1 Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to Yahweh at Mizpah.
Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them: and Jephthah spoke all his words before Yahweh in Mizpah.
to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba.
All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Yahweh.
The children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who didn't come up in the assembly to Yahweh? For they had made a great oath concerning him who didn't come up to Yahweh to Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
All the people gathered themselves together as one man into the broad place that was before the water gate; and they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which Yahweh had commanded to Israel.
The king said to Joab the captain of the host, who was with him, Go now back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number you the people, that I may know the sum of the people.
He took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Whoever doesn't come forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. The dread of Yahweh fell on the people, and they came out as one man. He numbered them in Bezek; and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
When the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to Yahweh, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem: for they had not kept it in great numbers in such sort as it is written.
Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
He bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as [the heart of] one man; so that they sent to the king, [saying], Return you, and all your servants.
Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that behold, the place was a place for cattle;
Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you to Yahweh. They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Yahweh. Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.
The children of Israel arose, and went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God; and they said, Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin? Yahweh said, Judah [shall go up] first.
So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.
The chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew sword.
They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel: however the name of the city was Laish at the first.
[This] was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh; for he was the firstborn of Joseph. As for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan.
If you shall hear tell concerning one of your cities, which Yahweh your God gives you to dwell there, saying, Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known; then shall you inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in the midst of you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein and the cattle of it, with the edge of the sword. You shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street of it, and shall burn with fire the city, and all the spoil of it every whit, to Yahweh your God: and it shall be a heap forever; it shall not be built again. There shall cleave nothing of the devoted thing to your hand; that Yahweh may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers; when you shall listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all his commandments which I command you this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Judges 20
Commentary on Judges 20 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 20
Into the book of the wars of the Lord the story of this chapter must be brought, but it looks as sad and uncomfortable as any article in all that history; for there is nothing in it that looks in the least bright or pleasant but the pious zeal of Israel against the wickedness of the men of Gibeah, which made it on their side a just and holy war; but otherwise the obstinacy of the Benjamites in protecting their criminals, which was the foundation of the war, the vast loss which the Israelites sustained in carrying on the war, and (though the righteous cause was victorious at last) the issuing of the war in the almost utter extirpation of the tribe of Benjamin, make it, from first to last, melancholy. And yet this happened soon after the glorious settlement of Israel in the land of promise, upon which one would have expected every thing to be prosperous and serene. In this chapter we have,
Jdg 20:1-11
Here is,
Jdg 20:12-17
Here is,
Jdg 20:18-25
We have here the defeat of the men of Israel in their first and second battle with the Benjamites.
Jdg 20:26-48
We have here a full account of the complete victory which the Israelites obtained over the Benjamites in the third engagement: the righteous cause was victorious at last, when the managers of it amended what had been amiss; for, when a good cause suffers, it is for want of good management. Observe then how the victory was obtained, and how it was pursued.