The eighth nation of the land of Canaan vs. a true tribe of Israel ㅡ Judg 20:47-48

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/222232902879

 

>> But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and abode at the rock of Rimmon four months. And the men of Israel turned back against the Benjaminites, and smote them with the edge of the sword, men and beasts and all that they found. And all the towns which they found they set on fire. (Judg 20:47-48) <<

 

​Seven nations had been living in the land of Canaan, which Israel conquered.

 

"​When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than yourselves, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them; then you must utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, and show no mercy to them. (Deut 7:1-2)"

 

God commanded that Israel should kill all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan regardless of age or sex mercilessly when they conquered the land. The Canaanites committed not only idolatry but also sexual depravity. Bestiality (sex with beasts), homosexuality, and incest were prevalent there. Their sexual depravity is described in Lev 18. God said the nations of Canaan were destroyed due to their sins.

 

"It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. (Deut 9:4)"

 

How Israel treated the inhabitants of Canaan during the conquest of the land is well described in the story of the conquest of the fortress Ai.

 

“When Israel had finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword (Josh 8:24). So Joshua burned Ai, and made it for ever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day (Josh 8:28).”

 

However, among 12 tribes of Israel, there was a tribe that was punished to be destroyed like the Canaanites. That is the tribe of Benjamin. A Levite was to stay with his concubine over the night in a village Gibeah, tribe of Benjamin. But the thugs of the village came and intended to have homosex with him, a clergyman. The Levite acted cowardly, and gave up his woman to them. The villains raped her all night and released her in the morning. She passed away. Probably she died of excessive bleeding from the rupture of sex organ.

 

So all Israelites asked the tribe Benjamin to hand over the rascals of Gibeah, but the Benjaminites refused the demand and waged war with the whole Israel. They were defeated in the war, and all men and women of the tribe of Benjamin were killed, except only 600 defeated soldiers.

 

The tribe of Benjamin was almost exterminated when they defended some wicked people. They got punished with the same judgement as the Canaanites who had been destroyed before.

 

There was a tribe that showed a true attitude of a tribe of Israel then. It was Manasseh. Israel's general assembly decided to kill the inhabitants of the region that didn't attend the assembly when the meeting was called to deal with the rape incident (Judg 21:5). After the investigation, it turned out that Gilead didn't come. The general assembly decided to pardon the 600 Benjaminites, and to get them wives. The assembly sent troops to Gilead to kill all but virgins who hadn't known man. The virgins were given to the young male Benjaminites (Judg 21:10, 14). At that time, the tribe of Manasseh didn't raise any objection to the decision or execution of the general assembly. Actually, Gilead belonged to the half tribe of Manasseh, east of Jordan (Num 32:39-40). How contrasted they are with the tribe of Benjamin, who defended the wicked!

 

"For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men but from God. (Rom 2:8-29)"