as one man."

"This is the thing which we will do to Gibeah" (Judges 20:9). The unanimous decision was to put to death the guilty men of Gibeah. This intention to put to death the guilty men of Gibeah was fully in accordance with God's will. The law of Moses designated such a crime as the rape of the concubine a capital offense and commanded the execution of the death penalty upon the perpetrators (Deuteronomy 22:22). It is to the credit of Israel, however, that they moved first toward a simple resolution of the matter through negotiations.

"We will go up against it by lot" (Judges 20:9). This mention of "by lot" evidently applied to the whole mobilization for war. The army was assembled by taking "by lot" one man of every ten, and of those chosen, one of ten out of them were evidently allotted to handle the duties of the quartermaster.

"A thousand out of ten thousand to fetch victuals" (Judges 20:10). As we have punctuated this, it indicates that the quartermaster corps was also selected "by lot." And again, in deciding "who should go up to fight first," the same "by lot" system was again used (Judges 20:18).