Judges 20:29-48: a reflection

29Israel set ambushes all around Gibeah. 30The children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. 31The children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike and kill of the people as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel. 32The children of Benjamin said, “They are struck down before us, as at the first.” But the children of Israel said, “Let’s flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways.” 33All the men of Israel rose up out of their place and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar. Then the ambushers of Israel broke out of their place, even out of Maareh Geba. 34Ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel came over against Gibeah, and the battle was severe; but they didn’t know that disaster was close to them. 35The LORD struck Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men. All these drew the sword. 36So the children of Benjamin saw that they were struck, for the men of Israel yielded to Benjamin because they trusted the ambushers whom they had set against Gibeah. 37The ambushers hurried, and rushed on Gibeah; then the ambushers spread out, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword. 38Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushers was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city. 39The men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, “Surely they are struck down before us, as in the first battle.” 40But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and behold, the whole city went up in smoke to the sky. 41The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that disaster had come on them. 42Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness, but the battle followed hard after them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the middle of it. 43They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and trod them down at their resting place, as far as near Gibeah toward the sunrise. 44Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor. 45They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon. They gleaned five thousand men of them in the highways, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and struck two thousand men of them. 46So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword. All these were men of valor. 47But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and stayed in the rock of Rimmon four months. 48The men of Israel turned again on the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword—including the entire city, the livestock, and all that they found. Moreover they set all the cities which they found on fire.

The account of Israel's war against the tribe of Benjamin ends in terrible destruction: a whole tribe brought almost to extinction, tens of thousands slain, cities burned. What began as an outcry against a grievous wrong escalated, through pride and vengeance and the refusal to seek peace, into a civil war that nearly destroyed a tribe of Israel by their own brothers' hands. It is a grim picture of how sin, unaddressed and allowed to escalate, spirals into ever greater destruction, until a wrong that might have been dealt with becomes a catastrophe that consumes many. The spiral of conflict, once begun and not checked, led to terrible loss.

Notice the tragic spiral: a wrong, unaddressed rightly, escalating into vast destruction. The whole terrible war grew out of an initial grievous wrong; but instead of being resolved with justice and restraint, it escalated, through pride and the desire for vengeance and the failure to seek peace, into a civil war that nearly destroyed a tribe. Sin, once loose and not checked, spirals; conflict, once begun and fed by pride and vengeance, grows into ever greater destruction. What might have been contained became a catastrophe consuming tens of thousands. The failure to deal rightly with the wrong, and the escalation of conflict, led to terrible and needless loss. Sin unchecked spiraled into destruction that consumed many.

That is worth taking to heart, for sin and conflict, unchecked and allowed to escalate, can spiral into terrible destruction. We can let wrongs go unaddressed rightly, let conflicts escalate, fed by pride and the desire for vengeance and the refusal to seek peace; and such conflict, once loose, can spiral into destruction far greater than the original wrong, as Israel's war nearly destroyed a tribe. The spiral of unchecked conflict leads to terrible loss. Do not let wrongs and conflicts escalate unchecked, fed by pride and vengeance; seek to deal rightly with wrong and to make peace, lest conflict spiral into destruction. Seek to deal rightly with wrong and to make peace rather than letting conflict escalate unchecked, mindful of how the war against Benjamin spiraled from a grievous wrong into the near-destruction of a whole tribe; for sin and conflict, unchecked and fed by pride and vengeance, can spiral into terrible loss, and it is far better to seek justice and peace than to let a spiral of conflict consume many.

Lord, the account of Israel's war against the tribe of Benjamin ends in terrible destruction: a whole tribe brought almost to extinction, tens of thousands slain, cities burned. What began as an outcry against a grievous wrong escalated, through pride and vengeance and the refusal to seek peace, into a civil war that nearly destroyed a tribe of Israel by their own brothers' hands. It is a grim picture of how sin, unaddressed and allowed to escalate, spirals into ever greater destruction. Show me the tragic spiral: a wrong, unaddressed rightly, escalating into vast destruction. The whole terrible war grew out of an initial grievous wrong; but instead of being resolved with justice and restraint, it escalated, through pride and the desire for vengeance and the failure to seek peace, into a civil war that nearly destroyed a tribe. Sin, once loose and not checked, spirals; conflict, once begun and fed by pride and vengeance, grows into ever greater destruction. What might have been contained became a catastrophe. Take that to my heart, for sin and conflict, unchecked and allowed to escalate, can spiral into terrible destruction. I can let wrongs go unaddressed rightly, let conflicts escalate, fed by pride and the desire for vengeance and the refusal to seek peace; and such conflict, once loose, can spiral into destruction far greater than the original wrong. Keep me from letting wrongs and conflicts escalate unchecked, fed by pride and vengeance; help me seek to deal rightly with wrong and to make peace, Lord, lest conflict spiral into destruction, as the war against Benjamin spiraled into the near-destruction of a whole tribe.