Last week we saw the Levite's concubine. They were in Gibeah. The people of the city wanted to have relations with the man, with the Levite himself. The Levite then gave them his concubine. and they raped her and abused her, and then she died.
So the Levite cut her up into 12 pieces, sent her to the 12 tribes of Israel as a call to arms, and that's what we're looking at now in chapter 20, so I'll begin reading in verse 1. So all the children of Israel came out from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord at Mizpah. And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 foot soldiers who drew the sword. Now, the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.
And the children of Israel said, tell us, how did this wicked deed happen? So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, my concubine and I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night. And the men of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died.
So I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. Look, all of you are children of Israel. Give your advice and counsel here and now. So all the people arose as one man, saying, none of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house.
But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah. We will go up against it by lot. We will take 10 men out of every 100 throughout all the tribes of Israel, 100 out of every 1,000, and 1,000 out of every 10,000 to make provisions for the people. that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel. So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man.
Then the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, what is this wickedness that has occurred among you? Now therefore, deliver up the men, the perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah to go to battle against the children of Israel.
And from their cities at that time, the children of Benjamin numbered 26,000 men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered 700 select men. Among all this people were 700 select men who were left-handed. Everyone could sling a stone at a hair's breadth and not miss. Now besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered 400,000 men who drew the sword.
All of these were men of war. Then the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God to inquire of God. They said, which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin? The Lord said, Judah first.
So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against at Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin. And the men of Israel put themselves in battle array to fight against them at Gibeah. Then the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down to the ground 22,000 men of the Israelites.
And the people, that is the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and again formed the battle line at the place where they had put themselves in array on the first day. Then the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shall I again draw near for battle against the children of my brother Benjamin? And the Lord said, go up against him. So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day.
And Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah on the second day and cut down to the ground 18,000 more of the children of Israel. All these drew the sword. Then all the children of Israel, that is all the people, went up and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening.
And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. So the children of Israel inquired of the Lord. The ark of the covenant of God was there in those days. And Phineas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days saying, shall I yet again go out to do battle against the children of my brother Benjamin or shall I cease?
And the Lord said, go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand. And Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah. And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day and put themselves in battle array against Gibeah as at the other times. So the children of Benjamin went out against the people and were drawn away from the city.
They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at the other times in the highways, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, and in the field about 30 men of Israel. And the children of Benjamin said, they are defeated before us as at first. But the children of Israel said, let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways. So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar.
Then Israel's men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba. And 10,000 select men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjamites did not know that disaster was upon them. The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and the children of Israel destroyed that day 25,100 Benjamites.
All these drew the sword. So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. And the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah.
The men in ambush spread out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword. Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise up from the city, whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about 30 of the men of Israel, for they said, surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle. But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke to heaven.
And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them. Therefore, they turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness. But the battle overtook them, and whoever came out of the cities they destroyed in their midst. They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily trampled them down as far as the front of Gibeah toward the east.
And 18,000 men of Benjamin fell. All these were men of valor. Then they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimon, and they cut down 5,000 of them on the highways. Then they pursued them relentlessly up to Gidom and killed 2,000 of them.
So all who fell of Benjamin that day were 25,000 men who drew the sword. All these were men of valor." But 600 men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Reman. And they stayed at the rock of Reman for four months. And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin and struck them down with the edge of the sword.
From every city, men and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to. Amen.
Introduction
Just a quick note with reference to this third battle. If you notice, verses 29 to 46, what we have is a general report or a general description in verses 29 to 36a. And then it's stated again, but amplified. More of the details are given.
This is an aspect of Hebrew narrative. I think this is what's done in Genesis chapter 1, 26 to 28, speaks about the creation of man. and then you get to chapter 2 and it then develops or fills in the details concerning the creation of man. It's not two creation accounts. It's not two victory accounts.
Some have speculated that this was composite. and that for whatever reason the narrator sort of threw them both together in this particular instance. That's not what's happening at all. It's a general description, the first portion, and then the detailed description in the latter portion of this particular section.
Three Things to Notice
So there's three things that we should notice tonight as we look at chapter 20. Again, a very distressing chapter, a very grieving chapter. 19 was definitely not something that we would write devotional literature about concerning the death of this concubine. Neither is chapter 20. If you notice just in the reading, three instances or three times the children of Israel refer to their brother the Benjamites.
This is a civil war. This is the 12 tribes of Israel, 11 going to war against one of them. There's more unity found amongst Israel in chapter 20 than there is with any of the judges in chapters 3 to 16. they gather together as one man. The text specifies that three times.
Well, what are they gathered together as one man for, but to go and destroy their brethren, to destroy another tribe in Israel. So it too is a very dark chapter It is a response to the situation of Leviticus chapter 19. So there's three things.
