Israel had just sought to punish Benjamin for their
sin. In the process they killed all but
about six hundred men who fled to the rock Rimmon. When it was all over, they realized what they
had done, in Judges 21:2-3. “And the people came to the house of God,
and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept
sore; And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that
there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel? While the sin could not be ignored, they
had gone too far, and carried too far, punishment becomes abusive and does more
harm than good.
In his teaching on church discipline, in Matthew 18:14-17,
Jesus was very clear, the goal is to correct, not to punish. “Even
so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these
little ones should perish. Moreover if
thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee
and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with
thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
may be established. And if he shall
neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the
church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.” Punishing them by putting them out of the
church was only to be used if they refused to correct the problem.
In I Corinthians 5, Paul addressed such a situation with a
man involved in an incestuous relationship who refused to change even though
both Christians and unsaved considered his behavior wrong. In such a case, Paul said they needed to act,
putting the man out of the church. The
punishment resulted in the man changing his behavior, and in II Corinthians 2:6-8,
Paul told them to forgive him and receive him back because the purpose had been
accomplished. “Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of
many. So that contrariwise ye ought
rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be
swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm
your love toward him.” A failure to
forgive might well do more harm, driving that person, or others completely away
from the Lord. We are to forgive others just as God has
forgiven us.
Upset about the sin and Benjamin’s refusal to deal with it,
the Israelites had basically disowned Benjamin, refusing to allow them to marry
women from the other tribes as if they were no longer Israelites, according to
Judges 21:1. “Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any
of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.”
Suddenly, the people realized
that if the survivors of Benjamin were not allowed to marry and reproduce, the tribe
would disappear completely in a few years.
They started to look for a way to undo the harm they had done in their
anger, and they didn’t dare break their vow, according to Judges 21:4-7. “And it
came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an
altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the children of Israel said, Who is there
among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the
LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the
LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death. And the
children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is
one tribe cut off from Israel this day. How shall we do for wives for them that
remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our
daughters to wives?’
Somebody remembered the rest of their vow to God that they
would kill any group that didn’t support in enforcing God’s law. They started asking who hadn’t helped, in
Judges 21:8-9. “And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not
up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from
Jabeshgilead to the assembly. For the
people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of
Jabeshgilead there.”
By executing the people of Jabesh Gilead and giving their
daughters to Benjamin they could partly resolve the problem and fulfill their
vow at the same time, so that is what they did, in Judges 21:10-15. “And
the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and
commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the
edge of the sword, with the women and the children. And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye
shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.
And they found among
the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no
man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh,
which is in the land of Canaan. And the
whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in
the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them. And Benjamin came again at that time; and they
gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead: and
yet so they sufficed them not. And the
people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in
the tribes of Israel.”
There were not enough girls in Jabesh Gilead, so the leaders
told the other Benjamites to kidnap girls at the feast in Shiloh, reasoning
that since the parents were not asked, they couldn’t be charged with violating
the vow. When parents complained, the
leaders convinced them to let it go and things got back to normal, in Judges
21:24-25. “And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to
his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his
inheritance. In those days there was no
king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” People continued to be responsible for
their own actions.
Improperly done discipline can do as mush harm as the sin
that prompted it, and may be harder to correct.
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