Judges series - Judges 21 - Levite and His concubine (final part)

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I have inserted a section on "Points to take note/What we have learnt/can learn".
{For full listing of all articles in this series, click here}

Judges 21

[A recap of the story thus far, started from Judges 19 - [In this story, a Levite in the Ephraim hill country took a concubine from Bethlehem, Judah. The concubine was unfaithful, and afterward, had left home and gone back to her father’s house in Bethlehem. The Levite went to fetch her back, and the way back, when it was late, they decided to spend the night in Gibeah, a city, controlled by the Benjamin tribe. An old man, probably a fellow Israelite, extended hospitality to the couple. In the night, while everyone was inside the house, some wicked men of the city came to the door, demanding the Levite be given over to them to have sex, sodomy! The old man said that, that would be a vile and disgraceful thing to do, and countered, offering to give his own virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine to the men, but the men refused. The Levite took his concubine and gave her to the men outside. The men raped and abused the Levite’s concubine until the next morning, and she died. Both the old man, and the Levite did nothing until the next morning! The Levite took the body and went back to his own home. On arrival, he cut up the body into 12 parts, and had them sent to the tribes of Israel, all over the place.

When the Israelites received the parts of the Levite’s concubine, they gathered before God in a place called Mizpah. The Levite explained the tragedy to the crowd gathered. He said it was the men of Gibeah who did the hideous act. He, of course, did not say he sent his concubine out, to save his own skin. The crowd decided in one accord that they would form an army and go against the city of Gibeah, a city controlled by the Benjamin Tribe of Israel. After a series of battles, in the end, the Benjamites lost, with only 600 men left, holed up in the desert rock at Rimmon. In addition, the men of Israel went to all the towns of the Benjamites, killed everything and set them on fire. Nothing was left of the Benjamin Tribe except the 600 men at Rimmon.]

Wives for the Benjamites

1 The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: "Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite." [It was not clearly stated when this oath was taken. I tended to agree with some who said that this oath was taken at the time the Israelites gathered before the LORD at Mizpah to hear out the Levite’s case, before the battle against the Benjamites (Judges 20:1). I guessed on hearing the atrocity that happened on Benjamite soil, the Israelites vowed not to give their daughters in marriage to the Benjamites.

It was no big deal at the time that they were taken; nevertheless it was a vow before the LORD. And it became a big deal, because all the women of the Benjamin tribe had been killed. And there were only 600 men holed up in the rock in the desert. Implication: one of 12 tribes of Israel might perish!]
2 The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. 3 "O LORD, the God of Israel," they cried, "why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?" [They realized the seriousness of what they did: firstly, the vow they made in verse 1, and secondly, that they went into all the towns of the Benjamites, killed everything (including all the women), and burnt down all the towns.

The LORD’s anger was on the Benjamites; if you agree with me, it was because of their failure to care for the Lord’s tribe (Levi) and arrogance, but even so, I believe the LORD did not intend the Israelites to go back to the towns of the Benjamites and wiped off everyone. When the LORD said to wipe out the heathens staying in the land as they conquered the land, they disobeyed, but now they would wipe out an entire Israelite tribe! It was an over-kill!]
4 Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. 5 Then the Israelites asked, "Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the LORD ?" For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah should certainly be put to death. [Some commentators talked about the Israelites not inquiring of the LORD before deciding to war against the Benjamites, or that such huge gathering of the Israelite fighting men were really not needed if the Israelites had inquired of the LORD; I think they were not correct.

In the first place, it was their practice to gather together before the LORD. The LORD gave instructions to Moses, including the use of trumpets in calling for assembly of all people or just the elders of the community. I believe during this period, there was an understanding that they would gather at Mizpah for such gatherings. If you go back to Judges 10, before a war with the Ammonites, the Israelites gathered at Mizpah, too, with the all the fighting men.

The Israelites did gather before the LORD (Judges 20:1), they even made a vow (Judges 21:1), and correctly, all the tribes from all towns had to be present. When the Benjamites, probably did not turn up in the first instance, were subsequently asked to answer to the accusation, which they just did not bother; that I believe, resulted in the infuriation of the people, as well as the LORD.

