LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF JACOB #86 : BENJAMIN #8
Lesson 3587
LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF JACOB #86
JACOB'S PROPHECIES ABOUT THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL #21
BENJAMIN #8
THE WEAKNESS OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN: PERVERSITY.
Each time we visit Shiloh on a study tour, the terrible story of the Benjamite Tribe recorded in the book of Judges will be retold.
In the book of Judges, chapters 19—21, the Benjamite capital of Gibeah was the scene of a horrific rape and murder that resulted in an intertribal war against the tribe of Benjamin.
A Levite and his concubine were traveling from Bethlehem to Ephraim and stopped for lodging in Gibeah. Since Israelites lived in Gibeah, they expected to be warmly received. But no one offered them hospitality except an old man originally from Ephraim.
During the night, some wicked men of Gibeah went to the old man’s house and demanded to have sex with the Levite visitor.
The old man was so ashamed of their outrageous conduct that he offered the men his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine. The townsmen refused, so the Levite sent his concubine outside. Through the night, the men of Gibeah raped and abused the woman and then left her for dead. To bring attention to this outrage, the Levite chopped up the concubine’s body into twelve parts and sent one to each of the tribes of Israel. The other tribes took vengeance by killing the inhabitants of Gibeah and devastating the tribe of Benjamin.
So horrendous was this brutal crime that it became a lingering symbol of Israel’s wickedness and sin (Hosea 9:9; 10:9).
Almost the entire tribe of Benjamin was wiped out by the other Israelite tribes. Six hundred of the men from the tribe of Benjamin survived by hiding in a cave for four months. The text refers several times to the Benjaminite warriors as "men of valour" despite their defeat.
The other Israelite tribes were grieved at the near loss of the tribe of Benjamin. They decided to allow these 600 men to carry on the tribe of Benjamin, but no one was willing to give their daughter in marriage to them because they had vowed not to. To get around this, they provided wives for the men by killing the men from the tribe of Machir who had not shown concern for the almost lost tribe of Benjamin as they did not come to grieve with the rest of Israel. 400 virgin women from the tribe of Machir were found and given in marriage to the Benjaminite men. There were still 200 men remaining who was without a wife, so it was agreed that they could go to an Israelite festival and hide in the vineyards, and wait for the young unmarried women to come out and dance. They then grabbed a wife each and took her back to their land and rebuilt their houses (Judges 19–21).
This incident of the 200 Benjamites taking maidens as wives happened in the vineyards of Shiloh.
What is our lesson today?
In all of us - even the best - like the faithful and fearless warriors of Benjamin - lurks the old sin nature that defeats us if left unchecked.
As our study group stood on a hill overlooking the present-day vineyards at Shiloh, I asked them to imagine what it would have been like to witness maidens being kidnapped by a former tribe of sexual predators?
But difficult as it is to condone this, we can with hindsight see God's hand of mercy in preserving this tribe so that it could live up to the prophetic destiny of its name - given by Jacob - that Benjamin would be the 'son of the right hand ' especially of Judah as its ministerial partner in the extension of God's kingdom through Yeshua our Messiah.
