And the tribes of Israel sent men to all the families of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that has been done among you?
Gibeah had done a terrible evil, and the other tribes gathered as one body to answer it. Before anyone drew a sword, they sent messengers across Benjamin's territory with a question and a demand, and the wording of that message shaped everything that followed.
The tribes were not inventing a rule.
We notice here the same great principles. First, Israel was one body and bore responsibility as one. Second, the sin of Gibeah, like leaven, leavens the whole lump; it was "evil in Israel." Third, Israel had to purge the evil out, or the whole nation would share in it.
One writer weighs the pronouns in the message, and what they show about the hearts behind the demand.
Israel looked on Benjamin as an enemy, and in spite of the fair appearance of unity, did not regard the sin of one tribe as the sin of the whole people. They said: "What evil is this that has taken place among you?" (v. 12) — not "among us." … The people addressing Benjamin said "you" in place of "us" in verse 12. In the next verse, "us" and "we" take an undue place. Leaving the first love opens the door to self-importance.
Israel did not lack a method for this. What they lacked was any habit of living in God's presence.
There was provision in the book of Deuteronomy for tracing an evil to its source, and for dealing with it. They were to do everything with care and quietness, after due thought, and above all in God's presence, in a spirit of subjection to Him. These people take a short cut. They are strangers to the presence of God. They have never learned to live in that holy presence. And now they think the matter is simple enough. They send a curt message to Benjamin: hand over these worthless men, and we will deal with them.
The same writer traces what such a message produces in the people who receive it.
There is such a thing as taking people by the throat and trying to shake the evil out of them. There is such a thing as pounding a man's sin out of him — sin he may be tied to, not personally but responsibly. You do it in a way that touches his pride and brings out the antagonism of his nature, instead of showing him the evil he ought to judge and hate. Let us learn that lesson.
Israel asked only for the offenders. Benjamin's refusal turned one city's crime into the whole tribe's cause.
The tribes ask Benjamin to hand over the guilty for judgment. Benjamin ignores the demands of righteousness and takes up arms to defend the wicked offenders. Such is the awful power of evil that complicity with it is quite unhesitating and bold. Let us not underestimate that power. Evil gains it when people tolerate it, shelter it and cherish it in secret for years. It may lead many unwary souls with it, perhaps many unwilling to believe or look into the actual facts. Let us take care that our sympathies are not linked with the wrong camp.
The same writer notes that Israel chose messengers over an immediate attack, but may still have started in the wrong place.
Rather than attacking first, they sent messengers through the tribe of Benjamin, pointing to the great wickedness that had taken place in Gibeah and demanding that Benjamin hand over the guilty men to suffer for it. It may have been wiser to appeal first to the city of Gibeah to give up these men. Great bloodshed might then have been avoided. Even so, Benjamin still ought to have agreed to this request, though it came more as a demand than a request.
Israel's readiness to punish ran ahead of any readiness to look at itself.
Israel at first did not even ask Jehovah how the sin should be handled. They acted from natural indignation, which was still quite righteous. The evil that needed chastening had so blunted their spiritual state that they never thought of waiting on Jehovah first, to learn what should be done. Jehovah allowed all this so that the people might learn where they were. … Gibeah well deserved this discipline. But to carry it out, Israel itself needed discipline. God let everyone share in it, so that it would take effect on everyone.
- Right cause. Gibeah's sin was "evil in Israel," and it had to be purged out or the whole nation would share in it.
- Wrong pronoun. The message said "among you," not "among us." They would not own the sin as a shared shame.
- Wrong method. Scripture gave a careful way of tracing evil in God's presence. Israel took a short cut, because that presence was strange to them.
- Wrong effect. A demand that touches a man's pride stirs up his resistance. It never leads him to judge the evil he is tied to.
- Wrong on both sides. Benjamin's refusal made them defenders of the guilty. Israel had to be disciplined before it could discipline Gibeah.
And now give up the men, the sons of Belial, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But [the children of] Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel.