It must be understood that by then, as opposed to Moses’ time, the Israelites were scattered over many towns in the land, not a blowing of the trumpet would do the trick of having everyone come running to the square. This time, because of the receipt of body parts of the Levite’s concubine, an assembly was called to address the grievance of the Levite – all tribal representatives from all the towns must be present.]
6 Now the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites. "Today one tribe is cut off from Israel," they said. 7 "How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?" 8 Then they asked, "Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah?" They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. 9 For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there. [What do you know; the representatives from Jabesh Gilead did not turn up! We have previously, in chapter 5, verse 17, came across these Gilead men. Remember, there I said, I believe they were Manassites (men of Manasseh). I believe some commentators were wrong to say that these men were uncircumcised heathens, some of them may not be pure blood but if they were circumcised they were counted as part of the tribes (there were really much mix-bloods because of the disobedience of the Israelites.). If they were uncircumcised heathens, they would not be required to come to the assembly. The fact that they were required to come, they were part of the Manasseh tribe; the status was probably a clan. In fact, later we will read that their women were taken for provision of wives to the Benjamites. If they were uncircumcised heathens, they would not qualify.]
10 So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. 11 "This is what you are to do," they said. "Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin." 12 They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan. [A terrible thing again happened – the Israelites killed their brothers of Jabesh Gilead, and took all the virgin women (400 in all) to Shiloh. Luckily, it was only the Manassites of Jabesh Gilead clan who got killed, and not the entire Manassite tribe. Probably, most of the Jabesh Gilead clan of that time got killed. But this Jabesh Gilead, as a people, did survive, and we would read of them in the subsequent time, in the period of King Saul’s reign.]
13 Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon. 14 So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them. [The Israelites made peace with the Benjamite remnants at Rimmon, and gave them the 400 women of Jabesh Gilead. Not enough! 600 men but 400 women!]
15 The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a gap in the tribes of Israel. 16 And the elders of the assembly said, "With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? 17 The Benjamite survivors must have heirs," they said, "so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. 18 We can't give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: 'Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.' 19 But look, there is the annual festival of the LORD in Shiloh, to the north of Bethel, and east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and to the south of Lebonah."
20 So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, "Go and hide in the vineyards 21 and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, 'Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.' " 23 So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them. [Another terrible thing! To get the balance of 200 women, the Israelites decided that the Benjamites should abduct Shiloh girls. The Israelites, including the elders (verse 16), planned deception – when the fathers or brothers complained about their missing girls, they (the Israelites, maybe, even the elders) would pacify them by saying it was alright, that they should take their loss of their girls as an act of kindness (to the Benjamites), and that they need not worry about the curse on them, claiming that no vows were broken since the girls were not given, they were abducted! So preposterous! But it happened.

Some Bible commentators said that the girls of Shiloh were referring to girls who followed the men (their fathers or brothers) to the annual festival of the LORD held in Shiloh. They may not be entirely correct. Shiloh is the Levitical city of the Israelites. It was the center of Israelite worship. What does that tell us, it was a city of the Levites – many Levitical families lived here because the Levite men helped in the administration of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle, together with the Ark of Covenant was parked there after the Israelites entered the Promised Land (The Ark remained in the Tabernacle at Shiloh until it was removed to the battlefield at Aphek, and from there, lost to the Philistines. After that, the Philistines also attacked Shiloh but the Tabernacle was successfully moved to Gibeon, where it stayed until the time of King Solomon who transferred the Tabernacle to the First Temple of Jerusalem (aka Solomon Temple) which he built.). What I am saying is that, most, if not all the girls (200) taken by the Benjamites were Levite girls.]
24 At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance.
25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.
[Like I said at the outset, these last chapters, especially the last 3, of the Book of Judges, are the most difficult ones (even scholarly commentators had problems). I believe I have addressed some of lack in the understanding of the events here, but there are still areas which we really aren’t sure what to made of the narrations given.

Let me recap and draw some conclusions and put up some posers, even as we end this study of the Book of Judges on this most difficult section which all started with a Levite and his concubine:

A certain Levite sojourned in the Ephraim country, took a concubine which became unfaithful, and went back to her father’s house. The Levite went to the father-in-law’s house with the intention of taking her back home.

On the way, they stopped at a Benjamite town, Gibeah. No one took them in, from the public square, for the night except an old man. In the night, some uncircumcised heathens who were scum of the city came to the old man’s house demanding to have the Levite man for sodomy. The old man’s answer to the scum was similar to that of Lot, the nephew of Abraham at the eve of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by God – to give to the scum, the women of the house (to save their own skins!). The Levite, who obviously was in agreement with the thinking of the old man, eventually gave his concubine to the scum who violated her until dawn. The old man and Levite, both, did nothing more, and the next morning, the concubine was found dead at the doorstep of the house.

The Levite took the body home, and in full view of the public, cut up the body of the concubine into 12 pieces. He sent the pieces to all the tribes of Israel. The Israelites called for an assembly at Mizpah before the LORD, to address the grievance of the Levite man – atrocity done to a Levite was a big issue as the Levites belonged to the LORD and that the LORD had specific instructions to the children of Israelites to take care of the Levites in their midst.