The Report of the Levite
First, the report of the Levite in verses 1 to 7. Secondly, the decision of Israel in verses 8 to 17. And then thirdly, the military action in verses 18 to 48. Now, there's three battles indicated, and if you paid attention during the reading, you'll notice that in each of those instances, the children of Israel inquired of the Lord.
And in the first two instances, they lost. God told them to go ahead and send Judah first, and then he tells them again, go ahead. And in both those instances initially, the first two battles, they die. They lose a great deal of troops.
In those two battles together, they lose about a tenth of the population in terms of fighting men. 400,000 foot soldiers, in those two battles, they lose 40,000 men. It's a bit of a difficult thing to get one's mind wrapped around. I don't know that I have the definitive answer, but we'll look at a few things as to why, when they inquired of the Lord, God said to go, and then there was judgment brought upon Israel in this particular instance. So we'll look at that as we move through the passage, but note first the assembling together of the people in verses 1 to 3.
You've probably heard this phrase, from Dan to Beersheba. This is the first time it makes its appearance in the Bible. Dan is up in the north, Beersheba is down in the south. That means the entirety of Israel gathers together, as well as from the land of Gilead.
Remember that the land of Gilead is east side of the River Jordan. So even the eastern tribes have come over to hear this particular report and to take action against the Benjamites as a result. I think the only ones that do not show up is from Jabesh Gilead and more on them in chapter 21. But you see the scenario, the entirety of Israel is gathered together And then verse 3 indicates, now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.
This isn't the Mizpah that's on the east side of the River Jordan. If you remember, Jephthah was at a Mizpah. That's in the region of Gilead. This is Mizpah, which is about 8 miles north of Jerusalem, right in the heart of this particular area.
And so the Benjamites knew that Israel was gathering together and they did not go. They did not send a delegation. They didn't send representatives. It seems to indicate, the implication is there, based on what we find in the rest of the chapter, that the Benjamites were going to side with the men of Gibeah and they were going to stand against the 11 tribes of Israel.
So already in verse 3 this is not a positive indicator of the direction things are going to go with reference to Benjamin. Then we notice the report given by the Levite in verses 4 to 7. It gives a reminder but there's a reminder here concerning chapter 19. Verse 4, the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, My concubine and I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night.
That's not completely true. They were passing through. They didn't go to Gibeah to spend the night. They happened to be in Gibeah and they sought refuge then.
He then says in verse 5, And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died." So he's giving the general thrust of what actually occurred in Gibeah but he's certainly not going to get an award for being the most honest man ever because we know according to verse 25 in chapter 19 it was this Levite that took his concubine and brought her out to them he leaves that specific detail out when he's addressing the tribes of Israel no doubt because it would make himself look bad as well he wants there to be intervention he's trying to gain the allegiance and the attention of the tribes of Israel so that they will take appropriate action against Benjamin for this horrific crime. Remember that was the whole point of his dissecting this woman, verses 6 and 7. He takes hold of her, he cuts her in pieces, he sends her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel because they committed lewdness and outrage.
He dissected her, he distributes her, and the purpose for this particular action is because they, Gibeah, committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. Verse 7 indicates that he is looking for action. He is looking for assistance. He wants them to take notice of this great crime and to deal with it.
Look, all of you are children of Israel. Give your advice and counsel here and now. So that's the report. It's the basis, the foundation.
The Decision of Israel
Now we proceed to the decision of Israel. Note verses 8 to 17. The decision is indicated in verses 8 to 11. Again, we have unity.
So all the people arose as one man. Verse 8. Again, that's repeated in verse 11. This one man is risen up together to deal with this particular situation.
Israel's Unity and Purpose
They rally the troops together. They discuss what they're going to do. They speak specifically. in verse 10. We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel a hundred out of every thousand and a thousand out of every ten thousand to make provisions for the people that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel.
It seems that they understood that combat with the Benjamites wouldn't be just an easy operation And they take all these men to make provisions. The idea is probably they want to have supply lines running and open because they know they're going to be engaged in this particular battle for quite some time. They want to neutralize the threat, and they want to do it in the best possible way that they can. And their address, or their specific purpose, is that they may repay, at the end of verse 10, all the vileness that they have done in Israel.
So far, so good. They're operating accordingly. I think as we move through the passage, though, and as we consider this situation in light of the rest of the Pentateuch, they're not always as consistent as they ought to be. So verse 11 says, So all the men of Israel were gathered together against the city, united together as one man.
So as Bloch says, support for the resolution is unanimous. Finally, the tribes of Israel are allied in a common military exercise. But tragically, instead of taking aim at the Canaanites, in keeping with the divine mandate, they have set their sights on one of their own cities. And this is somewhat ironic.
