Judges 20:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Behold, you people of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.”

NIV: Now, all you Israelites, speak up and tell me what you have decided to do.'

NASB: Behold, all you sons of Israel, give your response and advice here.'

CSB: Look, all of you are Israelites. Give your judgment and verdict here and now."

NLT: Now then, all of you — the entire community of Israel — must decide here and now what should be done about this!'

KJV: Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.

NKJV: Look! All of you are children of Israel; give your advice and counsel here and now!”

The Levite ends his testimony in front of assembled leaders of Israel (Judges 20:1–3) with a call for their response. He has described the heinous death of his concubine, as well as his gruesome call for justice (Judges 20:4–6). He does not see himself as their leader. Nor does he actively call God's people to war against Gibeah or the tribe of Benjamin.

However, he does deliberately incite moral outrage over Gibeah's sin. He pressures the leadership of the tribes to acknowledge what has happened and to respond in some way. He concludes by asking them to decide what they should do. This was likely a far more effective tactic than if he had demanded they kill everyone involved in this atrocity. The Levite allows them to come to that inevitable conclusion on their own.

Since the tribes have already amassed troops (Judges 20:2), all these details would have already been discussed. Those soldiers would not have been sent in such numbers without the assumption of action (Judges 20:8). The Levite's testimony and the ultimate response from Israel's leaders are more of a formality.

Judges 20:1–17 depicts Israel's response to an atrocity in Gibeah, a town of the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 19:22, 25). The people agree to punish Gibeah, saying their intent is to purge evil from Israel. When the Benjaminites refuse to hand over the guilty men, the other eleven tribes prepare a large army to invade. Benjamin rallies their own troops and prepares to defend the city of Gibeah.

A massive army collected from eleven of the twelve tribes of Israel gather near the town of Gibeah. Their goal is to purge evil from the land (Judges 19:22–28). The tribe of Benjamin refuses to cooperate. Instead, they assemble an army about one-fifteenth the size of Israel's army. After two failed attempts and a promise of victory from the Lord, Israel uses a false retreat and ambush strategy to destroy Gibeah. This results in the loss of Benjamin's entire army. Israel's wrath spills over onto the territory, itself. All the people, animals, and towns in the tribe's territory are attacked, and it appears that only 600 Benjaminite men survive.

In the prior chapter, Benjaminite men of the town of Gibeah committed an act of heinous sin (Judges 19:22–25). In response, the murdered woman's husband rallies Israel with a gruesome message (Judges 19:29–30). Chapter 20 depicts how the tribe of Benjamin refuses to hand over the guilty men. Civil war ensues, resulting in near-total annihilation of their tribe. This creates a new crisis in Israel, as described in chapter 21; Israel doesn't want Benjamin to become extinct.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).