On hearing the atrocity happened on Benjamite soil, the Israelites vowed that they would not give their daughters in marriage to the Benjamites. Those who break the vow would be cursed. The Israelites were unanimous to attack the Benjamites if the latter did not hand over the culprits. The Benjamites, not only did not govern well their cities, in particular the morality of that town, Gibeah, allowing the scum of the town to do what they liked (sexual immoralities, including homo-sexual practices, sodomy – perhaps of the kind previously seen in the twin city of Sodom and Gomorrah which were destroyed by God), and therefore, were indirectly responsible for the atrocity suffered by the Levite man and his concubine.

Not only that they (the Benjamites) were not repentant of their complacency and failure to protect the Levites, they were offended by the hostility of the other tribes of Israel and decided not to answer to the accusation, and instead called up fighting men from all the Benjamin towns to Gibeah, preparing to fight the other tribes. Benjamites were mighty men of war but to go against the entire Israelite army was pride at work. The refusal of the Benjamites to answer the accusation angered the other tribes of Israel, and I believe, the LORD as well. I believe because the LORD viewed very seriously, the harm done to a Levite (Levite being belonging to God directly), the unrepentant stance of the Benjamites and their pride, thinking that they were mighty men of war and could pit against the army of God, He condoned the battles against the Benjamites.

The unfortunate event snowballed into a big matter, no longer a small matter of a man, in trying to save his own skin, allowed his concubine to be violated until death, and then still had the cheek to ask the entire Israelite community to address his grievance against an entire tribe. It led to war!

Indeed, the Benjamites were mighty men of war; in 2 rounds of fighting, even the men of Judah, the other tribe of mighty men of war of Israel, suffered the loss of 40,000 men at the hands of 25,700 Benjamites. Only in the third fight did God deliver the Benjamites into the hands of their brothers, fellow Israelites. 25,100 Benjamites fell in the third fight, the remaining 600 men escaped. It would have been all fine, and it would have been a quite easily accepted, conclusion to the matter – the Benjamites would have been taught the correct lesson; of course, at great cost on both sides, with many lives lost. But the problem was that it did not end there.

The Israelites went back to all the Benjamite towns and killed everything, and burnt the towns, leaving behind only 600 Benjamite men who had escaped during the battle earlier on, and were still holed up in the desert at the rock of Rimmon. So, the entire Benjamin tribe was left with only 600 men, with no women and children, giving rise to the certain demise of the tribe if nothing was to be done to provide women for the men to continue with the tribe. The other Israelite tribes had gone too far, and they realized it, at last too, and they began to consider what to do.

It dawned upon them that, the earlier assembly they had at Mizpah was not attended by the men from Jabesh Gilead, a town belonging to the Manasseh sub-tribe. It seemed that all the Israelites had previously vowed that if there was a call for an assembly, in keeping with the practices from of old, representatives from every Israelite town must be sent to the assembly. Failure to do so would incur death penalty for those who did not attend. We were not told why the men from Jabesh Gilead did not attend. Whether they were informed or not, we do not know. The Israelites decided to correct their wrong of killing all the women and children of the Benjamites, with another wrong, to kill the Gilead clan in Jabesh Gilead except the virgin women whom they would gave to the Benjamites as wives. The oath only said death to those who failed to assemble, not everyone of the town they represented! Yes, the Israelites went overboard a second time. I believe both the extreme actions of the Israelites were not sanctioned by the LORD, but it happened. You have to draw your own conclusions.

But that was not all. The Jabesh Gilead women were not enough; there were only 400 of them, whereas the remaining Benjamite men numbered 600. 200 short! And the Israelites still wanted to address this. So, they came up with this idea of having the remaining Benjamite men abduct Shiloh girls during the annual festival of the LORD celebrated in Shiloh, the levitical city of the Israelites, then. There was no mention of the LORD being consulted, or the sanctioning by the LORD. In fact, it was a wicked thing to do, in my opinion. It was a snare, a trap. Things of these sorts are detestable to God, especially, snares with intention to cause death or destruction to people – wicked. The elders would even be involved to deceive the fathers or brothers who would lose the girls.

Things to ponder:

1. I am of the view that, most, if not all, the girls (200 of them) were from the families of the Levites, staying and working there in the Levitical city, Shiloh. God did not sanction the abduction but why did God lift off his hand of protection for the girls?

2. Could it have been God, also, was not pleased with actions of the first Levite, who started this whole matter by sending his concubine out to the scum of the city of Gibeah?

3. If it were the case, wouldn’t it be unfair to the girls even though they came from Levite families?

4. If it were unfair to them, it was even more unfair for the many Benjamites, men, women or children who had died? Many men from the Judah tribe died also, fighting the Benjamites, not fair to them either!

5. Perhaps, the LORD was in this instance, looking at people groups collectively, the Benjamites, and the Levites (Are we responsible for the atrocities in our own cities? Can we say,”I did not do it. It got nothing to do with me, and I just did not want to be a busybody”? What if God punishes your city, how?).

