20:1-7
There now follows a battle between the rest of Israel and the Benjaminites. “Dan to Beersheba” was a term used to describe the whole land of Israel. The people assembled at Mizpah. There were four hundred thousand armed men in total. They asked the Levite to explain what had happened. The Levite is described as “the husband of the murdered woman, and then he refers to her as his concubine. The boundary lines between wife and concubine seem somewhat blurred. He gives a brief description of what happened, which, by the way, indicates that she was dead before he chopped her up. He then challenges the Israelites to say what they have decided to do.
20:8-11
The decision was to go up and attack Gibeah, a Benjaminite city. One tenth of the people would go up to fight, amounting to about four hundred thousand men. The large numbers given in the Bible are often just an approximation. They were united in agreeing that the Benjaminites had committed a heinous act and must be punished for it.
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