Matthew Henry????? That man lived like 359 years ago. People back
then still believed the Sun revolved around the earth.
But let’s continue anyway;
Quote;
Notice given to the
tribe of Benjamin of this meeting v.3 They heard that the children of
Israel had gone up to Mizpeh.-----------------------”PROBABLY”
-------- they had legal summons sent to them to appear with their
brethren, that the cause might be fairly debated, before resolutions
were taken upon it.
Oh there’s that
favorite word “Probably” that the Watchtower loves to
revel in. Other words used by WT, (“more than likely, it seems, we
can assume, etc.,”)
Instead of assuming,
and saying PROBABLY, let’s see what exactly the bible says;
(Judges
20:1-3) Consequently all the
sons of Israel went out and the assembly congregated themselves as
one man, from Dan down to Be′er-she′ba along with the land of
Gil′e·ad, to Jehovah at Miz′pah.
2So
the keymen of all the people and all the tribes of Israel took their
station in the congregation of the people of the [true] God, four
hundred thousand men on foot who drew the sword. 3And
the sons of Benjamin got to hear that the sons of Israel had gone up
to Miz′pah..
That's it.
There
is no mention in the Bible that a legal summons was sent to the tribe
of Benjamin. PROBABLY IS AN ASSUMPTION BY Matthew Henry. No different
than the Governing Body making an assumption that there will be NEW
SCROLLS during the 1000 year reign of Christ.
The
law given to Moses had already set detailed instructions on what EACH
TRIBE had to do in cases of crimes like this one, which might occurred in their
particular TRIBE.
God’s
arrangement was that each tribe had a group of Older men that were
qualified to judge these kinds of cases.
No tribal Judge could go out
of his jurisdiction to another tribe and judge there. Each Tribe had
their own Judges that would render justice to their own clan. No
different than today around the world.
(Deuteronomy
16:18) You should appoint judges
and officers FOR EACH TRIBE in
all the cities that Jehovah your God is giving you, and they must
judge the people with righteous judgment.
Any
infraction against the law of Moses was judged by the LOCAL OLDER MEN
OF THE PARTICULAR CITY WHERE THE LAW-BREAKER LIVED
(Deuteronomy
21:18-20) “In case a man
happens to have a son who is stubborn and rebellious, he not
listening to the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and
they have corrected him but he will not listen to them, 19his
father and his mother must also take hold of him and bring him out TO
THE OLDER MEN OF HIS CITY and to the
gate of his place, and they must say to the older men of his
city,This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he is not listening
to our voice, being a glutton and a drunkard
Notice is says----HIS CITY----THAT IS THE LAWBREAKER'S CITY!
Even
if there was a horrendous murder and the body was found, but no
evidence of who committed the murder, there was still instructions on how
to handle it.
(Deuteronomy
21:1-9) .“In case someone is
found slain on the ground that Jehovah your God is giving you to take
possession of it, fallen on the field, and it has not become known
who struck him fatally, 2your
older men and your judges must also go out and measure to the cities
that are all around the slain one; 3
AND
IT MUST PROVE TO BE THE CITY NEAREST TO THE SLAIN ONE. AND THE OLDER
MEN OF THAT CITY NEAREST THE SLAIN ONE. AND
THE OLDER MEN OF THAT CITY
must
take a young cow of the herd that has not been worked with, that has
not pulled in a yoke; 4and
the older men of that city must lead the young cow down to a torrent
valley running with water in which there was customarily no tilling
or sowing of seed, and they must break the neck of the young cow
there in the torrent valley…...
6Then
ALL THE OLDER MEN OF THAT CITY
who are nearest to the slain one should wash their hands over the
young cow, the neck of which was broken in the torrent valley; 7 and
they must answer and say, ‘
Our
hands did not shed this blood, neither did our eyes see [it shed].
8Do
not set it to the account of your people Israel, whom you redeemed, O
Jehovah, and do not put the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of
your people Israel.’ And the bloodguilt must not be set to their
account. 9And
you—you will clear away the guilt of innocent blood from your
midst, because you will do what is right in Jehovah’s eyes.
Instead, what
the bible really reads regarding the account of the rape and the war that followd, is this;
All
the sons of Israel -----went out and the assembly congregated themselves
as one man, from Dan down to Be′er-she′ba
This
was a no-no. They should have followed the law of Moses and given the
case to the Tribe of Benjamin and leave it at that. But instead they took it upon themselves to met out justice.
Still-----no
excuse for an Almighty God to trick them into warfare thereby killing tons of
innocent men, women, children, infants, and domestic animals. When all he had to do is just kill all the men involved in the rape.
And
let’s not forget the hundreds of pubescent girls who were forced to
have sex with old men under the guise of honorable marriage.
Honorable
marriage is not the same thing as FORCED MARRIAGE of young children!
How is it possible that the same God who supposedly killed hundreds of millions of wicked people with a global flood, couldn't kill a small group of men an avert a war that took the lives of many well intention-ed men, and who knows exactly how many innocent mothers, fathers, daughters, and children.
And if for some reason God was to busy, why couldn't he of sent the same angel that killed 185,000 well armed, military trained, hard -core Assyrian solders in just one night?????????
