GIBEAH, a City in the Tribe of Benjamina, celebrated upon several occasions. It gave birth to Saul, the first King of Israel; for which reason it is frequently called Gibeah of Saul, or Gibeah the native country of Saul.
It is also famous for its sins; for that particularly which was committed by forcing the young Levite’s wife, who was come to lodge at Gibeah. At first no one offered to receive these strangers, and they con tinued in the street, till an old man desired them to come into his house. No sooner had they supp’d, but the inhabitants of the Judg. xix.City came and encompassed the old man’s dwelling,demanding with great cries to have the man delivered up to them who was within, saying, that they would know him: under this word concealing an abominable and shameful action. The old man did all he could to divert them from this wicked design; and observing that they did not hearken to him, he said to them, I have a daughter unmarried, and this man has his wife with him; I will bring them to you, and you shall have them to gratify your passion. I only beg of you not to commit a crime so detestable with a man. At the same time the Levite brought his wife to them, and gave her up to be treated by them in the outrageous manner they desired. After they had abused her all the night, they let her go; and the woman returning to the house, where her husband lodged, fell down dead with her arms extended on the threshold.
Her husband having found her in this condition, took her up, and carried her home upon his ass, then cut her into twelve pieces, which he sent to each of the twelve Tribes of Israel. Hereupon there was a convention of eleven Tribes, by whom it was demanded of the Tribe of Benjamin, that the persons who were guilty of this outrage should be delivered up to them, in order to make an example of them: but instead of doing any thing so reasonable, they took up arms to defend the inhabitants of Gibeah; which brought on a war that almost intirely ruined the Tribe of Benjamin. See Judges, ch. xx. xxi.
The Benjamites set an army on foot, consisting of five and twenty thousand men, without reckoning the inhabitants of Gibeah, in number seven hundred, who fought equally with their left as well as with their right hand, and were so expert at their slings, that they could throw a stone Judg. xx. 26.with them to an hair’s breadth. The army of Israel was composed of four hundred thousand men; they met at Shiloh, where the Ark of the Lord was, in order to consult and know, who should be their General. The Lord answered, Let Judah be your General.
The next day, at break of day, the children of Israel having taken the field, came and incamped near Gibeah, and began to batter the City; but the Benjamites made a sally upon them, and killed two and twenty thousand of their men. The Israelites in great consternation wept before the Lord till night, (for the Ark was removed from Shiloh to the Camp before Gibeah.) There they consulted him, saying, Shall we again engage the children of Benjamin our brethren? The Lord answered, before the Vulgar Æra 1413.March against them, and give them battle. The next day therefore they advanced in order of battle towards Gibeah; the inhabitants, together with the Benjamites, sallied out of the town, and fell upon them with so much impetuosity, that they killed again eighteen thousand of their men. Hereupon the children of Israel being intirely discouraged, came before the Ark, and setting themselves down, mourned and fasted there till the evening, offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and once more consulted the Lord by Phinehas, who was at that time High-Priest, and said to him, Shall we again engage our brethren the children of Benjamin, or remain in quiet? The Lord answered them, Go out against them, for to-morrow I will deliver them into your hands.
They divided their army into three bodies; one they placed in ambuscade behind the City, that they might enter it on that side, and set fire to it, as soon as the inhabitants were sallied out: the other, consisting of ten thousand men, was to appear before the City in order to give ground as soon as those of Gibeah were in sight; the third body, which was more considerable, and composed the gross of the army, was concealed in a place called Baal-tamar, and was not to shew itself till the Benjamites were got at a good distance from the town, and were drawn into the open plain by the ten thousand, who were to counterfeit a flight.
