旧约 - 士师记(Judges)第20章

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.
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.
(The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, "Tell us how this awful thing happened."
So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, "I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night.
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.
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.
Now, all you Israelites, speak up and give your verdict."
All the people rose as one man, saying, "None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house.
But now this is what we'll do to Gibeah: We'll go up against it as the lot directs.
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."
So all the men of Israel got together and united as one man against the city.
The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What about this awful crime that was committed among you?
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.
From their towns they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites.
At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred chosen men from those living in Gibeah.
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.
Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fighting men.
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."
The next morning the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah.
The men of Israel went out to fight the Benjamites and took up battle positions against them at Gibeah.
The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day.
But the men of Israel encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day.
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."
Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day.
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.
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.
And the Israelites inquired of the LORD. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there,
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."
Then Israel set an ambush around Gibeah.
They went up against the Benjamites on the third day and took up positions against Gibeah as they had done before.
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.
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."
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.
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.
The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords.
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.
The men who had been in ambush made a sudden dash into Gibeah, spread out and put the whole city to the sword.
The men of Israel had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city,
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."
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.
Then the men of Israel turned on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified, because they realized that disaster had come upon them.
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.
They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them and easily overran them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east.
Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters.
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.
On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters.
But six hundred men turned and fled into the desert to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months.
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.
士师记第二十章   第 20 章 

  士 20:1> “从但到别是巴”的意思是── 

  20:1 但位于以色列最北边的城市,别是巴在最南端,将这两个城市并提,意指全国而言。 

  士 20:13> 包庇袒护自己人犯的罪,就是参与犯罪…… 

  20:13 便雅悯支派的首领对于在境内发生的严重罪行,也许听到的是不符实际的报告,或者是过分骄傲,不肯承认百姓会那样的下流卑鄙。不管怎样,他们总是不肯听从以色列其余支派首领的话,交出犯罪之人由他们处理。他们忠于自己的支派胜于神的律法。 

  既然包庇隐瞒亲族的罪行,便雅悯全支派就与罪人同罪。从这件事可以窥见以色列全族的道德体系已整个瓦解。士师记以血腥的内战作为结束,这就为以后在撒母耳领导之下,进入属灵更新的新阶段埋下伏笔(参撒上)。 

  士 20:27-28> 神的约柜不是在示罗吗? 

  20:27-28 士师记单单在这段经文之中,提到神约柜所在的城市。这件事可能说明,百姓很少去求问神。 

  大祭司非尼哈也是约书亚时代的大祭司(参书 22:13 )。这里提到非尼哈作大祭司,以及会幕立在伯特利而不在示罗,可能表明这件事发生在士师时代的初期。 

  士 20:46-48> 便雅悯人为何不肯交出凶手?是出于什么心理? 

  20:46-48 对于可怕的强奸与杀人罪案,案发之地的百姓绝不应看作与己无关。当地人应当将犯罪者交出,绳之于法,改正过去的律法松弛状况,不再容许罪案发生。但相反,首先是基比亚这个城市,接着是整个的便雅悯支派都袒护这宗恶行,甚至为此发生战争也在所不惜。 

  要想防止解决的问题变成重大的冲突,必须在事态仍可收拾以前,迅速地、智慧地、有力地采取果断的行动。 

  士 20:48> 便雅悯支派出了哪些名人? 

  20:48 便雅悯支派经过这场大屠杀以后,最终得以恢复元气。以色列人第一任君王扫罗(参撒上 9:21 )是出于这个支派。以后的王后以斯帖(参斯 2:5-7 ),以及使徒保罗(参罗 11:1 )都是便雅悯人。不过这支派常常被认为是以色列各支派之中最小的一个(有如在诗 68:27 之中所说)。──《灵修版圣经注释》