Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 20:9
But now this [shall be] the thing which we will do to Gibeah; [we will go up] by lot against it;
9. we will go up against it by lot ] An accidental omission from the text makes it necessary to supply a verb; the LXX reads we will go up. Judging from Jdg 20:18 and Jdg 1:1, the object of casting lots was to find out which tribe should go up first to the attack.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
By lot – To determine who should go up first Jdg 20:18. The shape of the ground probably made it impossible for the whole force to operate at once; and the question of spoil would have something to do with the arrangement. (Compare 1Sa 30:22-25.)
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah,…. Where the fact was done; what follows was proposed by some, and unanimously agreed to by all:
we will go up by lot against it; cast lots who shall go up to it and demand satisfaction for the offence committed; and if denied, to act in an hostile manner against it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(9) We will go up by lot against it.The English Version follows the LXX. and other versions in supplying we will go up. This is like the decision of the Amphictyonic counsel against the guilty city of Crissa (Grote, iv. 85). But perhaps it should be rendered we will cast the lot upon it, to divide its territory when conquered.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. By lot against it That is, We will deal with Gibeah just as our fathers, by divine commandment, dealt with devoted Canaanitish cities: we will subdue it, destroy all its inhabitants, and then divide its territory by lot among our families, See Numbers 32:53, 54. Some expositors understand this of the selection by lot of the tenth of the men to supply the rest with provisions during the war, as narrated in the next verse; but such a construction of the passage would be strangely inapposite.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah. We will go up against it by lot. And we will take ten men of a hundred, throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch provisions for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, what they deserve, for all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.”
They now described what in their discussions they had unanimously decided on.
“We will go up against it by lot. And we will take ten men of a hundred, throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch provisions for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, what they deserve, for all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.” One tenth of the men of Israel would be conscripted for the task, chosen by lot. They would arm and provision themselves on behalf of the people with the aim of punishing the men of Gibeah as they deserved. This would certainly be the death penalty in view of their crimes.
Many, however, see this as meaning that the tenth would provision the whole army. But that would be difficult as there was no central store of weapons. Each would expect to provide his own. Nor does it explain “go up against it by lot”, which surely refers to the selection of the tenth. It is questionable whether this phrase is to be equated with ‘asking counsel of God’ in Jdg 20:18. They would then rather have said, ‘we will go up after enquiring of Yahweh’. Thus it suggests that they were only going to use one tenth of their forces, chosen by lot.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 20:9. To Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it Houbigant renders this more properly, we will draw lots against Gibea.
REFLECTIONS.Fired with holy zeal against such a crying enormity, the whole congregation assembles in Mizpeh, near Shiloh; that they may not only deliberate, but consult God’s mind and will in the matter. Four hundred thousand men, under their captains of hundreds and thousands, furnished with weapons of war, are ready to put in force the sentence which shall be resolved upon. The children of Benjamin alone, though acquainted with the assembling of Israel, and the cause of it, refuse to come up, and determine to protect the delinquents, becoming thereby parties in the crime, ex post facto, by their vindication of it.
1. A solemn examination and deposition is taken from the Levite, and probably the old man and his servant, who were present, Jdg 20:3. The circumstances of the story are related and confirmed. Such lewdness and cruelty, especially in Israel, deserved, no doubt, a most severe scourge: he refers himself for this to their wise and vigorous resolutions; as children of Israel, who would wipe off such a defiling stain from among them. Note; (1.) Lewdness in Israel is doubly criminal. (2.) Before we proceed to judgment, the evidence should be clear and distinct. (3.) They who are God’s people will at least, by their conduct, testify their abhorrence of the iniquity which may be found among them, and cut off from their communion the wicked person.
2. The fact being indubitable, their resolution is unanimous. They swear never to separate till they have obtained satisfaction; and in order that the army may be supplied in their encampment before Gibeah, forty thousand men are deputed to provide forage and provisions. Note; It is good to be zealously affected in the cause of God, and without delay carry our purposes into action.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jdg 20:9 But now this [shall be] the thing which we will do to Gibeah; [we will go up] by lot against it;
Ver. 9. We will go up by lot against it. ] They do not shake off the plaintiff, or send him to Gibeah for satisfaction, or defer the further hearing and determining of the cause, as the Areopagites dealt by the dame of Smyrna, whom they appointed to appear some hundred years after; but, We will presently go up, say they, and that by lot, that none may think himself wronged.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
by lot against it: Jos 14:2, 1Sa 14:41, 1Sa 14:42, 1Ch 24:5, Neh 11:1, Pro 16:33, Jon 1:7, Act 1:26
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 20:9-10. We will go up by lot against it They probably cast lots who should go, and who should stay at home to provide the necessary supplies. According to all the folly that they have wrought That we may punish them as such wickedness deserves. In Israel This is added as an aggravation, that they should do that in Israel, or among Gods peculiar people, which was esteemed abominable even among the heathen. The abhorrence of the crime of the Gibeathites here expressed, and the determination of the Israelites to punish the criminals, were very proper, but they seem to have acted with too much precipitation and resentment. There were with them also sins against the Lord: the abomination of Gibeah was both an evidence and effect of national degeneracy; and it called for deep humiliation and lamentation, that such wickedness had been wrought in Israel, as well as for indignation against the criminals. They ought to have begun with personal and national repentance and reformation; with solemn sacrifices and earnest supplications. This was required in other wars, (Deu 23:9,) much more in such a war as this. Scott.