(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Judges 20:1–11, “Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh. And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness? And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel. And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house. But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it; And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.”
Naturally, the Israelis were incensed that such an evil thing should happen in Israel. This sin that came from Sodom was not be tolerated under any circumstances. The leaders of all the tribes came together and decided what they should do. There was no inter nation criminal court or even national criminal courts, in fact a murder was to be avenged by a blood relative. The people in Israel wanted to know exactly what had happened and the Levite told them. Of course, he minimised his own part in the affair. The council of Israeli leaders decided that they would avenge this evil and conscript one tenth of the men to carry out their decision. All the Israelis approved of this decision and they mustered their army and brought it to the gates of Gibeah and every man was determined to carry out that justice so that such evil would not be found in Israel.
No comments:
Post a Comment