deliver: 2 Samuel 20:21-22
children of Belial: Judges 19:22; Deuteronomy 13:13; 1 Samuel 30:22; 2 Samuel 20:1, 2 Samuel 23:6; 1 Kings 21:13; 2 Chronicles 13:7
put away: Deuteronomy 17:7, Deuteronomy 17:12, Deuteronomy 19:19, Deuteronomy 21:21, Deuteronomy 22:21, Deuteronomy 22:24, Deuteronomy 24:7; Ecclesiastes 11:10
would not: 1 Samuel 2:25; 2 Chronicles 25:16, 2 Chronicles 25:20; Proverbs 29:1; Hosea 9:9, Hosea 10:9; Romans 1:32; Revelation 18:4-5; The conduct of the Israelites was very equitable in this demand; but perhaps the rulers or elders of Gibeah ought previously to have been applied to, to deliver up the criminals to justice. However, the refusal of the Benjamites, and their protection of those who had committed this horrible wickedness, because they were of their own tribe, prove them to have been deeply corrupted, and (all their advantages considered) as ripe for divine vengeance as the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah had been. Confiding in their own valour and military skill, they seen to have first prepared for battle in this unequal contest with such superior numbers.