A crime in Gibeah set this in motion, and Israel now sends Benjamin one demand: hand over the guilty men. The verse holds a right demand and a flat refusal side by side.
The crime belonged to one town, but the demand comes from the whole nation. Three principles stand behind it:
We notice here the same great principles — 1st. The corporate unity and responsibility of Israel. 2nd. The sin of Gibeah, like leaven, leavens the whole lump; it was "evil in Israel." 3rd. The evil must be purged out, or all Israel would share in it.
The older wording calls the offenders "sons of Belial." The phrase is not a name but a description:
The Hebrew word means "worthless, lawless." It is not a proper name. It stands as a personification of evil, so we have "son of Belial, daughter of Belial," and so on, in Deuteronomy 13:13; Judges 19:22; 1 Samuel 1:16; 1 Samuel 25:17, 25, and elsewhere. In the New Testament it is set in contrast to Christ as if it meant Satan, 2 Corinthians 6:15.
Their own pronouns give them away.
Israel looked on Benjamin as an enemy. Despite the fair appearance of unity, they did not treat the sin of one tribe as the sin of the whole people. They said: "What wickedness is this that is done among you?" (v. 12) — not "among us." What a difference between this love and the love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7! Zeal was not lacking, but that did not make up for having left their first love. … They added: "purge evil from Israel" (v. 13), but where was their brotherly affection? This danger always goes with discipline. The Corinthians were told to confirm their love toward the one who had fallen, once the discipline had done its work.
The law already set out how to handle such a case. Israel skipped it.
An evil has been committed in Gibeah of Benjamin, one of the cities belonging to that tribe. There was provision in the book of Deuteronomy for tracing an evil to its source, and for dealing with it. They were to move slowly and quietly, and think it through. Above all, they were to act in the presence of God, in a spirit of subjection to Him. These people take a short cut. They are not used to the presence of God. They have never learned to live in that holy Presence. And now they think the matter is simple enough. They send a curt message to Benjamin: hand over these worthless men, and we will deal with them.
The message never gave Benjamin room to judge the sin themselves. It struck at their pride instead.
There is such a thing as taking people by the throat, and trying to shake the evil out of them. There is such a thing as pounding out a man's sin — sin he may be linked with, not personally, but responsibly. You can do it in a way that touches his pride and brings out the antagonism of his nature, instead of showing him the evil he should judge and hate. Let us learn that lesson. Let us not be like Israel, stirring up opposition. Instead, let us lead people in the fear of God to judge the evil they are responsibly linked with.
The verse ends with a refusal. Benjamin would not hear their brothers.
The tribe of Benjamin is asked to hand over the guilty for judgment. Instead they ignore the demands of righteousness and take up arms to defend the wicked offenders. Such is the awful power that evil wields that complicity with it is quite unhesitating and bold. Let us not underestimate the formidable power of evil. It gained that power over years, while people tolerated it, sheltered it and cherished it in secret. Let us take care that our sympathies are not linked with the wrong camp.
Commentators note that both sides needed the chastening.
Gibeah well deserved this discipline. But to carry it out, Israel itself needed discipline, and God let all take part in it, to make it take effect on all.
- Right demand. Evil in one town was evil in Israel; it had to be removed, or the whole nation would share in it.
- Wrong tone. The message was a short cut past God's own procedure — curt, hasty, and never weighed in His presence.
- Wrong pronoun. "Among you" instead of "among us" shows discipline carried out without brotherly love.
- Worse answer. Benjamin would not listen. They defended the guilty instead of judging them, and gave their sympathy to the wrong camp.
- Shared discipline. The offenders deserved judgment. God let the cost fall on all, so that all would take their own state to heart.
And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities of Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.
The other tribes have demanded that Benjamin hand over the men of Gibeah who did this wicked thing. This verse is Benjamin's answer: they gather for war against their own brothers instead of dealing with the wrong at home.
