'Beginning' in the Bible

So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.

But the men were unwilling to listen to him. So the descendant of Levi grabbed his mistress, took her out to them, and they raped and tortured her all night until morning. Then they released her as the first daylight was beginning to appear.

And the sons of Benjamin say, 'They are smitten before us as at the beginning;' but the sons of Israel said, 'Let us flee, and draw them away out of the city, unto the highways.'