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ויאמרו559 למה4100 יהוה3068 אלהי430 ישׂראל3478 היתה1961 זאת2063 בישׂראל3478 להפקד6485 היום3117 מישׂראל3478 שׁבט7626 אחד׃259

De 29:24 Jos 7:7-9 Ps 74:1; 80:12 Pr 19:3 Isa 63:17 Jer 12:1

Verse 3. Why is this come to pass] This was a very impertinent question.

They knew well enough how it came to pass. It was right that the men of Gibeah should be punished, and it was right that they who vindicated them should share in that punishment; but they carried their revenge too far, they endeavoured to exterminate both man and beast, chap. xx. 48.

Ver. 3. And said, O Lord God of Israel , etc.] Jehovah, the only living and true God, the Being of beings, eternal, immutable, omnipotent and omnipresent, the God of all Israel, of the twelve tribes of Israel, their covenant God and Father; who had shown favour to them in such a peculiar and gracious manner, as he had not to other nations, and therefore hoped he would still have a kind regard unto them, and suffer them to expostulate with him in the following manner: why is this come to pass in Israel ; expressing, as Abarbinel thinks, a concern for the 40,000 men of Israel which fell in the two first battles; but it manifestly refers to the case in the next words: that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel ; meaning the tribe of Benjamin, which was all destroyed, excepting six hundred men, and these had no wives to propagate the tribe; and therefore, unless some provision could be made for that, it must in a short time be totally extinct; for which they express great concern, it not being their intention when they made the above oath to extirpate them; but such were now the circumstances of things in Providence, that it must perish unless some way could be found to relieve it, and which their oath seemed to preclude; and this threw them into great perplexity.

--Israel lamented for the Benjamites, and were perplexed by the oat they had taken, not to give their daughters to them in marriage. Me are more zealous to support their own authority than that of God. The would have acted better if they had repented of their rash oaths brought sin-offerings, and sought forgiveness in the appointed way rather than attempt to avoid the guilt of perjury by actions quite a wrong. That men can advise others to acts of treachery or violence, ou of a sense of duty, forms a strong proof of the blindness of the huma mind when left to itself, and of the fatal effects of a conscienc under ignorance and error _________________________________________________

ויאמרו559 למה4100 יהוה3068 אלהי430 ישׂראל3478 היתה1961 זאת2063 בישׂראל3478 להפקד6485 היום3117 מישׂראל3478 שׁבט7626 אחד׃259