25,000 Benjamites, the towns of Gibeah plus all of the Israelites who died in the battle (22,000 day one and 18,000 day two, 65,000 people plus the destruction of all the towns (28). This was a massive cost for a heinous crime.
I sat and considered the staggering numbers. Yes, the crime was heinous and maybe the entire town needed to be punished for the act and complicity with the act… but this level of death and destruction is certainly unwarranted. I mean 40,000 non-Benjaminite Israelites died!
The wanton disregard for life staggers me.
This feels much more like retribution and retaliation rather than justice.
It looks and feels like gang wars in inner-cities and much of the ‘tit-for-tat’ violence witnessed in parts of the world from warring tribes or religions. You did ‘X’ to me so I will do ‘XX’ to you.
There is on law, no civility. Where is the spirit of the Lord? Where is justice?
This is an ugly time of history made worse because the perpetrators are supposed to be followers of the Lord!
I don’t really know how to process this, so I guess I should just pray.
Lord, keep me on the straight and narrow. Don’t allow me to stray. Override my sin-nature if need be and keep me close to You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment