What Does Judges 20:10 Mean?
And we will take ten men out of every hundred through all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to take food for the people, so that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, they may do according to all the disgrace they have worked in Israel.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.THE KEY
A town’s violence becomes a national burden before the response begins: every tribe bears a measured share of the provisions.
THE MEANING
When violence is named as a public outrage, its consequences spread beyond one town: every tribe supplies a measured share as Israel prepares a military response to Gibeah. The food is gathered before the force is brought to bear, so the cost of collective judgment is already being carried.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The claim that violence can remain a local matter falls away here: its costs reach all Israel before the military action begins.
THE ROOT
נְבָלָה
nĕbālâ
GROWS FROM
נבל
n-b-l
To wither; to become senseless or disgraceful.
“disgrace” in this verse is nĕbālâ. The Hebrew word names more than a foolish mistake: it carries the force of an infamous, disgraceful act. The root also describes withering, giving “folly” a shade of moral decay as this outrage draws the whole people into its consequences.
ALSO GROWS
nābāl: A fool; a senseless person.
נָבָל
The shared root links the named outrage to senselessness, not merely to a miscalculation.
nāvēl: To wither or fade.
נָבֵל
This related verb gives the root a sense of decline that deepens the force of “folly” beyond simple error.
THE PATTERN
An act committed locally can carry consequences across the whole community.
And it shall be, that he who is seized with the devoted thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has crossed over the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done a withering thing in Israel.Alignment lifts up a nation, but falling short is a reproach to any people.Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?THE THREAD
And it shall be, that he who is seized with the devoted thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has crossed over the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done a withering thing in Israel.Joshua uses the same Hebrew word, נְבָלָה (nĕbālâ, “folly”), in the phrase “wrought folly in Israel.” The repeated wording makes the reach of the offense plain: what is done by one person or in one place is named as a breach affecting the whole community.
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