6. Also, what about the rest of the Israelite tribes? They did no wrong in these events? Maybe, they would suffer separate punishments in later events, who know!

7. Sometimes, we just have to accept we do not have all the information or knowledge; neither can we know all the thoughts of God behind events, unless He chose to reveal them. I believe there are already some revelations here, for the rest, just accept them for the time being, until God reveals more, maybe, through another!

Often times, very simply, the culprit is the workings of the fallen world, bad things happened because we are living in a fallen world. God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). It is the prerogative of God to punish when punishment is due, and it is not bad; holiness and righteousness of God have no meaning if there cannot be punishment. God acts for a good reason, even if that reason we do not know or can understand. Our role is to do our part (do not listen to those who preach there is no man’s part), and that includes not doing evil, and we are to try not to be outside of God’s hand of protection/blessings. We are to love God, and stay in His call so that Romans 8:28 will hold true for us.

Anthony Chia - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28).

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Psalm 34 – I will teach you the fear of the LORD

Preamble: Firstly, this psalm is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Secondly, in the KJV translation, the preamble, “Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.” was not present. This preamble was inserted into the NKJV and also in this NIV translation. Such an insertion for a psalm was meant to provide the context or “type” of context for the psalm. However, the issue here was that it had introduced ambiguity due to the word, “Abimelech”.

Of David, there was a specific name, “Ahimelech” but not “Abimelech”. Ahimelech was the priest at Nob, the priest that David had approached when the latter was on the run from King Saul, after the 2nd time Jonathon had told on his father’s ill-intention, to David. This was recorded for us in 1 Sam 21:1-9. But in that passage there was no pretence of being insane. It is possibly not an inadvertent mistake made in the spelling of the word, where “b” should have been “h”, as thought by some.

Who then is Abimelech in David’s time? In that same chapter of 1 Sam 21, in verses 10-14, we read that, from on that day, the day David left the temple at Nob, he went to Gath, in the territory of the Philistines. In 1 Sam 21:13, we read that David pretended to be insane, and in verse 14, he managed to get away from the Philistine king at Gath, on the account of that faked insanity. But the Philistine king name was not Abimelech but Achish. Because there were 2 other Philistine kings being referred to as “Abimelech”, it is believed that perhaps, “Abimelech” was also used the same way as “Pharaoh” was used to refer to Egyptian kings, and so, it is possible that “Abimelech” was referring to Achish, and not Ahimelech, the priest at Nob.

In any case, it was all pointed to that season of David’s life, and that is the purpose of this insertion.]

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I may have inserted a section on "Points to take note/What we have learnt/can learn".



Psalm 34

Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left. [Please see comments in the preamble.]

1 I will extol the LORD at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 My soul will boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the LORD with me;
let us exalt his name together. [Regardless, whether it was before Ahimelech, the priest at Nob or before Achish, king of Gath, the situation for David at this season of his life was that he was on the run from King Saul who had wanted to kill him, despite his great service as the chief commander of the king, and that he was steadfastly loyal to the king. This was after the 2nd time king Saul’s son, Jonathan, had helped David to find out the evil intention of Saul, and David had to flee, and with this flight, he would be a fugitive of the King.

Yet, here, we read that David declared that he would extol the LORD at all times; he would praise the LORD always. His soul would (still) boast in the LORD. Let all the afflicted hear and rejoice, said David. David called for his hearers to join him to glorify the LORD, to exalt His name together.]
4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame. [Recounting the past faithfulness of the LORD towards him, he said he sought the LORD, and He answered him; God delivered him from all his (past) fears.

Then he declared that those who look to God are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. David had experienced such, and continued to believe such, and he declared such.]
6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. [I believe verse 6 was referring to David himself. He called himself as “this poor man”. This is not an inferiority complex manifesting itself; rather it was an honest understanding of one’s state before the omnipotent God. In men’s terms, David was hardly a poor man; he was a mighty warrior, “Saul (also a warrior with great physique) slain his thousands, but David, his tens of thousands”; and David was highly respected by many (many great men followed him, despite him having lost his rank in the army of the king, and was on the run {a fugitive of the King}); and he was loved by many; and the house of his father, Jesse, was of some means. David said he called, and the LORD heard him; and He saved him out of all his (past) troubles.

David declared that the angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them. David called for hearers to come to experience the Omnipotent God – come, and taste, and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. David always sought refuge in the LORD, and in no others, or in no other thing. This had always been David’s attitude, and we can read of such in other psalms of his. For example, in Ps 62:1-2, we read of the same:

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

David then summed up the state of one who lives in the fear of the LORD – those who fear the LORD lack nothing (v9). Verse 10 must be read together with v9, and it is not quite appropriate for people to quote v10, to imply those who seek the LORD, per se, will lack nothing. It is those who seek the LORD in the fear of Him that will lack nothing.

