And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them.
Judges 20:41 belongs to the closing chapters of Judges, part of the early history of the judges that records Israel's backsliding and the low, disgraced state into which Israel had fallen before the call of Samuel the prophet, with the punishment and disgrace that followed. Its immediate setting is Gibeah's crime, the murder of the Levite's concubine at Gibeah, with which the whole tribe of Benjamin identified, leading to a war that nearly brought about the destruction of Benjamin. The verse marks the turning point after Israel had twice been repulsed with shame, when the men of Israel turned back against them and the men of Benjamin were amazed because they saw that evil and disaster had come upon them.
The defeat left Benjamin the least and nearly extinct tribe, and God afterward chose the king from this weakened tribe so the other tribes would have no grounds for jealousy. The verse shows that Israel's wrongdoing is not without consequence, and that sin has no excuse. Though it stands in mighty contrast to the miracles, healing, resurrection, and teaching of Jesus recorded in Luke, together with them it speaks of the goodness and mercy of God. It illustrates that God may allow His people to suffer apparent defeat and distress for a time, humbling their self-confidence and leading them to look to Him for victory, before their cause triumphs.
Judges 20:41 belongs to the closing chapters of Judges, part of the early history of the judges that records Israel's backsliding and the low, disgraced state into which Israel had fallen before the call of Samuel the prophet, with the punishment and disgrace that followed. Its immediate setting is Gibeah's crime, the murder of the Levite's concubine at Gibeah, with which the whole tribe of Benjamin identified, leading to a war that nearly brought about the destruction of Benjamin. The verse marks the turning point after Israel had twice been repulsed with shame, when the men of Israel turned back against them and the men of Benjamin were amazed because they saw that evil and disaster had come upon them.
The defeat left Benjamin the least and nearly extinct tribe, and God afterward chose the king from this weakened tribe so the other tribes would have no grounds for jealousy. The verse shows that Israel's wrongdoing is not without consequence, and that sin has no excuse. Though it stands in mighty contrast to the miracles, healing, resurrection, and teaching of Jesus recorded in Luke, together with them it speaks of the goodness and mercy of God. It illustrates that God may allow His people to suffer apparent defeat and distress for a time, humbling their self-confidence and leading them to look to Him for victory, before their cause triumphs.