Judges 20:1-7: in context

A horrific crime has been committed at Gibeah, a wickedness so grave that word of it spreads through the whole nation. And Israel responds: all the children of Israel came out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan to Beersheba, gathering before the LORD at Mizpah. Four hundred thousand came together to ask how this wickedness had happened and what must be done. Faced with a grave evil in their midst, the whole community assembled as one to confront it, refusing to let so great a wrong pass unaddressed.

What stands out here is that the community would not ignore a grave evil among their own. A terrible wickedness had been done; and rather than looking away, excusing it, or treating it as someone else's problem, all Israel assembled as one to confront it, to ask what had happened and what must be done. They gathered before the LORD, taking the evil seriously as a matter that concerned the whole people, and resolved to deal with it rather than let it pass. The wrong was too grave to ignore, and the community rose as one to address it. This holds a principle about confronting evil in our midst. There is a temptation, when serious wrong is done among God's people or in our community, to look away, to excuse it, to avoid the discomfort of confronting it, to treat it as not our concern. But grave evil in our midst is the community's concern, and to ignore or excuse it is to share in the failure. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, Paul says, but rather expose them. A little leaven, he warns, leavens the whole lump; evil left unconfronted spreads and corrupts the whole. The community has a responsibility to face serious wrong among its own, not to cover it over. This is not a call to harsh censoriousness or to hunting for others' faults; the whole of Scripture also calls us to gentleness, humility, and the awareness of our own sin. But it is a call not to ignore grave evil in our midst, not to excuse serious wrong for the sake of comfort or false peace, but to confront it as Israel confronted the wickedness at Gibeah, taking it seriously before God. This searches whether we look away from evil in our own communities or face it. When serious wrong is done among God's people, do we ignore it, excuse it, avoid the discomfort of confronting it? Or do we, like Israel assembled as one, take it seriously and resolve to address it? Grave evil in our midst is not to be covered over but confronted; and the community that will not face the serious wrong among its own shares in the failure. Israel assembled as one to confront the wickedness at Gibeah; and God's people are still called not to ignore grave evil in their midst but to face it, taking it seriously before the LORD.

When serious wrong is done among God's people or in my community, do I look away, excuse it, or avoid the discomfort of confronting it, treating it as not my concern, or can Israel, who assembled as one to confront the grave wickedness at Gibeah rather than let it pass, move me not to ignore or cover over serious evil in my midst but to take it seriously before God, mindful too of my own sin and of the gentleness to which I am also called?