Lions were used here with connotation to mean that no matter how majestic and powerful men might be (even to the extent that they might be like the lions), they still could grow weak and hungry, in other words, have times of needs; but for those who fear the LORD, not that they will not have such needs, but when they seek the LORD, their lack will disappear; but not necessarily so, for those whose dependence is not on the LORD.]
11 Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The LORD redeems his servants;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him. [Having elaborated on what was so good about being fearing the LORD, in the next part of this psalm, David said (v11), “I will teach you the fear of the LORD”.


Let’s recap what is so good about living in the fear of the LORD:

1. When you call to the LORD, He answers you (v6).

2. The angel of the LORD encamps around you, and delivers you (v7).

3. You will be able to taste and see the goodness of the LORD (i.e. be blessed of the LORD) as you refuge in the LORD (v8). You will see many good days (v12).

4. Resting on the above, that is how the LORD delivers you from your (own) fear (v4).

5. And when your fear is no more {delivered by the LORD as you have sought Him in the fear of Him}, your face will be radiant, and not covered with shame (v5) {when you are fearful, your face is not radiant; it is only when you are confident, and that confidence is in the LORD, that your face will be radiant}.

6. Your confidence in the LORD is not misplaced, and over time, you will be like David, able to glorify the LORD, and exalt his name (v3), able to boast in the LORD (v2), and extol Him at all times, and have the praises of Him always on your lips.

7. To sum it all, you will lack no good thing when you seek Him in the fear of Him (vv 9 & 10).


This is David’s teaching on the fear of the LORD:

1. Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies (v13). You will see many good days {don’t you love that kind of life?}(v12).

2. Turn from evil and do good (v14a).

3. Seek peace, and pursue it (v14b). The peace here should be interpreted in the context of the verse of turning from evil and doing good. So, here is an example of “peace” as not being an “airy, fairy” thing which one cannot grasp or do not know how to obtain it. When one does a bad thing or an evil thing, there is always the uneasiness, a “disturbness” in him. Over time, the accumulation of such, will cause one to lose peace, and so, an easy way to look at peace is to look at the opposites - uneasiness, “disturbness”, fear, guilt, shame, etc. The opposite of righteousness is unrighteousness or evil or wickedness. And so, one has to stay on the righteous side, pursue righteousness, and that means that one has to turn from evil, avoid evil, and avoid doing bad; do good, instead.

4. God is holy and righteous. The foundation of his throne comprised righteousness and justice (Ps 89:14a). This means that God, by His very nature is opposed to non-holiness, unrighteousness, evil, wickedness, and injustice. Holiness, righteousness, and justice have affinity with God, and such will draw out God’s love and faithfulness. Holiness, righteous, and justice is first, and come next, is the love and faithfulness of God. Love and faithfulness go before Him (Ps 89:14b).

5. It is no wonder David declared that the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cry (v15); the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, and even to cut them off {if one remains stubbornly wicked, I believe he faces the risk of being counted or reckoned with Satan, and may suffer the same destiny as Satan} (v16).

6. When the righteous cry out, the LORD not only hears; He delivers them from all their troubles (v17).

7. It is entirely possible that righteous ones can have their hearts broken, and their spirit crushed. Verse 18 should be read together with the verse preceding it and that after it. In fact, what v17 was also saying was that righteous people do have troubles! If they were without troubles just because they were righteous, then there was no need of God’s hearing and delivering of them from their troubles. By the same reasoning, righteous people do get hurt (be brokenhearted), and their spirits do get crushed by insensitive and cruel people. But David declared that the LORD is close to the righteous who are brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit {and Holy Spirit can quicken (and re-quicken) the spirit of men}.

8. There we have it – a righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all (v19). God protects him (v20). Here, the choice use of “his bones”, in my interpretation, was meant not only to say that God provides physical protection to the righteous ones, it also meant to say that the LORD enables the righteous to stand, for “his bones” or “his frame” was symbolic of that which holds us up.

9. Ultimately, this will be apparent:

(a) Evil (meaning here, the principalities of darkness) will slay (even if, indirectly) the wicked men {or those who remain stubbornly wicked}; the enemies of the righteous will be condemned (v21). In the end, those judged wicked (opposite of righteous ones), they will be condemned (to Hell). What this meant is that if one does not live in the fear of the LORD, he is prone to be ensnared to wickedness, and if he remains stubbornly so, evil will be the cause of his destruction.

