Judges 20
[Author’s note: The ideas presented in this article about Israel’s battle with Benjamin are openly recognized as uncertain, but the author’s intent is that they would lead to further study and discussion by others, which may in turn lead to greater clarity and refinement of understanding regarding the geographical details of this story.]
The battle between the tribe of Benjamin and the other Israelite tribes during the time of the Judges was precipitated by horrific acts committed by the men of Gibeah as well as by a Levite passing through the town. The story is a candid account of the brutality and chaos that ruled much of Israel before the time of the kings (Judges 21:25). In the story, the Levite calls for the other tribes to address the deeds committed by the men of Gibeah. After gathering at Mizpah, the tribes demand that the Benjaminites hand over the men, but the Benjaminites refuse, leading to a war with the other tribes. Before the battle begins, the Israelites consult the Lord at Bethel, where the Ark of the Covenant is located (Judges 20:27). Then they travel down the Central Ridge Route, which ran north-south along the watershed of Israel, and attack Benjamin, but they suffer a huge defeat and return to Bethel. The same thing happens the second day. In preparation for a third attack, the Israelites set up an ambush near Gibeah, likely west of Gibeah (rather than Geba, as sometimes translated; Gibeah, Geba, and Gibeon–all forms of the word “hill”–were sometimes confused by copyists of Scripture). The main army then attacks from the north as before, and the Benjaminites meet them in battle, but the main army falls back to Baal-tamar, possibly the same as the palm (tamar) of Deborah mentioned in Judges 4:5, and this draws the Benjaminites further away from the city. Then those waiting in ambush rush upon Gibeah and destroy it. Smoke rising from the city signals the main Israelite army to turn again and press the attack against the Benjaminites. The Benjaminites, knowing disaster is upon them, turn “away from the Israelites in the direction of the wilderness” and take refuge at the rock of Rimmon. The nearly universal assumption by scholars is that the Benjaminites fled east, no doubt because of two assumptions about the text: 1) that the term wilderness in Israel only referred to areas east of the watershed, and 2) that verse 43 makes it clear that the Benjaminites were chased “east of Gibeah” (or perhaps Geba). It may well be that the Benjaminites fled east, but this author believes there is adequate evidence to support the possibility that they fled west instead. As noted in the article regarding the battle at the pool of Gibeon (see here), the term wilderness (midbar) in Scripture is almost always used to refer to locations east of the watershed of Israel, but the patriarch Reuben also used the term to refer to the sparsely populated area near Dothan west of the watershed (Genesis 37:22; see map here). Likewise, the term wilderness in this passage may refer to the sparsely populated region west of Gibeon. Additionally, the phrase typically translated “east of Gibeah” in verse 43 may have actually meant “east of Gibeon” (see a similar example in 2 Samuel 21:6). Also, in verse 45 the term Gidom, meaning “a cutting down,” is typically translated as a place name, but instead it may mean that they continued to cut them down as far as they chased them (see NEB and The Message). Finally, this author has found a viable candidate for the rock of Rimmon at Khirbat Rummana (31.8415 N, 35.1039 E), located on a hill in the heart of the sparsely populated area labeled here as the wilderness of Gibeon.
