Focused Passage
Benjamin's Preservation and Israel's Final No-King Verdict
Judges 21 moves from grief over Benjamin's near extinction to morally compromised schemes for tribal preservation, ending with the book's final verdict that life without righteous covenant kingship produces self-justified violence, oath loopholes, and vulnerable people sacrificed to communal repair.
Berean Standard Bible, Public Domain - Translation notes - Reference sources
8So they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah?” And, in fact, no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.
9For when the people were counted, none of the residents of Jabesh-gilead were there.
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