The stratagem succeeded, as they had projected; those of Gibeah sallying out with their usual boldness, fell to pursuing the fugitives without taking any precaution for the defence of the City: they therefore who lay in ambuscade behind it, entred without resistance, and set fire to it. Hereupon, the others who had made a shew of flying, observing the smoak of the town, faced about, and being supported by the main body of the army, which lay at Baal-tamar, and appeared at the same time, they fell upon the Benjamites, and made a great slaughter of them: they who endeavoured to return to their City, were hemm’d in, and cut in pieces by those who had been setting it on fire. Upon this occasion there were eighteen thousand Benjamites put to the sword. As their army was dispersed in several places, there were besides five thousand killed in a rencounter, and two thousand in another place; so that the number of the dead this day amounted to five and twenty thousand men. They who were able to make their escape, fled to the rock of Rimmon. The Israelites afterwards entered Gibeah, and put all, men and beasts to the sword, and all the towns and villages of the Tribe of Benjamin were treated in the same manner, and consumed by fire.
Nothing
N othing was more just than this War Observations on the War carried on by the eleven Tribes against the Benjamites at Gibeah. Judg. xx. Judg. xx. 18.of the eleven Tribes, who took arms against that of Benjamin, only to revenge a very enormous and abominable crime. Wherefore when they were at Shiloh, where was the Tabernacle, and the Ark of the Lord, there to consult him, and learn who was to command them in chief, he answered, Let Judah be your General; which was an evident mark, that God approved of this War: however the eleven Tribes, who composed so formidable an army, were twice shamefully beaten before Gibeah, by an army which was infinitely inferior to them, and lost forty thousand men in these two actions. This amazes, and seems surprizing; for God is not the protector of wickedness. The Interpreters disengage themselves as well as they can out of the difficulty, arising from the two victories obtained so near one another by the Benjamites. Dom Calmet in his Comment says, “ That the Israelites did “ not at first desire to know of God, whether it was his pleasure that they should “ make war against their brethren; that “ they met, and took their resolution of “ themselves, which was the cause of their “ bad success. He adds, that we might have “ reason to be surprized, if we did not “ know, that the judgements of God are “ far above those of men, and that oftentimes our most just designs, and most “ holy intentions, are not attended with “ the success which we believe we have a “ right to hope for, that man may learn to “ humble himself, to distrust his own “ strength, and place his confidence, not in “ his own righteousness, or in the force of “ his own arms, but in the mercy and “ protection of the Almighty.” This Morality is excellent, but in a case like this, wherein oppressed innocence, and the blood which was shed cried for vengeance from heaven, and united the minds of all in the desire of punishing a crime which excited horror, what occasion was there to go and consult the Lord? It is true, they had always a custom of consulting him, but this was in things which seemed dubious; as we see in this instance, where the choice of a General was the thing in question: it was necessary that God should name him or appoint See Numb. ix. 9. Judg. xviii. 5, 6. 1 Sam. xiv 37. xxiii. 2, 4, 9. xxx. 8. 2 Sam. ii. 1. v. 19, 23, xxx. 1. 2 Kings xxii. 13, 18. 1 Chr. xiv. 10, 14. 2 Chr. xviii. 4, 5.him, that the other Princes of the Tribes might be submissive to him, and they might not be divided by any inclination to command. Besides, the Scripture does not accuse them of any crime: Phinehas, who was High-Priest, would not have failed to reproach them with it, when they came to him to consult the Lord; they had done nothing against their brethren the Benjamites which was not according to the rules of equity, and the law of nations: they had sent ambassadors to demand of them the persons concerned in the guilt of this wickedness, in order to punish them; but upon their refusal, they saw a necessity of coming to an open rupture. They met together, they went to consult the Lord, they asked a General of him, he named one; was not this desiring his protection, and shewing that they took arms only to vindicate his honour, and punish the authors and abetters of a detestable crime? Notwithstanding, they were beaten, they had recourse to him; he commanded them to engage a second time, and they were again defeated: did God deceive them? I am far from thinking so: I am of the learned Commentator’s opinion, That the judgements of God are far above those of men, and that his ways are incomprehensible. But let us come now to the actions here mentioned.
