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Weekly Devotion
Judg. 21:2-3
2 And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. 3 And they said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?”
Phil. 3:4-5
4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
Judges 19 may be the darkest and most heinous story in all of Scripture, as a woman was brutualized, raped, and left for dead. But to make matters worse, in the next chapter, we read of how the tribe of Benjamin defended the perpetrators because they were their own tribesmen. When the 11 other tribes of Israel jointly confronted Benjamin, demanding that they hand over the evildoers so that they could be put to death, Benjamin refused (Judg. 20:13). And what ensued was a civil war.
The result of the civil war was nearly fatal for the tribe of Benjamin. The Bible records that only 600 men survived. And to make matters worse, during the conflict, the 11 other tribes had taken an oath not to give their daughters in marriage to Benjamin. Eventually, though through sinful means (yes, God uses even the sins of man for his divine purpose), wives were procured for the remnant of Benjamin and the tribe lived on.
It is interesting to note that Benjamin’s restoration has great echoes in the NT and in our modern faith lives, for the Apostle Paul descended from this tribe (Phil. 3:5). Of course, God's will cannot be thwarted; he would have used other means to achieve his purpose. Nonetheless, viewed purely from a linear, cause-and-effect perspective, if Benjamin had been wiped out, then there would have been no Apostle Paul, none of his missionary journeys, and none of his letters. The mercy of God that was shown to this tribe has produced tremendous blessings for future generations of God's people.