Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Kitto Morning Bible Devotions: July 1
Today is: Friday, April 26th, 2024 (Show Today's Devotion)
Select a Day for a Devotion in the Month of July: (Show All Months)
Judges 20-21
A deep horror thrilled through all the tribes when the message reached them; and they declared that no such dreadful wickedness had been seen among the nation from the time they quitted Egypt to that day. From northern Dan to southernmost Beersheba, and in the region beyond the Jordan, the agitation was most intense. Then there was the hurried march of innumerable feet from all parts of the land to the place of concourse at Mizpeh. No less than four hundred thousand men of the strongest and bravest of all the tribes, proceeded thither in arms, headed by their tribal chiefs. Here the Levite appeared in person, and related his cruel wrongs, referring the matter to their decision. That decision was prompt and earnest. All the people arose as one man, and declared that they would not return to their homes till this great iniquity was purged from Israel. Their first step was to appoint ten men out of every hundred, among all the tribes, to keep the camp supplied with victuals. The next was to send to the tribe of Benjamin, to require them to deliver up, for judicial execution, the men in Gibeah, who had wrought this built in Israel. Instead of doing this, or rather, instead of offering themselves to execute this judgment upon the men who had brought this disgrace upon their tribe, the men of Benjamin resolved to take up arms in defence of Gibeah, against the united forces of all the other eleven tribes. Much as this astonishes, it is entirely in keeping with other actions of this fierce and turbulent tribe, whose character well sustained the prophetic description of it given by the dying Jacob: “Benjamin shall raven as a wolf.”— Gen_49:27. The number this tribe was able to bring into the field against the four hundred thousand of Israel, did not exceed twenty-six thousand men, including seven hundred left-handed men, “who could sling stones at a hair and not miss.”
On learning that the Benjamites were thus resolved to adopt the quarrel of Gibeah, the Israelites were highly exasperated, and pledged themselves, by a solemn vow, that none of them would give their daughters in marriage to any man of that tribe—which, in effect, amounted to a determination to extinguish the tribe altogether. They expected and hoped to destroy the greater number in the war, and this vow pursued those who might escape, making them aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
The tribes then repaired to Shiloh, where we apprehend they ought to have gone at first, to inquire, not as they were bound to do at the Divine oracle, whether they should enter or not upon this war with Benjamin, which threatened the extinction of a tribe in Israel—but only what tribe should take the lead in the campaign. This shows that in thus deciding upon war with Benjamin, without trying further means of conciliation, they acted much less from the result of a cool and deliberate conference upon the most effectual menus of extirpating such shameful impieties from the commonwealth, than from the heat of resentment against the Benjamites, for daring to undertake the defence of the miscreants of Gibeah against the whole congregation of Israel. Had they given themselves time to think coolly upon the matter, they might have recollected that it was not permitted them to engage even in a war against strangers without consulting their Divine King, through the high-priest; much less could it be right for them to engage in a war against one of their own tribes and to pursue it with such furious zeal. Although, therefore, they got an intimation that Judah was to take the lead—being all they required to know—it must be well understood that their engagement in this war was entirely on their own responsibility, without any authority from the Lord, and in direct contravention of the prerogatives which he had specially reserved to himself. Nothing can be clearer than that they never once thought of consulting the Divine oracle till the war had been fully resolved upon and settled beyond recall by solemn pledges and oaths. The enterprise seemed to them so laudable, that they could not doubt of success, and the immense advantage of their numbers assured them of victory. They forgot that their own hands were not clean. They had got into such a state as to tolerate if not approve such establishments as that of Micah, afterwards adopted by a large division of one of their tribes. By this indifference they indicated the same want of a proper sense of the specialty of their relation to their Divine King, as they show throughout the present transaction; and it was important that they should be brought round by a sharp correction to a right understanding of their position. It was doubtless on this account, and to punish them for their presumption in thus undertaking the excision of a tribe without consulting the Lord’s will in the matter, and without exhausting all pacific resources—and for making themselves both judges and executioners in what appeared to be God’s cause, without his authority, advice or consent—that they were allowed to sustain a most disastrous and disgraceful defeat in their first battle with Benjamin at Gibeah, into which place the force of the tribe had thrown itself, and from which it readily came forth to give the vast host of Israel battle. Of that host twenty-two thousand—not far from equal to the whole army of Benjamin—were left dead upon the field.
This result naturally filled them with consternation. It brings them to the tears and prayers with which it had been well for them to have commenced so deplorable an undertaking. They now begin to consult God, not about a commander, as before, but upon the lawfulness of the war. Finding that the war itself was approved, they gathered confidence, and again went out against Benjamin; but with no better result than before—for they lost this second time no less than eighteen thousand men. If they had been as much as they ought to have been, in the habit of consulting the Divine oracle, which was instituted for their guidance as a people, they must have seen that the approbation of the war gave no promise of success—and they would have humbled themselves until that promise had been obtained. The full and customary answer, “Go up, for I will deliver them into thy hand,” was not given: only, “Go up”—without any promise as to the result. This alone ought to have awakened their apprehensions that something was still wrong, and to have caused them to inquire diligently wherein that wrong lay.
