Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.
The closing chapters of Judges record Israel's backsliding, disgrace, and punishment, showing the low state into which the nation had fallen before the call of Samuel the prophet. The verse belongs to the account of the crime at Gibeah, the disgraceful murder of the Levite's concubine, in which the tribe of Benjamin identified itself with the people of Gibeah. In it all the children of Israel are called to recognize their shared identity as God's people and to give their advice and counsel about the matter before them.
The account shows that tribal clannishness could be valued above justice, but this never excuses sin. The ensuing conflict nearly exterminated Benjamin and reduced it to the least tribe in Israel, and God afterward in wisdom chose the king from this weakened tribe to remove all grounds of jealousy among the other tribes.
The closing chapters of Judges record Israel's backsliding, disgrace, and punishment, showing the low state into which the nation had fallen before the call of Samuel the prophet. The verse belongs to the account of the crime at Gibeah, the disgraceful murder of the Levite's concubine, in which the tribe of Benjamin identified itself with the people of Gibeah. In it all the children of Israel are called to recognize their shared identity as God's people and to give their advice and counsel about the matter before them.
The account shows that tribal clannishness could be valued above justice, but this never excuses sin. The ensuing conflict nearly exterminated Benjamin and reduced it to the least tribe in Israel, and God afterward in wisdom chose the king from this weakened tribe to remove all grounds of jealousy among the other tribes.