Judges 20:29–37

Then Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah. And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in battle array against Gibeah as at the other times. So the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at the other times, in the highways (one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of Israel. And the children of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us, as at first.”

But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel’s men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba. And ten thousand select men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjamites did not know that disaster was upon them. The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel. And the children of Israel destroyed that day twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites; all these drew the sword.

So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. And the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah; the men in ambush spread out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword.

The ambush works, and the whole city of Gibeah is put to the sword. Between that and the 25,100 Benjamite soldiers killed in battle, all the men who were guilty of killing the Levite’s concubine have received their just deserts.

But everyone else is killed too. Once again, we see everyone bear the consequences of the sins of a few.

The standard explanation is that everyone bears some guilt for the evil in their midst. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” This apocryphal quote is often attributed to Edmund Burke, though he never said it. It’s really just a paraphrase of John Stuart Mill’s line, “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”

Of course, the whole tribe of Benjamin decided to defend the hooligan rapist-murderers militarily, so some guilt is pretty widespread. Yeah, but what about the innocent people who are attacked by evil people? What about the concubine?

This is where the Bible provides the answer. No one is innocent.

I know, that sounds canned. The concubine was unfaithful, but does that justify what was done to her? How do we connect the dots between guilt, which is universal, and punishment in this life, which isn’t?

We can’t. The key words are, “in this life.” God connects all the dots, but not in this life.

And He provides a solution.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.