Judges 21:16-24 Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right!

 ”Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel. However, we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.’ ” Then they said, “In fact, there is a yearly feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” Therefore they instructed the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in wait in the vineyards, and watch; and just when the daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their dances, then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh; then go to the land of Benjamin. Then it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we will say to them, ‘Be kind to them for our sakes, because we did not take a wife for any of them in the war; for it is not as though you have given the women to them at this time, making yourselves guilty of your oath.’ ” And the children of Benjamin did so; they took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they caught. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them. So the children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family; they went out from there, every man to his inheritance.“ Judges‬ ‭21‬:‭16‬-‭24‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh: They answered the problem of wives for the remaining Benjaminites by creating a little drama where the Benjaminites were allowed to “kidnap” women (who were no doubt willing), so that the marriages could be arranged without “official” approval.

i. Rather than go through this charade, they should have simply confessed their sin of making a foolish oath and done the right thing instead of trying to make two wrongs equal a right.

b. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them: In this, the tribe of Benjamin was sufficiently restored to provide Israel with its first king (Saul). (Guzik)

Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right!

We’ve learned through these last couple of chapters that we shouldn’t make rash foolish oaths and now we learn that to correct a foolish oath we shouldn’t use another wrong to correct our rash oath! But as a Christian how does this relate to when we’ve been wronged? If we take revenge, “two wrongs don’t make a right”!

“Getting even is a natural response to being wronged, but God calls us to live above our natural responses. He demonstrated holiness through His Son Jesus Christ, and He offers to empower us through His Holy Spirit so that we can live above our selfish instincts.” https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-retaliation.html

The other day we had a warm spell and I decided to wash my vehicle to remove the salt and sand from the winter road treatment. That’s when I noticed my tire valve stem caps missing. Did someone steal them? My human natural response would be to steal some back! But the Christian in me fights that natural response so when in a store the other day I went to their automotive department and asked if they had some used valve stem caps to replace the ones that were missing. They gave me four!

Have you ever tried, two wrongs to make a right? I’m guilty of that sin!

Blessings 

Note: I haven’t read this book but it’s title is right!