A WAR AGAINST THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN As every tribe of Israel received a part of the body of the wife of the Levite, and heard what the people of ‘Gibeah’ committed with her, all were stirred up against them. 1- All Israel stirred up against Gibeah 1 - 13 2- Israel defeated twice before Benjamin 14 – 28 3- Benjamin ultimately defeated before Israel 29 – 48 1- ALL ISRAEL STIRRED UP AGAINST GIBEAH: “So all the children of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the LORD at Mizpah. And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers who drew the sword” https://coptic-treasures.com/ Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah. Then the children of Israel said, ‘Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?’ So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, ‘My concubine and I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died. So I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. Look! All of you are children of Israel; give your advice and counsel here and now!’ (1 – 7) The law says that “If it is true that such an abomination is committed among you, you shall surely kill these men, and strike the inhabitants of this city with the edge of the sword will be utterly; ……. and completely burn with fire the city, for the Lord your God; It shall be heap forever; it shall not be built again” Deuteronomy 13: 14 – 17). But it so happened that the children of Benjamin intended to defend their own, a dissension happened within the congregation; and a multitude of men were lost. They did not think about the bitter fruition of corruption; Their reasoning was material; despite their relative few number, they saw themselves, being mighty warriors, as capable of standing against the whole nation of Israel (1 Chronicles 12: 2 https://coptic-treasures.com/ How great it would be for man to be open-minded with himself; to cut off the evil inside him whatever the price is; not to trust in his temporal possibilities, but to seek the blessing of the Lord, who dwells in the holy hearts, and embraces those returning to Him. …………..Let us take away the (sons of Belial) from ourselves, not for fear of any one, but to consecrate our souls for the Lord. “So all the people arose as one man, saying, ‘None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house; but now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up against it by lot. We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel’. So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man”.(8 – 11) 1- ISRAEL DEFEATED TWICE BEFORE BENJAMIN: “Then the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, ‘What is this wickedness that has occurred among you? Now therefore, deliver up the men, https://coptic-treasures.com/ the perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel!. But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah, to go to battle against the children of Israel. And from their cities at that time the children of Benjamin numbered twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered seven hundred select men. Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were lefthanded; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss. Now besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war” (12 - 17) It is interesting to know that in the tribe of Benjamin (the name in Arabic means the son of the right hand), this considerable number of left-handed men .. The children of Israel seek the counsel of the Lord: https://coptic-treasures.com/ “Then the children of Benjamin arose and went up to the house of the Lord to inquire of God. “They said, ‘Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?’. The LORD said, ‘Judah first!’. So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel put themselves in battle array to fight against them at Gibeah. Then the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down to the ground twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites. And the people, that is, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and again formed the battle line at the place where they had put themselves in array on the first day. Then the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, ‘Shall I again draw near for battle against the children of my brother Benjamin?’ And the LORD said, ‘Go up against him’. So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day. And Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah on the second day, and cut down to the ground eighteen thousand more of the children of Israel; all https://coptic-treasures.com/ these drew the sword. Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, went up and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. So the children of Israel inquired of the LORD (the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, ‘Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?’ And the LORD said, ‘Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand’.” (18 – 28) Why was Israel defeated twice against Benjamin; although they inquire from the Lord? (1) Most probably because Israel did not seek the counsel of the Lord before hand, from the depths of their hearts; but practiced it as a form of formality, after they had already prepared themselves for war, and taken their decision; saying: “None of us will go to his tent; nor will any turn back to his house” (9); and cast a lot; and chose one tenth of them to go to war………...Their inquiry from the Lord was only a secondary complimentary act. God did not occupy https://coptic-treasures.com/ the first position in their life, to ask His counsel with contrition and humility. (2) Their question in the first time was: “Which of us shall go up first to battle against my brother Benjamin?”. They have already taken the decision to fight against their brother, and it remained for them to ask who will go up first to war!........... It was befitting of them first to ask whether they should go up to war; for then, the Lord would probably counsel them to take another action, by which to take corruption away without blood-shedding). (3) In the two first two times, the Lord did not say: ‘I will deliver them into your hand’. Although He allowed them to go to war, yet He did not promise them to have conquest; on account of that, although it was the children of Benjamin who committed that horrible sin; yet, as corruption has crawled into all the tribes; Israel, as a whole had to be chastised, so that if they present a true repentance to God, He would then chastise the children of Benjamin. …….. God does not seek our cry-outs, even if it lasts the whole day long; but seeks first our repentance and our return to Him. If our depths are consecrated, He would respond to our hidden cry-outs, and to our secret sighs of the heart. I wish we are not like those tribes who became full of anger against the corruption of the others, while not caring for the corruption that crawled into their own life; even if the corruption of the others was more horrible, compared to their hidden or manifest sins. …….. In other words, I wish Israel purifies what is inside them; before God would take away the corruption of the others, https://coptic-treasures.com/ 2- BENJAMIN ULTIMATELY DEFEATED BEFORE ISRAEL: Having been chastised in the first two times, and humbled themselves before God, Israel set forth to go to war this time in the third day from the start of the war (29). As we know, the third day refers to our enjoyment of the power of the resurrection of the Lord Christ. No victory over sin, nor conquest over the hosts of darkness, except through the enjoyment of the resurrection of our Lord inside us. “Then Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah. And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in battle array against Gibeah as at the other times. So the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at the other times, in the highways (one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of Israel. And the children of Benjamin said, ‘They are defeated before us, as at first’. But the children of Israel said, ‘Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways’. So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel’s men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba. https://coptic-treasures.com/ And ten thousand select men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. The men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. And the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah; the men in ambush spread out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword. Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise up from the city, whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty of the men of Israel. For they said, ‘Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle’. But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke to heaven. And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them. Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and whoever came out of the cities they destroyed in their midst. https://coptic-treasures.com/ They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily trampled them down as far as the front of Gibeah toward the east. And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor. Then they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon; and they cut down five thousand of them on the highways. Then they pursued them relentlessly up to Gidom, and killed two thousand of them. So all who fell of Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all these were men of valor. But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them down with the edge of the sword—from every city, men and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to” (29 – 48) The casualties of the war were: From Israel, 40,000 fell during the first two days, plus 30 men in the third day. From Benjamin 25,000 men of valor; of which 18, 000 were killed in war; 5000 in the wilderness; 2000 at the Rock of Rimmon, (Rock of the Pomegranates) ; a https://coptic-treasures.com/ total of 25, 000, or more accurately 25, 100 (35). And the 600 men who turned out and fled toward the wilderness, to the Rock of Rimmon, where they stayed for four months; might have been spared by the children of Israel, as a despise of their few number. Benjamin lost all their men, whether killed or fled away. That was the fruition of sin and corruption.
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