The second defeat produced the effect that was intended by it. It led them to consider wherein they had erred, and brought them to a proper sense of their relation to their Divine King, and of the obligations which that relation involved. From the particularity with which their regular course of proceeding is now described, it may be doubted whether they had previously appeared before God for the purpose of consulting him in a proper manner, as they certainly had not in a proper spirit. It is now first plainly stated that they all went up unto the house of God, where they not only fasted and wept until the evening, but prefaced their address to him by the usual sacrifice of burnt and peace-offerings. Then the high-priest, Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron—whose name helps to fix the time—stood before the ark to ask counsel of God, with the usual solemnity, in their name: “Shall I once more go to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brother, or shall I cease?” Under the circumstances what a sad and touching emphasis is there in the term, “the children of Benjamin, my brother”—and what a heartrending consciousness of the horror of this fraternal conflict it implies. The answer was now given freely, fully, and explicitly: “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into thy hand.” They are now in fact in a proper frame for victory; and this is incidentally evinced by the fact that the promise thereof, instead of leading them into wild presumption, induces them to renew their hostilities in a more cautious and orderly manner. Benjamin was now made to pay dearly, not only for the lives of the forty thousand they had slain, but likewise for daring to take up arms in defence of the impious Gibeathites, while the fire consumes the cities, and the sword devours the lives of these rebellious miscreants. The whole tribe was in fact reduced to about six hundred desperate fugitives, who went and fortified themselves upon a barren rock; and would in all probability have perished there, to the utter extinction of the whole tribe, had not God inspired the Israelites with returning sentiments of pity towards that small but unfortunate remnant, and with remorse for having so nearly destroyed one of the twelve tribes out of Israel.
This result seemed indeed still unavoidable; by reason of the solemn curse which in their rash and precipitate zeal they had at the first pronounced upon any who should give a daughter in marriage to a Benjamite—while they had suffered their furious zeal to transport them so far as to destroy all the women of that miserable tribe. Thus, although they resolved to spare these six hundred men, it was seen that this could have but little effect in the ultimate preservation of the tribe, unless they could find means of supplying them with wives, by whom to raise up a new offspring. Some blame them for thinking themselves bound to keep such a vow—or for not applying to the Lord to excuse them from the obligation they had so unwisely incurred; but we must confess that we cannot regard with favor any alternative which would, on the one hand, lead them to think more lightly than they did of the solemn obligation of an oath once taken, or which, on the other, might tend to an encouragement of rash and fatal oaths, by enabling them to relieve themselves from the consequences. Besides, the only oaths that appear fairly entitled to be regarded as dispensable, are such as involve injurious consequences not reckoned upon or foreseen at the time the oath was taken; but this was by no means the case here: the oath, if it had any meaning at all, having been plainly taken for the very purpose of securing the result which is now deplored. Still there can be no doubt that, seeing they had gone too far in the heat of their wrath, their duty was to leave sought counsel of the Lord in the way he had appointed—and we cannot doubt that some proper remedy would have been indicated. But instead of this, they proceeded in their old irregular way; and while lamenting that so much blood had been shed, they can think of no remedy but by the shedding of more. An anathema had been laid upon all who should not join the crusade against Benjamin, and it being found that the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead had absented themselves, they must all be destroyed, in order that all the unmarried females found among there may be obtained for the Benjamites.
Still these were not sufficient. Two hundred more were still wanting, and to secure these, the unprovided Benjamites were instructed to lie in wait and carry off the required number of brides for themselves from among the damsels of Shiloh, when they went forth, during one of the great festivals celebrated there, to solace themselves in the gardens, There are not in eastern towns places where assemblies can be held for such festivities. It is therefore usual to assemble in such pleasant spots as may be in the neighborhood—in any small valley through which a stream flows—near some secluded fountain—in gardens or plantations. The women especially affect this mode of enjoyment, which agreeably diversifies their somewhat monotonous existence. A few years ago the ladies of Aleppo bribed an astrologer to predict a coming plague, for no other reason than that they might—as they knew to be usual in such cases—be sent out of the way into the suburban gardens. Note: In the East the private gardens are not connected with the houses in towns—but are apart in the suburbs, and are only occasionally visited. The plot was in due time discovered, and the astrologer put to death; but the women had secured their enjoyment. That these festivities are held by the different sexes apart, explains that there were no men present to oppose the Benjamites in carrying off their daughters and their sisters. The feat was successfully executed; and when the men of Shiloh began to complain of this outrage, the elders of the congregation interposed with gentle counsels; and by intimating that it had been done at their suggestion, and by pointing out that in this way the tribe would be preserved without the oath being slighted—seeing that the brides had not been given by their fathers, but had been taken from them—they were prevailed upon to submit quietly to this wrong. Thus the poor remains of Benjamin were reinstated among the tribes; and one of the most remarkable and ominous transactions in the history of Israel was brought to a close.