The Lord having named Judah to command Jugd. xx. 19, 20.the children of Israel, they marched at break of day, and incamped near Gibeah; from thence advancing to encounter the Benjamites, they began to batter the city. I should be inclined to believe, that they at first surrounded the town in order to besiege it, and assault it on every side, attacking it by the way of sapping and scaling: for the method of the Jews, when they designed the siege of any place, was to invest it all round, and draw lines of circumvallation or contravallation, according to their apprehensions from the enemy. The inhabitants of Gibeah, in all appearance, took the advantage of this favourable opportunity to make a general sally, to prevent their having the whole army of the Israelites to engage with; so that they fell upon a part of this prodigious army, which they put to flight, and killed two and twenty thousand of them.
After this defeat, the Israelites retired to their camp. The next day, says the sacred Author, relying upon their forces, and the great number of them, they drew up in order of battle upon the same spot upon which they had fought before. If this verse were not followed by another, which demonstrates to us, that they humbled themselves before the Lord to implore his mercy, the Interpreters would have reason to say, “ That glorying in “ their number, and presuming too much “ on their strength, God permitted them “ to suffer so sensible a loss:” but on the contrary, they first went and mourned before him, and consulted him whether they should again engage in battle with the sons of Benjamin their brethren. The Lord answered them, Go against them, Judg. xx. 23.and give them battle. Was not this an acknowledgement of their impotency, and that notwithstanding their great number, they could do nothing, unless God supported them with his Almighty Hand; yet they were once more beaten, and lost eighteen thousand men.
Lastly, the children of Israel being in great consternation upon receiving these great checks, had notwithstanding recourse to God only; they came to the Tabernacle; there they lamented, fasted till the evening, offered Burnt-offerings to him, and Peace-offerings, and consulted him by the High-Priest Phinehas, saying, Shall we again fight with our brethren the children of Benjamin, or shall we abandon this undertaking, and return in peace? At length the Lord hearkened to them, and replied to them by the mouth of his servant Phinehas, Judg. xx. 28.March against them, for to-morrow I will deliver them into thine hands.
Afterwards they placed ambuscades round about the city. From this stratagem I am apt to think, they did not invest the place on every side; or else that they collected all their forces together in this last action, making a shew of abandoning the undertaking, and withdrawing their troops, that so the Benjamites might more readily fall into the snare. They therefore divided their army into three bodies; one was placed in ambuscade behind the town, with orders to him who had the command, that he should wait till the Benjamites should sally out; then that they should get possession of it, and set it on fire. The second body, composed of ten thousand men, marched towards the enemy, with an intention of drawing them to some distance from the city. The Benjamites imagining, that the ten thousand men advanced with a design only of covering the main body of the Israelitish army in their retreat, fell upon them. These pretended to give ground by degrees, in order to decoy them into the plain; during which time, the ambuscade which lay behind the Town rising up, made themselves masters of it, and set it on fire. Hereupon the ten thousand, who were flying, faced about: the main body of the army, which was at Baal-tamar, advanced in order of battle, and the ambuscades began to appear, so that the Benjamites were encompassed and attacked on every side. Thus the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel, and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men; all these drew the sword.
The Scripture remarks, that this happened at a time, when there was no King in Israel, and when every one did that which was right in his own eyes.
Gibeah was about two leagues from Jerusalem1, towards the north, not far from Gibeon and Kirjath-jearim. In St. Jerom’s time2 it was intirely destroyed. Josephus3 places it at the distance of thirty furlongs from Jerusalem; St. Jerom4 but at seven miles from the same City. I take it to be the same as Gibeath in Joshua xviii. 28.
Gibea or Gabaa in Hebrew signifies an Hill; we are not therefore to be surprized to find in a mountainous country, like that of Judæa, so many places going by the names of Gibeah, Gibeon, Gabbatha, Gabbathon, Gabbat, Gabe, all which words signify an eminence; and sometimes proper names called Gabaa, are translated Hills; for example, Zechary xiv. 10. Revertetur omnis terra de colle Remnon ad Austrum Jerusalem. In the Hebrew, All the land shall be turned as a plain from Gaba to Rimmon. And on the contrary, Gabaa or Gibeah in 2 Sam. viii. described as a City, is only the Hill of Kirjath-jearim.
Read this article in its place on the printed pages