Judges 17:1-21:25

Outline :

Chapters 19,20,21 :
Sin in Benjamin

19:1-6

The Benjaminites Rape and Kill a Levite's Concubine. a levite's concubine runs away from him and ends up at home; he goes to retrieve her (gently). on the journey home, they spend the night in gibeah, a benjaminite city, where an old man takes them in to his home. the men of the city surround the house and demand that the levite be thrown out to them so that they can rape him. the old man offers his virgin daughter and the levites concubine instead, which they refuse. eventually, the man tosses his concubine out, and they rape and abuse her all night.
in the morning, the levite prepares to go, but his concubine is now dead. he takes her body home, cuts it up into 12 pieces, and sends a piece to each tribe.

20:1-11

Israel Unites to Punish Gibeah israel assembles at mizpah, and the levite tells his story; israel decides to punish gibeah.

20:12-48

Israel defeats Benjamin; Israel loses 40,000, Benjamin loses 25,000 (plus the city of Gibeah). israel approches benjamin, and tells them to turn over the 'worthless fellows' of gibeah; benjamin refuses. israel and benjamin go to war. the first day, israel fights and loses 22,000. the second day, israel loses 18,000. obviously, by this time they're starting to worry about whether or not god is with them (though they have consulted god each day before going into battle); in any case, phinehas (aaron's grandson; see num. 25:7) is the high priest (meaning that this happens soon after joshua's death), and he again inquires; they also fast for the day and offer burnt and peace offerings. god responds that they will win the next day...
the next day they set an ambush for benjamin, and end up killing 25,000 (basically, all of their remaining army [there had been two days of fighting already]). v.36-48 provide a detailed recount of the battle.

21:1-25

Israel Finds Wives for the 600 Remaining Benjaminites israel is sorrowed for the loss of the tribe; all the men of benjamin, save 600, are dead, and all of israel swore not to give a daughter in marriage to a benjaminite. so, israel comes up with two schemes to provide wives to benjamin.
first, they realize that one city didn't show up to gathering of the tribes, jabesh-gilead. so they go and destroy the city, saving the virgins to give to the 600 survivors of benjamin as wives.
but thats not quite enough virgins...so they tell benjamin to go and steal wives from shiloh, as every year the young women would take part in a dance. and so all of the benjaminites get wives.

19:1-6
The Benjaminites Rape and Kill a Levite's Concubine.	a levite's concubine runs away from him and ends up at home; he goes to retrieve her (gently). on the journey home, they spend the night in gibeah, a benjaminite city, where an old man takes them in to his home. the men of the city surround the house and demand that the levite be thrown out to them so that they can rape him. the old man offers his virgin daughter and the levites concubine instead, which they refuse. eventually, the man tosses his concubine out, and they rape and abuse her all night. in the morning, the levite prepares to go, but his concubine is now dead. he takes her body home, cuts it up into 12 pieces, and sends a piece to each tribe.
20:1-11
Israel Unites to Punish Gibeah	israel assembles at mizpah, and the levite tells his story; israel decides to punish gibeah.
20:12-48
Israel defeats Benjamin; Israel loses 40,000, Benjamin loses 25,000 (plus the city of Gibeah).	israel approches benjamin, and tells them to turn over the 'worthless fellows' of gibeah; benjamin refuses. israel and benjamin go to war. the first day, israel fights and loses 22,000. the second day, israel loses 18,000. obviously, by this time they're starting to worry about whether or not god is with them (though they have consulted god each day before going into battle); in any case, phinehas (aaron's grandson; see num. 25:7) is the high priest (meaning that this happens soon after joshua's death), and he again inquires; they also fast for the day and offer burnt and peace offerings. god responds that they will win the next day... the next day they set an ambush for benjamin, and end up killing 25,000 (basically, all of their remaining army [there had been two days of fighting already]). v.36-48 provide a detailed recount of the battle.
21:1-25
Israel Finds Wives for the 600 Remaining Benjaminites	israel is sorrowed for the loss of the tribe; all the men of benjamin, save 600, are dead, and all of israel swore not to give a daughter in marriage to a benjaminite. so, israel comes up with two schemes to provide wives to benjamin. first, they realize that one city didn't show up to gathering of the tribes, jabesh-gilead. so they go and destroy the city, saving the virgins to give to the 600 survivors of benjamin as wives. but thats not quite enough virgins...so they tell benjamin to go and steal wives from shiloh, as every year the young women would take part in a dance. and so all of the benjaminites get wives.