Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals
Tuesday August 11 2026
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Judges 21:20-24 (ERV)-So the elders told the men of Benjamin about their idea. They said, “Go and hide in the vineyards. 21 Watch for the time during the festival when the young women from Shiloh come out to join the dancing. Then run out from where you are hiding in the vineyards. Each of you should take one of the young women from the city of Shiloh. Take them to the land of Benjamin and marry them. 22 The fathers or brothers of the young women will come and complain to us. But we will say, ‘Be kind to the men of Benjamin. Let them marry the women. We could not get wives for each of them during the war. And you did not willingly give the women to the men of Benjamin, so you did not break your promise.'” 23 So that is what the men of the tribe of Benjamin did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one of them. They took them away and married them. Then they went back to their land. The men of Benjamin built cities again in that land, and they lived in them. 24 Then the Israelites went home. They went to their own land and tribe.
This is one of the strangest and most horrifying episodes of the entire Bible.
The tribe of Benjamin had nearly been destroyed in a war against the other tribes. Their brethren took pity on them and devised a plan for them to continue as a tribe. Women would gather together at a feast and dance. Any of the men from Benjamin who showed up could chase down a woman and make her his “wife.”
This highlights a serious problem: how could God condone such an action? Actually, the answer to that difficulty is found in the last verse of the Book, immediately after this incident.
Judges 21:25 (ERV)-In those days the Israelites did not have a king, so everyone did whatever they thought was right.
In other words, we are being told that God did not command or even approve of this moral atrocity: the people did not want to heed His Word, and so “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (NKJV).
Please consider two lessons with me from this.
First, there are many things which the Bible records as historical fact which take place without Divine sanction or approval. When dealing with violence and questions of immorality from the Bible, we have to remember the importance of context. Fleischer has powerfully demonstrated the importance of this principle.
As we have seen throughout this book, the key to understanding the violence in the OT (and to properly interpreting everything in the Bible, for that matter) can be summed up in a single word: context. Nothing in the Bible was written in a vacuum nor intended to be interpreted in one. The true meaning of every word, sentence, paragraph, chapter, and book can only be found by analyzing them within their biblical, literary, historical, and cultural contexts. Therefore, the problem of violence in the Bible is ultimately a problem of interpretation: ignorance of (or indifference to) context. In this regard, I want to highlight two more context-related points before we conclude. First, the Bible doesn’t condone everything it describes. (It’s unfortunate I need to make this point, but I do.) Just because it’s in the Bible doesn’t mean God approves of it. There’s a difference between reporting something and endorsing it. The OT writers often documented Israel’s actions without ever explicitly or implicitly indicating that God ordered them, partook in them, or approved of them.…Respecting the immediate literary context surrounding each violent OT passage is actually relatively easy. We simply need to ask ourselves a few basic questions: What is the genre in which the violence occurs—narrative, poetic, prophetic, apocalyptic, etc.? Who is using violence—God, one of God’s followers, or someone else? Does the passage merely describe what occurred or does it indicate God actually ordered it or otherwise approved of it? What do other passages say about it? Do they say it was praiseworthy or condemnable? What is the purpose of the violence? Is it offensive or defensive? Is it perpetuating or combatting injustice? Who is harmed by it and who benefits from it? Were the recipients of the violence warned and given time to repent? Is there some other non-violence related lesson clearly being taught? If we answer these simple, introductory questions, we will notice that most of the violence in the OT is described but not condoned and the violence that is condoned is almost always aimed at an obvious injustice. In other words, we don’t even have to know anything about the extra-biblical historical or cultural contexts to see that most of the violence in the OT is not presented in a favorable light. We simply have to read it carefully enough to avoid jumping to scripturally unsupported conclusions.…There’s a reason why the OT spends so much time describing what “is” instead of what “ought to be.” Through it, God identified and described the human problem. He demonstrated that we are sinful and broken, the extent to which we are, and the pain and suffering it produces. He demonstrated the existence and reality of our fallen condition. This is another reason why the OT law seems so harsh and its demands so unrealistic—because our current fallen state is so far from the state of wholeness God originally created. God also demonstrated that we can’t solve our own problem. We can’t fix our own brokenness or cure our own fallen condition. We can’t save ourselves. Even when given specific instructions on exactly how to do so by God himself, we are incapable of carrying them out. As such, God demonstrated humanity’s need for a savior, for his son Jesus. As Johnson puts it, “The Old Testament was to prepare humanity for a savior—not just to prepare them to receive one, but to prepare them to ask for one.” 2. (Matthew Curtis Fleischer, The Old Testament Case for Nonviolence, 229-231 (Kindle Edition): Oklahoma City, OK: Epic Octavius the Triumphant, LLC)
Don’t assume that because the Bible records something it necessarily means that God smiles upon it.
Second, this event with the men of Benjamin (and all Israel) shows us another important lesson: fallen man left to his own devices grows worse and worse. When you divorce a person and society from the Word of God, there will be a terrible downward spiral. The Book of Judges teaches us that we are only one generation removed from terrible apostasy.
May we each be reminded of our need to draw closer to God and to follow in the light that His Word provides.
What are some other instances in the Bible of terrible things that people do without God approving of them?
Can you think of other examples from our world where people turning away from the Bible has brought about some terrible things?
Father, thank You for the perfect Savior we have in Jesus. Thank You for Your Word which reveals the right way to live. Teach us and walk patiently and mercifully with us each step of the way in this journey of life. In Jesus Name we pray together, Amen.