Language:
Italian
Year of publication:
2019
Titel der Quelle:
Liber Annuus
Angaben zur Quelle:
69 (2019) 99-120
Keywords:
Bible. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Benjamin (Tribe of Israel)
;
Twelve tribes of Israel
;
War in the Bible
;
God Biblical teaching
Abstract:
Chapters 20 and 21 of the Book of Judges narrate the inter-tribal war between the coalition of the tribes of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin (Judg 20:1-48), up to the climax with the kidnappings of the girls from Jabesh of Gilead and Shiloh, so as to allow the survival of the tribe of Benjamin (21:1-25). In the framework of the narrated events are four consultations made to the Lord which are always undertaken on the part of the coalition of the tribes of Israel: the first consultation, before beginning the actual war (20:18); the second, following the first defeat inflicted on Benjamin by the coalition (20:23); the third, after the second defeat inflicted on Benjamin by the coalition (20:26-28); the fourth, in the form of a lament, after having taken note of the almost total extermination of the tribe of Benjamin (21:2-4). There is a progression between the first consultations with the Lord by the coalition of the children of Israel, with at least a partial awareness of the situation, right up to questioning the war itself against the “brother” Benjamin. The Lord had trusted in this awareness and ensured a victory for the coalition. However the coalition did not treat Benjamin as a “brother”, but as a pagan population. At the final consultation after the massacre, the Lord does not even respond, nor could the coalition understand his answer, because now it is only purely human decisions, which further precipitate the country into a state of chaos.
DOI:
10.1484/J.LA.5.120496
URL:
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