Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The eleven tribes, waging war against the Benjaminites to avenge their unspeakable lust, are cut down by them in the second assault; but in the third assault they finally cut them down to the point of annihilation, with only six hundred escaping by flight into the wilderness.
Vulgate Text: Judges 20:1-48
1. All the children of Israel therefore went out and gathered together as one man, from Dan to Beersheba, and the land of Gilead, to the Lord in Mizpah; 2. and all the corners of the peoples and all the tribes of Israel assembled in the congregation of the people of God: four hundred thousand foot soldiers who drew the sword. (3. Nor was it hidden from the sons of Benjamin that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, being questioned as to how such a great crime had been committed, 4. answered: I came to Gibeah of Benjamin with my wife and turned aside there; 5. and behold, the men of that city surrounded the house where I was staying at night, wishing to kill me, and they harassed my wife with incredible fury of lust, and at last she died. 6. I seized her body, cut it in pieces, and sent the parts to all the territories of your possession; because never has so great a crime and so grave a sacrilege been committed in Israel. 7. You are here, all the children of Israel; determine what you ought to do. 8. And all the people, standing, answered as if with the voice of one man: We will not return to our tents, nor will anyone enter his own house; 9. but this we will do in common against Gibeah: 10. Let ten men be chosen out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to bring provisions for the army, that we may fight against Gibeah of Benjamin and repay it for the crime it deserves. 11. And all Israel gathered at the city, as one man, of one mind and one counsel. 12. And they sent messengers to the whole tribe of Benjamin, saying: Why has such a great crime been found among you? 13. Hand over the men of Gibeah who committed this outrage, that they may die and the evil be removed from Israel. But they would not listen to the command of their brethren, the children of Israel; 14. rather, from all the cities that were their lot, they gathered at Gibeah to bring them aid and fight against the whole people of Israel. 15. And twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword were found from Benjamin, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, 16. who were seven hundred very strong men, fighting with the left hand as well as the right, and slinging stones at a mark so accurately that they could hit even a hair, and the stone would not swerve at all to either side. 17. Of the men of Israel also, not counting the sons of Benjamin, there were found four hundred thousand who drew the sword and were ready for battle. 18. They rose and came to the house of God — that is, to Shiloh — and consulted God and said: Who shall be the leader of our army in the battle against the sons of Benjamin? The Lord answered them: Let Judah be your leader. 19. Immediately the children of Israel, rising in the morning, encamped beside Gibeah. 20. And advancing from there to battle against Benjamin, they began to attack the city. 21. And the sons of Benjamin, coming out from Gibeah, killed twenty-two thousand men of the children of Israel that day. 22. Again the children of Israel, trusting in their strength and numbers, drew up their battle line in the same place where they had fought before — 23. but not before going up and weeping before the Lord until nightfall, consulting Him, and saying: Should I continue to advance to fight against the sons of Benjamin my brothers, or not? He answered them: Go up against them and engage in battle. 24. And when the children of Israel had advanced to battle against the sons of Benjamin on the next day, 25. the sons of Benjamin burst out from the gates of Gibeah and, meeting them, raged against them with such slaughter that they laid low eighteen thousand men who drew the sword. 26. Therefore all the children of Israel came to the house of God, and sitting down they wept before the Lord; they fasted that day until evening and offered Him burnt offerings and peace offerings, 27. and inquired about their situation. At that time the Ark of the Covenant of God was there, 28. and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was in charge of the house. They therefore consulted the Lord and said: Should we go out again to battle against the sons of Benjamin our brothers, or should we rest? The Lord said to them: Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hands. 29. And the children of Israel set ambushes around the city of Gibeah; 30. and for the third time, as before once and twice, they led out their army against Benjamin. 31. And the sons of Benjamin also boldly burst out from the city and pursued the fleeing enemy at a great distance, so that they wounded some of them as on the first and second day, and cut down about thirty men along two paths as they turned their backs — one leading to Bethel and the other to Gibeah. 32. For they thought they were cutting them down in the usual manner. But the Israelites, feigning flight by a stratagem, formed a plan to draw them away from the city and lead them as if in flight to the aforesaid paths. 33. All the children of Israel therefore rising from their positions, drew up their battle line in the place called Baal-Tamar. The ambushes also that were around the city began to open gradually, 34. and to advance from the western part of the city. But also another ten thousand men from all Israel provoked the inhabitants of the city to battle. And the battle became heavy against the children of Benjamin; and they did not understand that destruction threatened them on every side. 35. And the Lord struck them in the sight of the children of Israel, and they killed of them on that day twenty-five thousand and one hundred men, all warriors who drew the sword. 36. But the children of Benjamin, when they saw themselves overcome, began to flee. Which the children of Israel seeing, gave them room to flee, so that they might come to the prepared ambushes which they had set near the city. 37. And when they had suddenly risen from their hiding places, and Benjamin was showing their backs to those striking them, they entered the city and struck it with the edge of the sword. 38. Now the children of Israel had given a sign to those whom they had placed in ambush, that after they had taken the city, they should light a fire; so that by the smoke rising on high, they might show that the city was taken. 39. And when the children of Israel saw this in the very heat of battle (for the children of Benjamin thought they were fleeing, and pursued them more eagerly, having killed thirty men of their army), 40. and saw as it were a pillar of smoke rising from the city; Benjamin also looking back, when he saw the city taken and the flames carried on high; 41. those who had before simulated flight, turning face, resisted more bravely. Which when the children of Benjamin saw, they turned to flight, 42. and began to go toward the way of the desert, the adversaries pursuing them there also; but also those who had set the city on fire met them. 43. And so it happened that they were cut down by the enemy on both sides, nor was there any rest for the dying. They fell and were overthrown at the eastern side of the city of Gibeah. 44. And those who were killed in that same place were eighteen thousand men, all very strong warriors. 45. And when those who remained of Benjamin saw this, they fled into the wilderness; and they made for the rock whose name is Rimmon. In that flight also, scattered and going in different directions, they killed five thousand men. And when they pressed on further, they pursued them and killed also another two thousand. 46. And so it happened that all who had fallen of Benjamin in various places were twenty-five thousand, warriors very ready for battle. 47. And so from the whole number of Benjamin, there remained who were able to escape and flee into the wilderness, six hundred men, and they sat in the rock of Rimmon for four months. 48. But the children of Israel returning, struck with the sword all the remnants of the city, from men even to beasts, and a devouring flame consumed all the cities and villages of Benjamin.
