Sunday Sermonette: Civil War

As I indicated in a comment on my last Bible post, I suspect that this story has some basis in historical events. There seems no reason why it should have been written if the tribe of Benjamin had not found itself at war at some point against at least a portion of the rest of the Israelites. However, this story is clearly victor ' s propaganda. The tale in the last chapter, a recycling of the story of Lot in Sodom, is certainly an invention to justify the aggression. Think Reichstag fire or Gulf of Tonkin incident. Furthermore, the details of the war, from the mailing of the body parts, to the participation of 100% of the other tribes, and of course the divine sanction, are certainly invented. It also seems quite implausible that the entire tribe of Benjamin would have made such a sacrifice on behalf of a few rapist-murderers. The Levite and his concubine, BTW, remain nameless.20 Then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came together as one and assembled before theLord in Mizpah.2 The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God ’s people, four hundred thousand men armed with swords.3 (The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, “Tell us how this awful thing happened.”4 So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night.5 During the night the men of Gibeah c...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs