The verse records Israel placing men in ambush all around Gibeah. It stands in the history of the outrage committed at Gibeah and the war that followed between Israel and Benjamin. In that war the entire tribe of Benjamin made common cause with Gibeah. The fighting almost exterminated Benjamin and reduced it to the smallest, nearly extinct tribe.
It belongs to the record of Israel's backsliding, disgrace, and punishment. The closing chapters of Judges in which it stands reveal how low Israel had sunk before Samuel the prophet was called. Though set after the main narrative of the book, the section recounts events from the early period of the judges. More precisely, chapters 17-21 come chronologically before the events related in Judges 11-16.
It marks Israel's final attack upon the wicked Benjamites, when after being twice repulsed Israel came back, laid the ambush, and prevailed. God Himself sent them the third time, and they advanced under changed conditions to conquest. Their experience shows that humiliating defeat may go before victory when God's people turn to Him in sincerity. Because Benjamin had thus become the least and all but extinct, the choice of the king from that tribe left the other tribes no cause for jealousy.
The verse records Israel placing men in ambush all around Gibeah. It stands in the history of the outrage committed at Gibeah and the war that followed between Israel and Benjamin. In that war the entire tribe of Benjamin made common cause with Gibeah. The fighting almost exterminated Benjamin and reduced it to the smallest, nearly extinct tribe.
It belongs to the record of Israel's backsliding, disgrace, and punishment. The closing chapters of Judges in which it stands reveal how low Israel had sunk before Samuel the prophet was called. Though set after the main narrative of the book, the section recounts events from the early period of the judges. More precisely, chapters 17-21 come chronologically before the events related in Judges 11-16.
It marks Israel's final attack upon the wicked Benjamites, when after being twice repulsed Israel came back, laid the ambush, and prevailed. God Himself sent them the third time, and they advanced under changed conditions to conquest. Their experience shows that humiliating defeat may go before victory when God's people turn to Him in sincerity. Because Benjamin had thus become the least and all but extinct, the choice of the king from that tribe left the other tribes no cause for jealousy.