The book of Judges ends with a deeply moving and at the same time difficult-to-understand chapter. After a devastating civil war against the tribe of Benjamin, Israel faces a moral dilemma: an entire tribe is almost wiped out, and yet the people have sworn an oath to God that they do not want to break. It is a story of guilt, remorse, human failure – but also of restoration, wise leadership, and the search for a way out.
Today, let us allow this ancient story to draw us into the tensions between justice, mercy, and God’s guidance.

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Commentary

A dark shadow lay over Israel. After the cruel civil war against the tribe of Benjamin, the people were shocked at the extent of the violence. In a moment of vows and revenge, they had sworn: “None of us will ever give a daughter as wife to a Benjamite.” But now, as the anger had faded, horror set in: an entire tribe was about to disappear.

The men of Israel gathered in Bethel. There they wept bitterly before the Lord. It was not only grief; it was remorse. “Why, O God, has one whole tribe been lost?” they asked – even though they themselves were part of the cause.

In an attempt to save the situation, they looked for a way to work around their own promise. They discovered that the city of Jabesh in Gilead had not come to the national assembly. Therefore – in a harsh but systematically planned step – they sent an army there to punish the inhabitants and to bring back young, unmarried women. These were to become wives for the remaining men of Benjamin.

But it was not enough. So the elders came up with another solution: at the annual festival in Shiloh, young women would come out to dance. The Benjamites were to hide there and each one seize a wife – a staged “raid” in order to bypass the oath without officially breaking it.

And so it happened. The tribe of Benjamin received women again, could rebuild cities, and return to its inheritance. Afterwards Israel scattered, each man going back home – with a sense of restoration, but also with an aftertaste: the story was not a glorious triumph, but rather a complicated rescue attempt in which the people tried to repair the damage caused by their own anger.

And so the book of Judges ends with perhaps its saddest sentence:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

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Summary

• After the war against Benjamin, Israel had sworn not to give them any daughters as wives.

• In remorse, they looked for a way to rebuild the tribe of Benjamin.

• Women were taken from Jabesh in Gilead and later also seized at the festival in Shiloh to provide for the survivors.

• In this way, the tribe of Benjamin could be saved.

• The story ends with a reminder of the missing divine kingship in Israel.

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Message for us today

This story shows us how quickly human beings act in extremes – between justice and revenge, between oath and remorse. Even today we live in a world that often looks for quick solutions without considering the long-term consequences. But God is a God of restoration. Even when we fail, he does not give up. He works through our imperfect ways to bring healing and a future – sometimes in very unexpected ways.

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Thought impulse

What does it mean to live in a time “when everyone does what is right in his own eyes”? How easily do we lose the balance between truth and grace in conflicts? And how can we – despite weaknesses and wrong decisions – create spaces where restoration is possible?

Maybe it is time not only to insist on our rights, but to seek the path of reconciliation – even when it means taking creative, humble steps. For God uses our broken paths to make something new grow.