(b) The LORD redeems His servants {His righteous} (v22). Contextually, therefore, what it meant was that only the righteous are the servants of God. In fact, Scripture had it that unless one is righteous, all his works are like filthy rags. It is important to understand that it is not suddenly, David mentioned another group of people; no, David was referring to the righteous as servants of God, and what that also implied was that righteous ones of God do not contribute nothing, do not do nothing, of no fruit acceptable to the LORD – righteous ones bear fruits, and so, are the servants of the LORD. And so, contextually, it is also not anyone who takes refuge in Him, will not be condemned, but it is anyone who is live in fear of LORD who takes refuge in Him, who will not be condemned.

10. To sum it all up, to live in the fear of the LORD, is to embrace 1 Pet 1:16 (or Lev 19:2) – For it is written, “Be holy because I am holy.” Our God is a holy God; that is Him. So, be holy, be righteous, be just.

Lastly, since it is an acrostic poem, I have attempted a re-cast of it; making it acrostic to the English alphabets, all 26 alphabets:


Psalm 34 {recast – acrostic to English alphabets, by Anthony Chia}

(A)t all times, I will extol the LORD.
(B)e on my lips, His praise will always be.
(C)ome whatever may, my soul will boast in the LORD, and so, let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
(D)o as I do, glorify the LORD, and exalt His name with me.
(E)ncumbered by fear, but when I sought the LORD, He answered me and delivered me from it.
(F)aces with radiance, and not shame, will be had, for those who look to Him.
(G)reat company of angels encamp around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.
(H)urry, taste and see that the LORD is good, for blessed, is the man who takes refuge in Him.
(I) declare, “Those who fear Him lack nothing. So, fear the LORD, you saints.”
(J)oyfully I say, “The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
(K)ingdom people, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
(L)onging for many good days in your life, then keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies.
(M)ake it a point to turn from evil;
(N)either should you ignore doing good.
(O)mit not the seeking of peace;
(P)ersist in it.
(Q)uick to go for righteousness, for the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.
(R)est assured that the face of the LORD is against those who do evil;
(S)urely, He will cut off the memory of them from the earth.
(T)he righteous ones cry out, and the LORD hears them;
(U)ntil He delivers them from all their troubles will He ceases to act.
(V)erily, the LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
(W)hen a righteous man is troubled, and he may have many troubles, the LORD delivers him from it, each time;
(X)-ray will show none is broken, for He protects all his bones.
(Y)es, evil will slay the wicked, and the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
(Z)ealously, on the other hand, the LORD redeems His servants with none condemned, of those who take refuge in Him.]


Anthony Chia – Do not just say, “Those who seek the LORD will lack no good thing”, but rather say, “Those who seek the LORD in the fear of Him will lack no good thing” or “The righteous will lack no good thing”, for Ps 37:25 says: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”

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Judges series - Judges 20 - Levite and His concubine (continuation)

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I have inserted a section on "Points to take note/What we have learnt/can learn".
{For full listing of all articles in this series, click here}

Judges 20

[This chapter continues from the previous, and here is the recap of Judges 19: In this story, a Levite in the Ephraim hill country took a concubine from Bethlehem, Judah. The concubine was unfaithful, and afterward, had left home and gone back to her father’s house in Bethlehem. The Levite went to fetch her back, and the way back, when it was late, they decided to spend the night in Gibeah, a city, controlled by the Benjamin tribe. An old man, probably a fellow Israelite, extended hospitality to the couple. In the night, while everyone was inside the house, some wicked men of the city came to the door, demanding the Levite be given over to them to have sex, sodomy! The old man said that, that would be a vile and disgraceful thing to do, and countered, offering to give his own virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine to the men, but the men refused. The Levite took his concubine and gave her to the men outside. The men raped and abused the Levite’s concubine until the next morning, and she died. Both the old man, and the Levite did nothing until the next morning! The Levite took the body and went back to his own home. On arrival, he cut up the body into 12 parts, and had them sent to the tribes of Israel, all over the place. When the people saw the parts, they were shocked, and wandered what to do.]

1 Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out as one man and assembled before the LORD in Mizpah. 2 The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords. 3 (The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, "Tell us how this awful thing happened." [When the Israelites received the parts of the Levite’s concubine, they gathered before God in a place called Mizpah.]
4 So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, "I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. 5 During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. 6 I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel's inheritance, because they committed this lewd and disgraceful act in Israel. 7 Now, all you Israelites, speak up and give your verdict." [The Levite explained the tragedy to the crowd gathered. He said it was the men of Gibeah who did the hideous act. He, of course, did not say he sent his concubine out, to save his own skin.]
8 All the people rose as one man, saying, "None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house. 9 But now this is what we'll do to Gibeah: We'll go up against it as the lot directs. 10 We'll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Gibeah in Benjamin, it can give them what they deserve for all this vileness done in Israel." 11 So all the men of Israel got together and united as one man against the city. [The crowd decided in one accord that they would form an army and go against the city of Gibeah.]
12 The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What about this awful crime that was committed among you? 13 Now surrender those wicked men of Gibeah so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel." But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites. 14 From their towns they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites. 15 At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred chosen men from those living in Gibeah. 16 Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. [Now, the tribes of Israelites did give the Benjamin tribe a chance to avoid the war. In fact, I might even think the tribes did not, in the first instance, accuse the Benjamites as the culprits (You already know from earlier discussions in Judges 19, that I do not think the Benjamites were the culprits). Verse 12 only said,” … that was committed among you”. The sad thing was that the Benjamites were complacent, did not bother. Herein lays one of the 2 problems. Remember in my commentary for Judges 19:11-15, I said there is an important point, I believe, the Lord wanted to show to the children of Israelites.

That point was this: The tribe of Levite belonged to God and must be taken care of by all the fellow Israelites. You can read the entire chapter 3 of the Book of Numbers to get the full picture; I will just quote verses 44 & 45 to support the assertion that the Levites belonged to God:

The LORD also said to Moses, "Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock. The Levites are to be mine. I am the LORD. (Numbers 3:44-45)

The LORD gave specific instructions to the Israelites about taking care of the Levites. The Levites’ occupation was to help the high priests with ministering before the LORD (in those days, at the Tabernacle). Because they belonged to the LORD, they would not be allotted territorial lands in the Promised Land, unlike the other tribes. Their inheritance was the LORD. Below are some verses on the instructions:

Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land (Deu 12:19). And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own (Deu 14:27). If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the LORD will choose, 7 he may minister in the name of the LORD his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the LORD. 8 He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions (Deu 18:6-8). "Command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. And give them pasturelands around the towns (Num 35:2).

That the story began with the saying, “Now a Levite….” was not without reason; the failures of the Benjamin tribe were therefore firstly, that they were complacent and neglected the tribe of the LORD, apart from not having taken care of the city they lived in, and secondly, they were proud and have taken offence of the hostility demonstrated by the fellow tribes. The seriousness of the matter was compounded by the fact that the offence was done to a Levite – that, I believe, accounted to the great turnout before the LORD. How else could you justify the condoning of the LORD for the battle against the Benjamites (despite the failing of the Levite himself) which you shall read of, subsequently? Of the standard commentaries I looked at, none had correctly approached this story from this angle.]
17 Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fighting men. 18 The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, "Who of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?"
The LORD replied, "Judah shall go first." [What I am going to elaborate on, are things that came to mind as I write, it is up to you to think whether or not, they are all necessarily connected.

A little history, a little background: We know Benjamites descended from Benjamin, son of Israel (aka Jacob). Do you know he was the youngest son (Gen 42) and was the brother of Joseph, both sons by Rachel. Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin; before her death she gave the baby, the name Ben-Oni, meaning son of my trouble. Israel (aka Jacob) changed the name and gave the name, Benjamin instead. Benjamin meant son of my right hand. Benjamin was trouble but was also right hand. Before Israel died, he blessed his sons (Gen 49), giving each the blessing appropriate to him (Gen 49:28). Of the sons, and therefore, the tribes that followed, 2 were blessed as great men of war. One, of course, was Judah, the other was Benjamin. This is what was said of Benjamin in the blessing:

"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning he devours the prey,
in the evening he divides the plunder." (Gen 49:27)

Also, we know of King Saul (the Kings period was after this {Judges period}), he was a Benjamite. What did the Bible said of his physique? 1 Sam 9:2 stated that he was an impressive young man without equal among Israelites – a head taller than any of the others. The Benjamites were mighty men of war; that was why they were proud, that was why so many Israelite fighting men gathered, that was why the Israelites inquired of the LORD who should fight the Benjamites. And it might have been the reason the LORD said Judah shall go first.

