The Battle of Gibeah

A while back, like almost a year, last October, I got a text from Blaubeere.  She said, “Reading along, going through the OT with [Dragon], and came to Judges 19. Oh yeah. This is one of those spots Miss Mason refers to as "necessary omissions" when reading to munchkins. 0.o I have no idea what we're meant to learn from that story.”  So, what is there to learn from it?  I decided to read the story and give it some study and thought.

Chapter 19 is the beginning of a story that continues through chapters 19, 20, and 21. This event comes at a time when Israel was in apostasy, transitioning from the civic government being under the direction of a prophet (Joshua) to judges, or “deliverers”, who time after time were able to achieve only temporary deliverance from the consequences of Israel’s disobedience. There were still prophets in the land but some were not always as valiant as one would expect of a prophet, nor did the people pay those that were righteous much heed.  The majority of Israel, while retaining much of the trappings and observances of the law, had devolved into their own form of practice.  And yet, there were, here and there, scattered among the people, those who still did their best to faithfully keep and observe the law.

Chapter 19 chronicles an atrocity committed against the concubine of a Levite, that resulted in her death, at the hands of members of the Tribe of Benjamin.  The incident takes in the City of Gibeah, which was located several miles north of Jerusalem, in the portion of the Promised Land which had been given to the Tribe of Benjamin. The concubine was no paragon of righteousness herself, nor was the manner in which she came into harms way anything to hold forth as exemplary, but that really shouldn’t play into how she was treated; it was still wrong.  All of Israel responded to the incident, representatives from each tribe came together in council to consider the incident and determine a response. The Tribe of Benjamin was asked to deliver the perpetrators to justice but decided not to give up the individuals responsible.  The incident was gruesome and lead to a war of revenge that resulted in the near total annihilation of the Tribe of Benjamin. It made me think of the statement from the prophet Mormon, "But, behold, the judgments of God will overtake the Wicked; and it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished; for it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed." (Mormon 4:5).  The war could be considered Israel's first civil war, with heavy losses on both sides.  A great deal of mourning and lamentation concluded the episode. These chapters are the last three chapters of the Book of Judges. The Battle of Gibeah, as the episode is often called, came at the end of the period of the Judges and played into Israel getting its first king, Saul, who began his reign in about 1045 BC. Interestingly enough, Saul was from the Tribe of Benjamin.

Levites were the temple workers in ancient Israel. The tribe was the only tribe that did not receive a dedicated portion of the Promised Land as an inheritance, instead being scattered among all the other tribes to provide the rituals of the tabernacle, and later the temple, to all the other tribes. They were often considered “God’s portion”. This would have given the crime committed against the Levite, committed by members of the Tribe of Benjamin, added seriousness.

The author or authors of the Book of Judges are not known. It is essentially a compilation of stories occurring between the death of Joshua, the prophet who succeeded Moses, and Samuel, called as a prophet by the Lord as a child, a period of about 400 years. Scholars generally figure it was compiled during the last of the seventh or early in the sixth century BC. It is considered one of the historical books of the Bible. After the Book of Judges comes the short Book of Ruth, which is followed by 1 Samuel, which begins right away with the story of Samuel and his call as a prophet.

So the question is why was this story included in the Bible? The LDS Bible Dictionary does not have a listing for Gibeah. The BYU Citation Index lists no sermons that ever used Judges 19 or the story in a sermon, although there are a few references to a few verses from chapters 20 and 21 as references to characteristics of the wicked. A search of the church’s website turns up nothing where this story is used in a talk or lesson. Still, it's been said that every story in the scriptures is about redemption and deliverance. So where is the deliverance or redemption in this story? Only two things stood out to me.

King Benjamin taught that the Israelites were given many types and shadows of the mission of the Messiah (Mosiah 3:15).  In the Battle of Gibeah, the armies of Israel were led by Phinehas, of the Tribe of Levi (Judges 20:28), who sought the Lord’s direction in the battle. The record says the Lord directed Israel in this battle against the Tribe of Benjamin.  It is interesting to me that the Lord set the Tribe of Judah as the first to go against Gibeah (Judges 20:18), to lead the battle. I think there is symbolism in that arrangement, Judah (the Messiah) first against Benjamin (wickedness). And Israel, fighting against the Tribe of Benjamin, the transgressors, came away with total victory, though not without struggle or loss. The Tribe of Benjamin ultimately suffered utter defeat, reminiscent of God's comment to Satan, “... he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Moses 4:21). That comment is given in greater clarity in the ordinance of the Endowment. The symbolism is Christ's total and absolute victory over Satan and death.  Is this an excessively gruesome, violent type?  Who is to say.  The episode and type of the brass serpent also involved significant loss of life.  Wickedness isn't pretty.  Paul told the Galatians that the law was a schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24,25).  Death was often the penalty for breaking commandments. Much of the history of ancient Israel was pretty violent.  They were slow learners, I guess.

The other things was the armies of Israel actions as they fought against the Tribe of Benjamin. The battle raged for days. Each day the armies of Israel went out to battle, beseeching the Lord for His support before hand.  Praying the Lord to make sure it was the right thing to do.  But at the end of the first day of battle, after suffering significant loss, the armies returned to their encampment without victory.  Israel had gone to "the House of God" initially to seek the blessings and direction of the Lord in battle. At the end of the first day they returned to the House of God, again seeking comfort, blessings, and direction.  They did not return to battle immediately, the next day, but spent a day in prayer, seeking the Lord's direction in whether or not to return to battle.  They went to battle again the second day but again lost a large host of men without gaining the victory.  After the second day of battle they again returned to the House of God, again in earnest prayer.  But this time they combined their prayer with fasting.  This time it was the whole of the people that went up to the temple, not just the army.  And all the people spent the day in prayer, fasting, and making offerings.  The armies of Israel had suffered serious defeat at the hands of the Tribe of Benjamin in their first two attempts.  So, before going out the third time, Phinehas stood before the Ark of the Covenant and prayed whether or not to go out a third time.  And the Lord instructed him to go out again and that He would deliver the victory to him.  And that is what happened.

So, are these the real reasons this story was included in the Bible?  It's hard to say.  But it is what I found in it, after giving it some study and thought.  It fits.  A type and an illustration that by depending on the Lord we can overcome.  Given that the Book of Judges is described by scholars as a collection of stories of redemption and deliverance, it’s certainly a possibility.