The Problem with Genocide as a Solution

Synopsis     Judges 20:39-48     7/26/2018

The Israelite army presented the Benjaminites with a ruse. They set an ambush. And, they drew them away from the city. So, the Benjaminites fell into the trap.

In the end, Israel virtually eliminated Benjamin from existence. Only a remnant escaped the destruction. A few hundred men survived.

Genocide as a Solution

So, there’s an incrementalist insanity at play here. This story began with a Benjamite mob attacking a single Ephraimite man and his family in the town of Gibeah. The man gave up his concubine to the mob to save his own life. So, they raped and killed her in a horrifically brutal assault.

But, at this moment in the story, there are over sixty-thousand men lying dead on a battlefield outside Gibeah. These are Israelite and Benjaminite men destroyed in a civil war. Israel sacked and burned all the cities of Benjamin. And almost all the people of Benjamin were dead.

But, what caused this? What hardened the hearts of so many people. Why couldn’t anyone see the insanity?

The Inherent Instability of Self-Righteousness

It’s in me – Self-righteousness. Of course, it’s not really righteousness. And, as the name implies, it’s not from God. Instead, it’s something I’ve made up. Like the expression, “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes”.

And that is me. If I have nothing at stake – I’m talking about the importance of peace to anyone who is willing to listen. But let someone cross me, and suddenly I’m thinking about vengeance.

And it’s all OK for me because I’m a Christ follower – “a virtual martyr”.

God save me from the self-righteous justification of my own subjectively satisfying desires.

“You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8