As a side, as to being the right-hand, in split of the United Monarchy Kingdom of Israel, into northern kingdom, Israel, of 10 Tribes, and the southern kingdom, Judah, of 2 Tribes, it was the Benjamin tribe that stayed with the Judah tribe, in the south portion of the Promised Land. This, of course, happened, later, subsequent to this Judges period.]
19 The next morning the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah. 20 The men of Israel went out to fight the Benjamites and took up battle positions against them at Gibeah. 21 The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day. 22 But the men of Israel encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day. [First battle, 22,000 Israelites killed by the Benjamites.]
23 The Israelites went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and they inquired of the LORD. They said, "Shall we go up again to battle against the Benjamites, our brothers?"
The LORD answered, "Go up against them."
24 Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day. 25 This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords. [Second battle, 18,000 Israelites got killed, making a total of 40,000 Israelites killed at the hands of some 25,700 (or 26,700) Benjamites.]
26 Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the LORD. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the LORD. 27 And the Israelites inquired of the LORD. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, 28 with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ministering before it.) They asked, "Shall we go up again to battle with Benjamin our brother, or not?"
The LORD responded, "Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands." [This was the third time the Israelites inquired of the LORD, after 2 crashing defeats. The LORD said to go, and the Benjamites would be defeated.]
29 Then Israel set an ambush around Gibeah. 30 They went up against the Benjamites on the third day and took up positions against Gibeah as they had done before. 31 The Benjamites came out to meet them and were drawn away from the city. They began to inflict casualties on the Israelites as before, so that about thirty men fell in the open field and on the roads—the one leading to Bethel and the other to Gibeah.
32 While the Benjamites were saying, "We are defeating them as before," the Israelites were saying, "Let's retreat and draw them away from the city to the roads." 33 All the men of Israel moved from their places and took up positions at Baal Tamar, and the Israelite ambush charged out of its place on the west of Gibeah. 34 Then ten thousand of Israel's finest men made a frontal attack on Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that the Benjamites did not realize how near disaster was. 35 The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords. 36 Then the Benjamites saw that they were beaten. Now the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, because they relied on the ambush they had set near Gibeah. 37 The men who had been in ambush made a sudden dash into Gibeah, spread out and put the whole city to the sword. 38 The men of Israel had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city, 39 and then the men of Israel would turn in the battle. The Benjamites had begun to inflict casualties on the men of Israel (about thirty), and they said, "We are defeating them as in the first battle." 40 But when the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the Benjamites turned and saw the smoke of the whole city going up into the sky. 41 Then the men of Israel turned on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified, because they realized that disaster had come upon them. 42 So they fled before the Israelites in the direction of the desert, but they could not escape the battle. And the men of Israel who came out of the towns cut them down there. 43 They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them and easily overran them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east. 44 Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters. 45 As they turned and fled toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites cut down five thousand men along the roads. They kept pressing after the Benjamites as far as Gidom and struck down two thousand more. 46 On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters. 47 But six hundred men turned and fled into the desert to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months. 48 The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire.
[The proud Benjamites thought that they would win again but they were defeated. Verse 35 said that the LORD defeated the Benjamites. The rest of the verses were details of the battle, including the strategy deployed. 25,100 Benjamites got killed, leaving behind only 600 who fled into the desert to the rock of Rimmon. This chapter ended with the statement that the men of Israel went to all the towns of the Benjamites, killed everything and set them on fire. Nothing was left of the Benjamin tribe except the 600 men at Rimmon – how great a prize to pay!]

What we can learn here:
Now, perhaps, we can put down a few lessons, when we did not when we were just having the narrations in Judges 19. Below are what I have:

1. The Levites belonged to God, and should have been taken care of. Extrapolating, I believe, the consecrated servants (full-time, even part-time ones) of God belong to God, and likewise, should be taken care of. Frankly speaking, the argument that tithing and offering are Law, and therefore must not be practiced, is a weak one when we understand the rationale behind making provisions for such servants. God had wanted the people of God to provide for the Levites whose duties were to tend to matters of the tabernacle or temple. So, in similar light, Christians are to provide for those amongst them who gave of themselves to serve God. The Benjamites failed to look after the Levite, and that was one of the reasons, God had sanctioned the attack on the Benjamites. Are we taking care of the consecrated servants of God in our midst? Please do not rebut by saying that every one of us is a servant of God; you know what I mean.

2. We are to be the gatekeepers of our city. If we, the people of God, do not “guard” our city properly, wickedness will take over, disorder, corruption and vileness can become the order of the day, and it will be a sad state of affair, and a sad day or time. Without going against the governmental authority over us, we are to endeavor to guard our city against licentious idolatry, and general licentiousness, vileness, and all wickedness. Make our stands known, stand up and be counted; pray and intercede against such. When God punishes a place for detestable practices, the Word of God said that even the very righteous ones can only save himself, not even his sons or daughters! (Eze 14:12-20).

3. When God humbles, receive it; do not be stubborn and continue to hold on to pride. The Benjamites were proud and had taken offence of the hostility demonstrated by the fellow tribes. Had they put aside their pride, confessed, repented, and asked for forgiveness, perhaps they need not have to suffer near annihilation (the whole tribe was left with only 600 men), and a lot of fellow brothers of the other tribes had not need to die, and suffered. So, it is the same, with us, when we are wrong and have sinned, we are to confess, repent, and ask for forgiveness, in accordance to 1 John 1:9, and be thankful for the grace and mercy of God. By the way, 1 John 1:9 is for believers; if you are not convinced of it, please read my separate article, “1 John 1:9 is for believers”.



Anthony Chia – LORD, forgive me for not being a good watchman, and gatekeeper. Help me to be a better one. God, for the sake of your Name, and for the sake of the church and the nation, will you please raise up more watchmen and gatekeepers. Amen.

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