Now then, deliver up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove this wickedness from Israel." But the sons of Benjamin would not listed to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.I commend the Israelites on what they did here. They didn't just go for the throat, attack without warning to purge the people who had done this great wrong. Instead, they first tried to negotiate with the Benjamites, to be reasonable and give them the chance to do right. The entire tribe wasn't culpable, so why should they all suffer?
Unfortunately, the tribe did not comply. They stood with their brothers who had sinned, against their cousins who were calling for proper justice. If only they had simply accepted the offer they were given, then perhaps this very sad bloodshed would not have been necessary. If the people of Benjamin had done what was right and turned the guilty over for judgment, then many lives would have been saved on both sides. Instead, they chose civil war.
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