Context No. 3694 of 4322 · Judges

Judges 20:8-13: in context

8All the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, neither will any of us turn to his house. 9But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot; 10and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand to get food for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that the men of Gibeah have done in Israel.” 11So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. 12The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What wickedness is this that has happened among you? 13Now therefore deliver up the men, the wicked fellows who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and put away evil from Israel.” But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.

After the terrible crime at Gibeah, all Israel unites as one to demand justice: hand over the wicked men who did this evil, that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel. There is something right in this, a whole community roused to confront a grave evil in their midst rather than ignoring it.

But the tragedy is that the tribe of Benjamin refuses to give up the guilty, choosing to protect its own over doing justice, and this leads to a devastating civil war. Two sober truths meet here. It is right for a community to confront serious evil and not tolerate it. But it is a grievous wrong to shield the guilty out of misplaced loyalty, defending one's own tribe or group rather than upholding what is right. Benjamin's refusal to hand over the evildoers, protecting them simply because they were kin, brought ruin on the whole tribe. Loyalty to our own must never override loyalty to justice and to God.

When evil is done by those close to me, do I uphold what is right rather than shielding the guilty out of misplaced loyalty to my own group?

Sources

Judges 20:13: "Now therefore deliver up the men, the wicked fellows who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death... But Benjamin would not listen."
Judges 20:11: "So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man."
Judges 21:25: "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes."