Judges 20:29

GOD GIVES VICTORY; GIBEAH WAS DESTROYED AND THE BENJAMITES WERE ALMOST EXTERMINATED (Judges 20:29-35)

"And Israel set liers-in-wait against Gibeah round about. And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite and kill of the people, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel. And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them away from the city unto the highways. And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar: and the liers-in-wait of Israel brake forth out of their place, even out of Maareh-geba. And there came over against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel; and the battle was sore; but they knew not that evil was close upon them. And Jehovah smote Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty and five thousand men and a hundred men: all these drew the sword."

"Liers-in-wait against Gibeah" (Judges 20:29). This time, the Israelites adopted the same strategy that Joshua had used in the conquest of Ai. Our text indicates that ten thousand men were in the ambush. Josephus tells us that it was half of the total force that was thus deployed.

"On the third day" (Judges 20:30). The meaning here, as in the instance of "the second day" is a reference not to a mere three days the whole campaign had lasted, but to the day of the third battle.

The outcome of the whole battle is outlined in this paragraph, but the following paragraph gives a retrogressive description of just how it occurred.

When the Benjamites, looking for an easy victory like that in the first two battles, thought that the Israelites were fleeing from them, they thoughtlessly pursued them, thus being drawn away from the very city they were trying to protect. As soon as they were a sufficient distance from Gibeah, the liers-in-wait, ten thousand strong, attacked Gibeah and put the entire population to the sword, man, woman and child, as the children of Israel had destroyed Jericho.

These liers-in-wait also set the city on fire, the ascending smoke of which, according to the pre-arranged sign with the other detachment of Israel's army, was the signal for the army of Israel to turn and confront their overconfident enemies, whom they actually surrounded (Judges 20:43), destroying the total number of Benjamin's fighting men, except for the six hundred that managed to escape. The next paragraph will supply certain details that are lacking here.

"Baal-tamar" (Judges 20:33). "This was some place near Gibeah, but otherwise unknown."[26]

This passage indicates that the total population of Gibeah were destroyed, regardless of age, sex or other considerations. Having asked and received God's permission to go against Benjamin, the leaders of Israel concluded that they should consign all of Benjamin to the "ban," meaning that the people would be totally destroyed, just as Israel had been commanded to destroy the Canaanites.

Having won the battle, the Israelites did not stop until they had destroyed all the twenty-six cities of Benjamin, putting even the women and the children to death by the edge of the sword.