Judges 21:1–25 presents the third and final part of the horrific story involving the tribe of Benjamin. Part 1, in Judges 19:1–30, gave us the story of the brutal gang rape of a Levite’s concubine at the hands of worthless fellows from Gibeah in Benjamin. The Levite then called the entire nation to action against the Benjamites by cutting up her corpse into 12 pieces and sending the pieces throughout the 12 tribes. In part 2, Judges 20:1–48, the horrified nation comes together, listens to the Levite’s misleading testimony, and then confronts the tribe of Benjamin to get them to hand over the worthless fellows for punishment. The tribe refuses. So the other tribes battle against Benjamin, and eventually defeat them. But Israel took things too far; the tribes killed not only the Benjamite warriors, but also the women, children, beasts, and all that they could find. And they burned all the towns they could find. The tribe of Benjamin was reduced to rubble, and facing extermination, with a mere 600 men surviving, hiding out at a rock.

And now in part 3, with the insanity of the battle over and their blood beginning to cool, the Israelites come to realize what they have just done. They come to realize that there are only several hundred Benjamites left. Israel has come very close to wiping out an entire tribe, to bringing the number of tribes from twelve to eleven. This is the massive problem in this chapter. A whole tribe is on the brink of elimination from God’s covenant.