Judges 20:31-41

This tactic drew the Benjamites out of the city to attack the advancing Israelite army, leaving the city unguarded. They began to inflict casualties on the Israelites as before. There they killed about thirty men of Israel. The Benjamites boasted, “We are defeating them just as we did before!” But when the Benjamites had taken the bait, the Israelites said, “Retreat, and draw them away from the city to the main roads.” Every Israelite rose from his position and took their assumed positions at Baal-Tamar. Then the Israelites who were hiding in ambush jumped up from their positions west of Gibeah. Ten thousand elite soldiers from all over Israel made their direct assault on Gibeah. The fighting was fierce. And the Benjamites had no clue that disaster was at their doorstep. On that day, YAHWEH struck down the Benjamites before Israel. The Israelites slaughtered 25,100 swordsmen of Benjamin. Then the Benjamites realized that they were defeated. The Israelites had moved back because they were depending on the surprise attack they had set up near Gibeah. The men of Israel who had been waiting in ambush made a mad dash for Gibeah, attacked the city, and killed its inhabitants. The Israelites’ strategy was to send up a smoke signal from the city once they had sacked it, and when the men of Israel saw the smoke signal, they would turn and rejoin the battle. When the Benjamites had inflicted about thirty casualties on the men of Israel, they said, “Look, we are defeating them as we did in the first battle!” But when the smoke signal began to go up from the city, the Benjamites looked behind them and saw the whole city going up in smoke! When the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin saw that disaster had come upon them, and they panicked.