Verse 1: All Israel Gathered at Mizpah
There were four cities in Judea called Mizpah, that is, watchtower, says Abulensis, who understands the Gileadite one here. Others better take the one that was on the border of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; for this was close to Gibeah, which they wished to punish, and equally near the city of Shiloh, where the tabernacle of the covenant with the ark was, which could be seen from Mizpah. For Mizpah was in a high place like a watchtower; hence they are said there to have been "gathered to the Lord," dwelling at a distance in the tabernacle above the ark. Add that in the whole synagogue gathered together for a pious cause, as was the case here, God was present and presided over it. Hence those coming to it were said to be "gathered to the Lord." For this reason also the Hebrews frequently held assemblies at Mizpah on other occasions, as is clear from 1 Samuel VII, 10; Jeremiah XL; 1 Maccabees III, 47, where the reason is also given when it says: "The place of prayer was in Mizpah formerly in Israel," as if to say: although the tabernacle with the ark was in Shiloh, yet in Mizpah there was a synagogue, or place of prayer, and therefore the Israelites gathered there as if to a synagogue or house of prayer. Hence the Rabbis trace the origin of synagogues to the famous and principal synagogue that was in Mizpah.
Verse 2: All the Leaders of the Peoples
That is, all the peoples dwelling in their places, as if in corners. So today the Cantons, that is, Corners of the Swiss, are named. Or rather and better, all the corners, that is, all the chief men, prefects, and leaders of the peoples, all the princes of the tribes, says our Salazar on Proverbs chapter 1, verse 21, number 229. For these keep the people in unity and duty, just as corners bind and hold together the whole house. Hence "corner" is taken for "prince," as when Christ is said to have been "made the head of the corner," and to be "the cornerstone," that is, the pillar, foundation, and prince of the Church, Psalm CXVII, 22, and Matthew XXI, 42; and when Isaiah says chapter XIX, verse 13: "They have deceived Egypt, the corner (that is, the prince) of the peoples." And Zechariah, chapter X, verse 4: "From him the corner," that is, from Judah shall come forth a prince, namely Judas Maccabaeus. Similar are Zephaniah III, 6 and 1 Samuel XIV, 38.
Verse 12: They Sent Messengers to the Tribe of Benjamin — throughout all the cities and families of the Benjaminites.
Verse 15: Twenty-five Thousand of Benjamin
The Hebrew and Chaldean have 26 thousand, with which Lyranus and Abulensis agree. But the Septuagint as well as the Roman Latin consistently read 25 thousand: and the number of the slain and survivors in verses 35 and 47 plainly agrees with this. Finally, the word chamisha, that is "five," could easily have been corrupted into veshisha, that is "and six."
Verse 16: Seven Hundred Very Brave Slingers
This is a hyperbole, as if to say: they were most skilled with the sling, so that casting a stone with it, they would surely hit the target. So Lyranus, Abulensis, Cajetan. Such also were the inhabitants of the Balearic Islands, who were trained from their youth in slinging, to such a degree that boys could not eat breakfast unless they had first knocked down their breakfast placed at a distance with a sling, according to Strabo. Hear what Herodian writes about the Emperor Commodus: "He would pursue and attack deer and does, and other horned animals besides bulls, running alongside and chasing them, and striking them down with the surest blows before they could flee. Lions, however, and panthers, and other such very noble animals, he would stab from above with javelins as he ran in a circle, so that no one saw a second weapon, nor any wound but a fatal one. For as soon as the beast had been aroused, he would immediately wound it either in the forehead or in the heart, using no other aim, nor directing his weapon at any other part of the body, so that it was dispatched along with the wound itself." I have recounted more examples of such skilled archers in Lamentations III, verse 12.
Verse 18: Let Judah Be Your Leader — "Judah" that is, the tribe of Judah, and its prince.