The appeal from the other tribes did not humble Benjamin. It hardened them, and one writer traces each step from refusal to open partnership with the guilty.
As for Benjamin, they had sinned deeply by upholding evil among themselves. The protest of Israel did not humble them. Instead it pushed them into the most serious act of all: "to go out to battle against the people of Israel" (v. 14). Then came something far worse — they allied themselves with evil… Because they never humbled themselves, the results were terrible. They did not judge the evil, and as a necessary consequence they excused it, which proved fatal. They took sides with the wrongdoers against the people of God.
Benjamin acted boldly, with no hesitation. One writer explains where evil gets that kind of power.
Israel asks the tribe of Benjamin to hand over the guilty for judgment. Benjamin ignores the demands of righteousness and takes up arms to defend the wicked offenders. Such is the awful power that evil wields that people join with it boldly and without hesitation. Let us not underestimate that power. Evil gains it by being tolerated, sheltered and cherished in secret over a period of years. It may carry many unwary souls with it, perhaps many who are unwilling to believe or look into the actual facts. Let us take care that our sympathies are not linked with the wrong camp.
Benjamin were trained fighters, and they counted on it.
But Benjamin refuses their appeal. They gather to defend Gibeah with sullen determination. They are trained warriors, and they seem to build on that. Yet they are little more than a fifteenth part of the forces facing them. Israel also has the house of God, and there is not a moment's doubt about which side He will be on. How dreadful, then, is the condition of those who can throw themselves into the opposing ranks!
Benjamin's stand was indefensible. Yet one writer also weighs the message that drew the whole tribe out of its cities to Gibeah.
It is a curt and short message, and it has the effect you would expect. It rouses Benjamin against his brothers. The whole tribe is summoned before Israel; it is made a matter of tribal pride, and Benjamin is lined up against all Israel. The worthless men are forgotten, they are out of the account. You hear no more of the wickedness that was done. Do you not think there was as much conscience in Benjamin as in the other tribes? Suppose Israel had handled the matter in the fear of God, and in dependence on Him. Would Benjamin not have been as ready to clear himself of the awful shame as the rest of Israel was?
The same writer still holds Benjamin responsible. He then draws a lesson for anyone who has to confront wrong in others.
They were certainly wrong. We admit at once that they were seriously wrong. They had no right to line up in this way. They should have joined their brothers in condemning this horrible thing… There is such a thing as taking people by the throat and trying to shake the evil out of them. There is such a thing as pounding a man's sin out of him — sin he is tied to, not personally, but responsibly — in a way that touches his pride and rouses the opposition in his nature, instead of showing him the evil he should judge and hate.
Gibeah deserved the judgment coming to it. But one writer shows that Israel was in no state to carry it out.
At first Israel did not even ask the Lord how to deal with the sin. They acted from natural indignation, which was still quite righteous. The Lord allowed all this so that the people might learn where they were… Gibeah well deserved this discipline. But Israel itself needed discipline before it could carry that out. So God let everyone share in it, to make it take effect on all.
- Refuse — Israel asked Benjamin to give up the guilty men. Benjamin refused, and the protest that should have humbled them only hardened them.
- Defend — Refusing to judge evil never stays neutral. It ends in excusing evil and taking up arms for it, until the offenders' cause is the tribe's own.
- Build — Benjamin counted on their skill in war. Skill, numbers and grit decide nothing when the house of God is on the other side.
- Provoke — A blunt, proud demand turned sin into a question of tribal honour, and the tribe forgot the wrongdoers. Confront evil in a way that reaches the conscience, not the pride.
- Share — Benjamin's guilt did not make Israel clean. God disciplined both sides, so the whole people, not one tribe, would take it to heart.
And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities, twenty-six thousand men that drew sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
Israel demanded that Benjamin hand over the criminals of Gibeah. Benjamin counted soldiers instead, and the count included Gibeah's own 700 men, listed apart from the rest yet firmly on the tribe's side.
