Wednesday, November 24, 2004 Nativity Fast
Clement, Pope of Rome
Kellia: Judges 21:1-23 Epistle: 1 Timothy 1:18-20; 2:8-15 Gospel: St. Luke 15:1-10
Judges 21:1-23, especially vss. 6, 7: "And the children of Israel
relented toward Benjamin their brother, and said, Today one tribe is cut off from Israel. What
shall we do for wives for the rest that remain? whereas we have sworn by the Lord, not to give
them of our daughters for wives?" When the flush of battle subsides and there is time to
consider what has occurred, for those on both sides - victors and vanquished alike - there are
choices. After the civil war in Israel between the eleven tribes and the twelfth tribe, Benjamin, a
serious issue faced the People of God as a whole. The Lord their God had chosen them as one
nation composed of twelve tribes, related to each other as descendants of the twelve sons of
Jacob (also called Israel). However, in the aftermath of the recent conflict "one tribe [was] cut
off from Israel" (vs. 6). National wholeness was shredded.
What could be done to correct the loss of the tribe of Benjamin? (vs. 7). This was the critical
question. Since the conflict had been a holy war, a series of battles carried out strictly in the fear
of the Lord, under His Law and guided by His counsel, the rule of 'herem' - the total destruction
of everything and everyone - had been applied to Benjamin for their complicity in an horrendous
crime against the laws of hospitality, the sanctity of marriage, and the requirement to protect the
stranger (Jdgs. 20:43-48). The decimation had been thorough, but not absolute; for, we are told,
there were able-bodied survivors from the tribe of Benjamin who "turned and fled to the
wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, even six hundred men; and they sojourned four months in the
rock of Rimmon" (Jdgs 20:47). These six hundred men were survivors by the providence of God
and despite the elimination of all the towns and population of the territory of Benjamin.
Brotherhood may not be restored until there is repentance among the human participants; and the
best of the good news that came out of the ancient civil war among God's people was repentance
on the part of the victors from the eleven tribes: "The children of Israel relented toward Benjamin
their brother" (Jdgs 21:6). However, in the heat of the conflict, a solemn oath had been taken:
"No man...shall give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife" (vs.1). Still, where God gives a will,
solutions can and do emerge. Two solutions were found for the repopulation of Benjamin, both
aimed at the central issue - the lack of wives for the six-hundred survivors. First, if there were
those who did not join in the national oath to make Benjamin 'herem' to the Lord, daughters from
them might serve as wives for the Benjaminites. However, those who did not join with the nation
were tainted by their refusal to cleanse the nation of the breach against brotherhood. This was the
case with Jabesh-Gilead, and so that community was targeted for punishment by smiting "the
inhabitants...with the edge of the sword....every male and every woman that has known the lying
with man [being devoted] to destruction" (vss. 10,11). However, an exception was in the case of
"the virgins" of Jabesh-Gilead; they should be saved "alive" (vs. 11). These young women were
eligible for marriage and also innocent of the failure to join with Israel in its holy war against the
tribe of Benjamin.
Second, if the men of Benjamin somehow could seize virgin daughters from a community in
Israel 'fairly,' then there would be no giving "to Benjamin for a wife" (vs. 1). An annual festival
to God at Shiloh provided just such an opportunity, for it was an occasion when young virgins
were allowed to dance without close supervision; and so the elders of Israel commanded the
Benjaminites to seize wives at the feast, guaranteeing their safety in doing so (vss. 21-22).
O Christ our Savior, by the power of the Holy Spirit, break down the walls that separate men
from one another and unite all in bonds of love, accomplishing Thy purpose on earth.