Verse 23: Should We Continue against Our Brothers?
They call their enemies brethren, to show that although vice must be punished, nature must still be loved, says Lyranus. Hence hostis (enemy) was formerly hospes (guest); whence the Italian hoste.
Go Up and Join Battle
A wonderful ordering of God: for He commands the eleven tribes, once defeated by the Benjaminites to the loss of 22 thousand in verse 21, to attack them again, and to be again defeated to the loss of 18 thousand in verse 25, and yet they were waging a just and pious war.
Why this? The first reason was, to chastise their past sins, and specifically that they had permitted the idol of Micah; likewise the worship of Baal and Ashtaroth, chapters II and III. So the Hebrews, Lyranus, and Abulensis.
The second is hinted at in verse 22, namely that they trusted too much in their own strength and numbers: so that they might learn that victory belongs to God, and that He often gives it to the few and weaker against the many and powerful.
The third, so that He might purge the camps of the eleven tribes, in which many were sinful, from their dregs; and thus make them worthy to receive victory: and so that He might test and rouse their faith and obedience, which indeed was great here; for although defeated a second time, they nevertheless renewed the war at God's command a third time, and therefore emerged victorious. Hear St. Gregory, book XIV of the Morals, chapter XIII: "What does it mean that Israel is inflamed for the avenging of the crime, and yet is itself first struck down: unless that those through whom the faults of others are punished must first themselves be purged; so that they may now come purified to the act of vengeance, who hasten to correct the vices of others?" He confirms this with the example of the adulteress, to whose accusers Christ the Lord says: "Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone at her," John chapter VIII, 7, of whom St. Gregory says: "They were going to punish others' sins, and had left their own behind. They are therefore called back within to their conscience, so that they may first correct their own faults, and then reprove those of others."
Finally, so that He might show that He is the supreme Lord of death and life for all; and thus strike all with the sacred fear and reverence of Himself, as indeed happened. See Origen, homily 14 on Numbers; St. Augustine, book V of the City of God, chapters XXI and XXII; Salvian, book On Providence; St. Gregory, book XXI of the Morals, chapter III; St. Ephrem, volume I, sermon On Patience.
For similar reasons God permitted, in the war begun against the infidel Pharaoh, the most pious King Josiah of Judah to be killed; and Ladislaus king of the Hungarians to be killed by Amurath Emperor of the Turks in the disaster of Varna; and St. Louis king of France, wishing to recover the Holy Land, to be captured by the Sultan of Egypt, and in a second expedition to die of plague, so that He might sharpen his wonderful patience, and show it to the whole world, and soon crown it in heaven, which indeed I admire and venerate above all his other heroic virtues. So St. Bernard before St. Louis, by God's command, urged Christians to undertake the same expedition to the Holy Land, which nevertheless ended badly with the Christians slaughtered. Hence St. Bernard was called an impostor by many; but he defended himself, and showed by miracles that this had been God's will, as he himself, citing this double disaster of the Israelites, narrates in book II of the Consideration to Eugenius, at the beginning.
Verse 26: They Fasted until Evening
From this passage and from 2 Kings chapters I and IX, it is clear that the Hebrews when fasting were accustomed to fast until evening. From this custom flowed the superstitious observance of the Saracens, Turks, and later Jews, who, when they fast, do not take food before they have caught sight of the star Venus, or Hesperus (for the Saracens worship this star), as St. Jerome reports of the Jews, in book II Against Jovinian, and Tertullian, in the book Against the Psychics, near the end. Concerning the Saracens the same is clear from chapter II of the Quran.
Christians also formerly fasted until the evening: hence in memory of this, vespers are still recited in the Lenten fast before the meal; as if the meal that follows were not so much a dinner as a supper.
Verse 37: The Ambush Attacked the City
The order and sequence of the narrative is intricate here, but you may untangle and arrange it thus with Lyranus and Abulensis. The Israelites divided themselves into three divisions or parts, though unequal: one was the ambush party, which had been placed behind the city of Gibeah, so that when the Benjaminites went out to pursue the Israelites, they might enter the city itself and set it on fire. The second division was of ten thousand, which lured the Benjaminites out of the city, so that the first ambush division just mentioned might seize the city, and which led them by feigning flight to the third division, that is, the most numerous battle line of the whole remaining army stationed at the two roads, until the signal of the captured city should be given by the first division through smoke: which being done, they turned around, and all the divisions or battle lines attacked the Benjaminites, and killed 25 thousand of them, and in addition a hundred men.
Verse 48: From Men Even to Beasts
From this it is clear that all children and women were killed, both in Gibeah and in all other cities and villages of Benjamin, and this is even clearer in the Hebrew. Therefore they made the tribe of Benjamin anathema, such as is prescribed to be done in the crime of public idolatry, Deuteronomy XIII, 15. And although the eleven tribes here exceeded the bounds and measure of that law and vengeance by killing innocent women and children, yet by divine providence this was permitted to punish the Sodomite and unbridled lust of the Gibeonites, and at the same time the bold and reckless rebellion of the one tribe of Benjamin against the other eleven.