This count is where Benjamin stops watching Gibeah's sin and joins it. One writer traces how a whole tribe slid that far.
As for Benjamin, they had sinned badly by upholding evil among them. Israel's protest did not humble them. It pushed them into the most serious act of all: going out to battle against the people of Israel. Then, far worse, they allied themselves with evil. Because they would not humble themselves, terrible results followed. They did not judge the evil. Worse, they excused it, and that excuse was fatal. They took the side of the wrongdoers against the people of God. True, they made it look as though the inhabitants of Gibeah were no part of them. Yet they counted them, and they used their seven hundred chosen warriors.
Benjamin did not lack conscience. But Israel's demand came as a blunt order, and the tribe closed ranks.
It is a curt and short message, and it has the effect you would expect. It stirs up Benjamin against his brothers. Israel summons the whole tribe. The case turns into a matter of tribal pride, and Benjamin lines up against all Israel. The wicked men who did the crime are finished; they drop out of the account. You hear no more of the wickedness. Do you not think there must have been as much conscience in Benjamin as there was in all the other tribes? Suppose the matter had been handled in the fear of God, in dependence on Him. Would Benjamin not have been as ready as the rest of Israel to clear himself of that awful shame? But this bluntness, this harshness, above all this hidden pride, stirs up the worst passions in the human heart. At once Benjamin forgets the corruption entirely and says: we will stand out in the face of all Israel, and we will not let ourselves be trampled on.
Sheltering the guilty is not neutrality. It is a change of side, and one writer weighs the strength evil gathers while no one judges it.
But a still darker complication arises (Judges 20:12-17). Israel asks the tribe of Benjamin to hand over the guilty for judgment. Benjamin ignores what righteousness demands and takes up arms to defend the wicked offenders. Such is the awful power that evil wields that complicity with it is quite unhesitating and bold. Let us not underestimate how formidable evil becomes. It gains that power when people tolerate it, shelter it and cherish it in secret for years. Let us take care that our sympathies are not linked with the wrong camp.
The count includes men who did nothing at Gibeah. God still holds the whole tribe guilty, and one writer shows the wisdom in that.
When Gibeah committed that awful sin (Judges 20, 21), God held the whole tribe of Benjamin responsible, because they refused to give up the offenders. And can we not see the wisdom of God in holding those who associate with evil as responsible as the ones who do it? What guarantee would there be that evil would ever be judged? Unjudged sin would defile the whole company of Christians, all because some are falsely tender or indifferent.
The numbers were hopeless for Benjamin. What the tribe had was skill in war, and that is what it leaned on.
But Benjamin refuses the appeal and gathers to defend Gibeah with sullen determination. They are trained fighters, and they seem to rely on that. Yet they are little more than a fifteenth of the forces facing them. Israel also has the house of God, and it is not doubtful for a moment which side He will be on. How fearful, then, must be the condition of those who can fling themselves into the opposing ranks!
Yet numbers did not settle this war. Israel asked God who should lead, and the answer exposed something in Israel too.
Benjamin had 26,000 warriors as well as 700 men of Gibeah, a formidable warrior tribe. Israel's army numbered 400,000, over 15 times that size. So you would expect Israel to win. However, Israel knew they should ask God, and asked Him which tribe should go first, and were told, "Judah first" (v. 18). Judah means "praise." But Israel was more intent on revenge than on praise, and did not realise their attitude was wrong.
- Counted. Benjamin made a choice — count soldiers rather than hand over criminals. Gibeah's 700 were listed apart, yet fought for the tribe.
- Excused. The tribe would not humble itself. So it did more than tolerate the evil: it took up arms for the wrongdoers against God's people.
- Provoked. A curt demand stung tribal pride, and the wickedness dropped out of sight. Force alone does not reach a conscience.
- Liable. God holds those who shield offenders as guilty as the offenders. Otherwise nothing would guarantee that evil is ever judged.
- Outnumbered. Benjamin trusted its skill against fifteen times its number. But God's side is never in doubt, and Israel's revenge needed judging too.
Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; all these slang stones at a hair [breadth], and missed not.
Verse 16 pauses in the middle of Benjamin's army list to describe its sharpest edge: seven hundred picked men who never missed. The real question is not their skill, but whose side it served.
The sling was a shepherd's tool before it was a soldier's.
A simple weapon for throwing stones. You could easily make one from a piece of leather with a small hole in the centre, and having two strings attached. The slinger put a stone in the hole in the leather, swung it round hard, and let go of one string to send the stone flying. Shepherds used it to keep off animals such as wolves; David had one with which he struck down Goliath. We read of some who were so skilled with it that they could throw a stone to a hair's breadth. It is mentioned among the weapons of war.
This was Benjamin's trademark. One writer, quoting an older Bible translation, connects the skill to the ground they lived on.
Benjamin was counted the least of the tribes. Standing with the other tribes and represented by its chief magistrate, it earned the rather dismissive title "little Benjamin with their ruler." Yet it was strong enough, on one occasion, to defy for a time the combined forces of the other tribes. It was known for the remarkable skill of its slingers. Its land was full of rocky mountains, and probably of game that the sling was good for catching. That may go some way to explain this trait.
The tribe's name points to a right hand; its best fighters used the left.
Benjamin means "the son of my right hand," and it suggests the perfection of our standing before God... As to our standing, we have a perfect one; we are complete in Christ before God, and Christ in us has complete control. But that means there is no power of my own. He is the son of God's right hand; his own right hand is useless. That is the hand of natural power, and he is simply a poor, left-handed man, helpless in himself.
The same skill that once delivered Israel through Ehud is now turned against Israel.
They did put on an appearance of acting apart from the men of Gibeah. Yet they counted them in and used their seven hundred chosen warriors. In this army the "left-handed" matched the chosen men of Gibeah in number. That weakness became strength in the Lord's service when Ehud was the one fighting. Here the left-handed were skilful against the Lord. The hand that should have been ready in defence was strong to attack and deceive those who faced them.
Another writer asks how a whole tribe came to take that side.
The tribe of Benjamin is asked to hand over the guilty for judgment. They ignore the demands of righteousness and take up arms to defend the wicked offenders. Such is the awful power that evil wields that complicity with it is quite unhesitating and bold. Do not underestimate the formidable power of evil. It gains that power when people tolerate it, shelter it and cherish it in secret for years.
Benjamin's confidence rested on skill. Israel's real advantage lay elsewhere.
Benjamin's men are practised warriors, and seem to build on that, though they are little more than a fifteenth part of the combined forces opposing them. Israel has, too, the house of God; and it is not for a moment in doubt which side He will be on. How fearful, then, must be the condition of those who can throw themselves into the opposing ranks!
But numbers alone did not settle this war.
This has a lesson for us, telling us that sin is far too strong for us. We can never gain the victory over it in our own strength. Even a majority cannot win in such a battle. Only God can defeat the awful power that sin has wielded in raising itself against His people.
The skill itself is not condemned. Turned the right way, it is exactly the kind of person God looks for among His own.
Benjamin is the type of the aggressive soldier — not the shield-bearer, but the swordsman or the slinger. Benjamin had such men at another day... God wants this in His people too: not just holding the fort, but going out to war — to win the land, or to rescue brothers.
- Aim — Seven hundred men could put a stone where they wanted. The verse praises the precision; the chapter asks what it was aimed at.
- Weakness — The left hand marks a man with no strength of his own. Benjamin's name says the strength belongs to God's right hand, not his.
- Reversal — The same left-handed skill once freed Israel under Ehud. Here it is "skilful against the Lord," because Benjamin defended the evil in Gibeah.
- Odds — Benjamin built on training, Israel had the numbers, and only God can break the power of sin.
- Redirection — God does want slingers who do not miss: the marksman is not the problem, the target is.
And the men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword all these were men of war.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.