Judges 20:13 "Now therefore give up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and purge evil from Israel." But the Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel."
Well, apparently this whole unpleasantness with the Levite's wife led to a big blow-up between Israel and Benjamin. The Levite sent these pieces of his concubine out the other tribes, demanding justice. The other tribes convened, and tried to convince Benjamin to produce the rapists, but they refused. I don't know why, it could only lead to war.
And what a war.
The Israelites slaughter the crap out of each other for what they would think is justice. No one really consulted God. They just kinda figured they had to destroy Benjamin. So they go for it, but the first two battles belong decisively to Benjamin. Finally, God tells the Israelites that He will give them victory, and Benjamin is almost completely destroyed. Because of this one incident, Israel almost lost an entire tribe.
It's a sordid affair really. The leaders wanted blood. Benjamin wouldn't give up these clowns because of their own pride and unwillingness to step up. And Israel slaughtered each other. When you want to fight, you want to fight, I suppose, and this war bypassed a few failsafes to keep peace, but pride killed, and so did an overinflated sense of justice.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
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