Gibeah, sin (Jdg 19-21)
A certain Levite and his concubine were traveling through the
land of Benjamin, and as night approached they sought and received shelter in
the home of an old man of Gibeah. But when the house was beset by certain "sons
of Belial", evoking unpleasant memories of the Sodomites (Gen 19), they realized
how unsafe they were. This Levite allowed his concubine to be abused by the
Benjamites -- a circumstance which speaks not much better of him than of those
who threatened him.
Finding the woman dead in the morning, he took her body and
divided it into twelve pieces (like a priest would divide a sacrifice?) and sent
the pieces into all parts of Israel. Then all the children of Israel were
gathered together "as one man" (Jdg 20:1,8,11) out of revulsion at this hideous
crime. By a comparison with 1Sa 11:7 we see that the people did not so act again
in unison until the days of Samuel, probably 300 years later.
But their unity of action was unfortunately not preceded by
consultation with God. The militia of the eleven tribes, minus Benjamin --
400,000 strong -- made their plans without prayer. Though they finally asked of
God who should go up first to the battle, yet their forces lost 22,000 men at
the hands of the men of Benjamin, who defended Gibeah. This certainly implies
that guilt in Israel was to be found on both sides, not only with
Benjamin.
By various stratagems which need not be detailed now, the
tribe of Benjamin was nearly annihilated. Once bloodshed started no one knew
when to stop. In cutting off those who were "guilty" by their association, the
rest of Israel used highly unsuitable methods and almost totally destroyed one
of the twelve tribes. The punishment, because of haste and probably a measure of
self-righteousness, was out of all proportion to the crime. In their zeal the
men of Israel imposed by an oath a strict isolation upon those few Benjamites
who remained, no matter what their degree of guilt or complicity.
The outcome was a terrible feeling of remorse, and some ironic
words:
"O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be
today one tribe lacking in Israel?" (Jdg
21:3).
The fault was their own, in going too far in their zeal for
purity, and the decimation of Israel, on both sides, was their punishment.
Finally the leaders of this bitter civil war realized that they had indeed
overstepped the bounds of reason. They now took some distinctly unusual steps,
involving reprisals and kidnappings, to remedy, insofar as possible, the
problem.
By these events the whole nation was disciplined and humbled
and made to remember their essential unity as a nation, a unity which even
extreme sins on the part of some should not be allowed to violate. Human nature
has not changed from that day to this, and we often act still as though there is
"no king in Israel". We need as a brotherhood to remember that each of us shares
in the same inheritance (Jdg 21:17), and that we must with care and patience
remove the defects of the body. Otherwise, the sword we lift up against our
brethren may do irreparable harm to the whole house of Israel.
