“Then all the Children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled
as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the
LORD at Mizpah."
War drums droned. Civil war loomed. Judges 20 records the bloody battles that claimed the
lives of tens of thousands of Hebrews. Seeds of disaccord, however, had been steadily sowed
and nursed over the past several chapters. The Jews had become a rudderless nation, morally
bankrupt. Samson, the Hebrew judge who, in theory, could have provided an ample antidote to
anarchy and shore up ethical decline and unrest, had been put out of commission. In a
Philistine prison, his eyes gouged out, he languished.
But what was the civil war’s casus belli? Judges 19 highlighted the abduction and rape of the
Levite’s concubine in Gibeah. It left a young married woman dead and her Levite husband
inconsolable. Frightfully, that fueled flames.
Abravanel thoroughly analyzes this chapter’s internecine conflict. For our purposes here, we
focus on one aspect of his essay: Were the tribes, collectively, rash when they gathered
together to declare war on the tribe of Benjamin? “Then all the Children of Israel went out, and
the congregation was assembled as one man…And the chiefs of all the people, even of all the
tribes of Israel…”
Shouldn’t the tribes first have fully gathered all relevant material facts and ascertained the
circumstances, before taking the offensive? Why hadn’t tribal heads traveled to the crime
scene (hill-country, Ephraim), rounded up suspects, and questioned witnesses and top brass? If
Benjamin’s officials would have failed to cooperate, let alone had they outright rebuffed the all-
tribe contingent, other avenues could have been explored – keeping all options on the table.
Abravanel fills in the blanks, regarding this rock-bottom episode in Jewish history.
To compound matters, Abravanel continues, see the Book of Joshua 22. There we read how
some of the tribes (Reuben and Gad) seemed to contravene Torah law, to the chagrin of Joshua
and the other tribes. Judiciously, Joshua convened those tribal heads accused of wrongdoing.
When the accused explained their actions, and when Joshua had been convinced of their
innocence, tensions immediately resided. Peaceful coexistence between all twelve tribes
resumed. Why, then, hadn’t the tribes here acted reasonably toward Benjamin’s tribe?
Instead, ostensibly, they flouted due process. “And the chiefs…presented themselves of the
people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.” In the presence of the tribes
in Mizpah, the widower’s testimony was heard. “Now the Children of Benjamin heard that the
Children of Israel were gone up to Mizpah. And the Children of Israel said: Tell us, how was the
wickedness brought to pass? And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered
answered and said…”
Before the all-tribe tribunal, the Levite introduced new facts. “I came into Gibeah that belongs
to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.” Next followed lurid information. “And the men of
Gibeah rose up against me, and beset the house round about me by night. Me they thought to
kill, and my concubine they forced. And she is dead.” Note, this chapter fills in details that had
not been conveyed in the previous chapter. Abravanel adds that the Levite, if he would have
been handed over to the men demanding to rape him, would have made sure that didn’t
happen, preferring death. Thus, “they thought to kill me…”
Here is Abravanel’s approach. He believes that two separate conventions took place. One
comprised eleven tribes in Mizpah sans Benjamin; the other one convened in Benjamin,
attended only by that tribe’s head council. Specifically, just as soon as Benjaminites learned of
their brethren’s gathering in Mizpah, they reacted in kind – calling a separate gathering in their
territory. Feeling threatened, Benjaminites prepared their self-defense.
To recap, in Mizpah, the eleven-tribe tribunal subpoenaed the Levite. He gave testimony of that
day’s events in Gibeah. Salient facts emerged from the hearing. The Levite testified as to the
bodily threat he faced. Moreover, the magistrates heard about the gang rape that left the
concubine critically injured. By the morning, she succumbed to her wounds. The Levite
admitted that he, not the rapists, carved up the dead woman’s body, dispatching body parts
throughout the land. Why? The Levite believed the assault was of national importance, and not
a matter for the Benjamin police. In essence, he argued that, in principle, he acknowledged,
each tribe had the requisite authority to adjudicate (in legal/moral problems). However, the
Levite asserted, his case warranted national attention and a collective resolution, because it
involved extreme moral turpitude. Besides, the Levite concluded his remarks, each Jew is
bound to and responsible for each other’s conduct.
Did the Hebrews want to deter depravity, or look the other way and join the ranks of Sodom
and Gomorrah? The short answer is “no.” Due process had been meticulously observed.