http://gospeltranslations.org/w/index.php?title=For_the_Love_of_God,_Volume_1/August_6&feed=atom&action=historyFor the Love of God, Volume 1/August 6 - Revision history2024-03-28T18:18:06ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.16alphahttp://gospeltranslations.org/w/index.php?title=For_the_Love_of_God,_Volume_1/August_6&diff=20759&oldid=prevPcain: Protected "For the Love of God, Volume 1/August 6" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))2011-03-10T18:27:47Z<p>Protected "<a href="/wiki/For_the_Love_of_God,_Volume_1/August_6" title="For the Love of God, Volume 1/August 6">For the Love of God, Volume 1/August 6</a>" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))</p>
<table style="background-color: white; color:black;">
<col class='diff-marker' />
<col class='diff-content' />
<col class='diff-marker' />
<col class='diff-content' />
<tr valign='top'>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black;">Revision as of 18:27, 10 March 2011</td>
</tr><!-- diff generator: internal 2024-03-28 18:18:06 -->
</table>Pcainhttp://gospeltranslations.org/w/index.php?title=For_the_Love_of_God,_Volume_1/August_6&diff=20758&oldid=prevPcain: Created page with '{{info}} ==== AUGUST 6 ==== ''Judges 20; Acts 24;'' Jeremiah 34; Psalms 5—6 ONE MIGHT HAVE EXPECTED that only the guilty would be hunted down and executed ('''Judg. 20'''). ...'2011-03-10T18:27:37Z<p>Created page with '{{info}} ==== AUGUST 6 ==== ''Judges 20; Acts 24;'' Jeremiah 34; Psalms 5—6 ONE MIGHT HAVE EXPECTED that only the guilty would be hunted down and executed ('''Judg. 20'''). ...'</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{info}}<br />
<br />
==== AUGUST 6 ====<br />
<br />
''Judges 20; Acts 24;'' Jeremiah 34; Psalms 5—6<br />
<br />
ONE MIGHT HAVE EXPECTED that only the guilty would be hunted down and executed<br />
('''Judg. 20'''). But the Levite is stirring up the nation (without, of course, disclosing<br />
his own disgraceful behavior). So far as our records go, Gibeah does not<br />
offer to hand over the offenders. If they had, that would have been the end of the<br />
matter. Nor do the tribal leaders of Benjamin offer to intervene and ensure that<br />
justice is done. Instead, they close ranks and offer to take on all comers, doubtless<br />
expecting that the rest of the nation will be unwilling to pay too high a price<br />
to capture a few rapists at a time when the entire nation has slid into violence.<br />
<br />
For their part, the rest of the tribes foam at the mouth but act stupidly. Instead<br />
of embarking on a massed assault, initially they decide to send the troops of only<br />
one tribe at a time. When we are told that the Israelites inquired of God which<br />
tribe should go first, probably this means that they went through the Urim and<br />
Thummim procedure with a priest of the sanctuary. The Israelites lose twenty-two<br />
thousand men the first day (20:21), and eighteen thousand the next (20:25).<br />
Finally the Lord does truly promise that he will give Gibeah and the Benjamites<br />
into the hands of the rest of the Israelites (20:28). The third day, the Israelites set<br />
up an ambush, and at last they are victorious. Vast numbers of Benjamites die.<br />
<br />
That is the sort of thing that happens when the rule of law dissolves, when<br />
people start acting out of tribal loyalty and not principle, when vengeance overtakes<br />
justice, when superstitious vendettas displace courts, when brothers no<br />
longer share a common heritage of worship and values, when government is by<br />
fear and not by the consent of the governed. There is no logical stopping place.<br />
It can start a regional conflict, it can ignite a Bosnia, it can start a world war. It is<br />
the stuff of dictators and war lords, the lubricant of gangs and violence.<br />
<br />
The sad reality is that every culture is capable of this. The ancient Israelites<br />
sink into this quagmire not because they are worse than all others, but because<br />
they are typical of all others. A society that no longer hangs together, whether on<br />
the ground of religion, shared worldview, or at least agreed and respected procedurals,<br />
is heading for violence and anarchy, which, sooner or later, becomes the<br />
best possible breeding ground for the ordered response of tyrants—power authorized<br />
by sword and gun.<br />
<br />
That is how secular historians see it. We see all this, too, and discern behind<br />
the blood and evil the just hand of God, who intones, “So far will you go, and<br />
no further.”</div>Pcain