Boxed in by Words

As we saw in yesterday’s study, the Israelites swore two oaths as they planned their response to the sin of the men of Gibeah. The oaths grew out of their sincere desire to react in righteousness to the Benjamites’ refusal to repent, and both had support from the Mosaic Law. However, the people may have gone too far in fulfilling the first oath—to kill everyone who did not come to the national assembly—with the result that the tribe of Benjamin is nearly extinct. Now they are sorrowful for their actions and the results, and desire to find a way to repair the damage. But the second oath rules out the simplest solution—they cannot give their own daughters to the surviving Benjamites as wives. Like Jephthah (Judg. 11:35), the Israelites realize they are boxed in by the words of their mouths. Thus, their search for a solution begins to devolve into a search for a way around their vows.

Imagine that we are Israelites listening to the debate about what to do for the Benjamites. Some in the crowd begin to ask whether there is anyone in Israel who is not bound by either oath. “ ‘What one is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Mizpah, to the Lord?’ ” they ask. When the roll of those who attended the assembly is checked, it is found that no one was there from the city of Jabesh Gilead, on the east side of the Jordan. “Perhaps there is an opportunity here,” some say excitedly. “This means the men of Jabesh Gilead are free to allow their daughters to marry Benjamites!” But that sparks a quick reaction from others. “Not so fast,” they say. “Jabesh is under the first oath. Since no one from that town bothered to come, we’re morally obligated to destroy it. That’s what we said we would do.” (At this point, some probably speak up to urge that the Benjamites be finished off, but virtually no one wants to hear that.)

It is easy to speculate that the eventual course of action decided by the assembly is a compromise that fully satisfies no one. However, we must remember the point the author of Judges is making in all this. These things occur because “there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” There is no one who both knows the revealed will of God for Israel and possesses the authority to lead the people to do it. The results, as we will see tomorrow, are predictably sad and ethically questionable.