A Nation Divided

The outrage at Gibeah united Israel from Dan to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, as one man before Yahweh at Mizpah. Four hundred thousand footmen gathered. The Levite told his account, and the people resolved by lot to go up against Gibeah. They gave Benjamin a chance: deliver up the wicked fellows, that we may put away evil from Israel. Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers.

Benjamin mustered twenty-six thousand swordsmen plus seven hundred chosen men of Gibeah; seven hundred left-handed men could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. Israel asked at Bethel who should go first, and Yahweh said, Judah first. On the first day, Benjamin destroyed twenty-two thousand men of Israel. Israel wept and asked again, and on the second day lost eighteen thousand more.

The repeated defeats humbled Israel. All the people came to Bethel, wept, sat before Yahweh, fasted until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. The ark of the covenant was there, and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, served before it. This time Yahweh promised, Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand. Using an ambush, Israel struck Benjamin; twenty-five thousand Benjamites fell, Israel struck their towns, and only six hundred men escaped to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months.