This kind of unity, this one-man-ness is not when they go against the Canaanites. It's not when they oppose the Midianites. It's not when they're dealing with Ammonites. It's when they're dealing with their own people.
And so the author and the narrator is highlighting just how bad things really are in Israel at this particular time.
Benjamin's Intransigence
Now notice the rebellion or the intransigence of the tribes of Benjamin. They send a delegation, verses 12 and 13. Then the tribes of Benjamin sent throughout... I'm sorry, the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin saying, what is this wickedness that has occurred among you?
Now therefore deliver up the men, the perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel. That's good, they're not playing around. Give us the men that engaged in this particular crime, we will carry out the death penalty upon them, and we will neutralize this particular problem. There is going on something of an application of Deuteronomy 13.
When there is a city that's given over to revolution, a city that's in opposition to the law of God, the cities around them, the tribes around them, are to go and to deal with that particular city. But it is intriguing that when this happens with reference to the tribe of Dan, there is no military action. When there's something like murder, they engage in military action. I'm not suggesting they shouldn't deal with murder, but the stipulations of Deuteronomy 13 are very specifically religious in nature, apostasy and idolatry.
Those things are bypassed in the land of Israel, bypassed to the degree that when we meet with Gideon, we find that there's an altar to Baal in his own hometown. We see all sorts of evidence that the nation of Israel is not operating consistently whatsoever. So they make this appeal to the tribe of Benjamin, and then Benjamin digs in their feet. Notice verse 13, about in the middle.
But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. Again, the brethren. The idea is that we have an anomaly here. We've got a problem here.
We've got brethren fighting brethren. We've got tribes in Israel combating other tribes in Israel. This is a bad thing. But we see very specifically they reject the request made by the 11 tribes and they side with the wicked men of Gibeah.
Absolutely evil that they would side with these perverts, these men that wanted to engage in gang rape of a man, which would have been homosexuality, who then engage in gang rape of a woman who's married and they ultimately murder her. This is terrible that Benjamin doesn't say, we'll take these perverted men of Gibeah, deliver them over to the 11 tribes so that they can be executed and we'll see to avert the wrath of God. No, they dig in their heels and they resolve to go into battle against Israel. That's what verse 14 tells us.
Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah to go to battle against the children of Israel. Now notice, it gives us a summary of their military strength. They are certainly outnumbered. They do not have the resources of the other 11 tribes.
Notice in verse 15, and from their cities at that time, the children of Benjamin numbered 26,000 men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah who numbered 700 select men. Among all this people were 700 select men who were left-handed. This is kind of interesting because Benjamin means the son of the right hand. And yet we have this crack force of 700 lefties in Benjamin.
Remember that Yigud was a left-handed man as well. There would be a tactical advantage to having 700 left-handed men. I'm going to let Davis explain that in just a moment. But these details are not superfluous.
They want us, or the author wants us to understand that though there is a great disparity between the numbers, you've got great talent among Gibeah and the Benjamites. You may not necessarily need a multitude or quantity if you have quality. And note how these men are described at the end of verse 16. Well, verse 16, among all these people were 700 select men who were left-handed.
Everyone could sling a stone at a hair's breadth and not miss. Now that's a very important piece of military strategy. You would certainly want to know that detail if you were going into battle against these particular men. It might mean that you're going to wear a full helmet because these guys can hit a hair on your head. from a distance with their slings.
Listen to what Davis says. He says, yet it is unlikely that bull-headed Benjamin will be a pushover. They may be far outnumbered, but their crack 700 unit will have to be reckoned with. This number formed an elite core of left-handed super slingers, renowned for their deadly accuracy.
They may have been the reason Benjamin had initial success against the other tribes. Now notice, he says, most soldiers were probably right-handed and carried their shields on their left arms. That would provide normal defense against right-handed slingers. But lefty slingers would be hurling at a different angle toward the unguarded side.
And if these left-handers could hit a hare, they could surely smash a right ear. So this is not some detail that's just kind of thrown in there. It answers the question how such a few men could ultimately decimate 40,000 from the tribes of Israel. Again, it's not necessarily quantity, but it's quality, and these men knew what they were doing in terms of dealing with their enemies.
So that's a description. We're reminded again concerning the number of foot soldiers in Israel in verse 17. Now, besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered 400,000 men who drew the sword. All of these were men of war.
So everything is set up. The battle is going to take place. And now we enter into the military action.
The Military Action
As I said, there's three battles. The first two are unsuccessful for Israel, certainly successful for the tribe of Benjamin. But for Israel, they do not do well in the first two, but it's in the third that they ultimately gain victory.
Battle One: Presumption Judged
Now notice battle number one, verse 18. Then the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God to inquire of God. That's a good thing. People should inquire of God.
It's interesting that God, Elohim, is used and not Yahweh, Covenant Lord. I don't know what the author is indicating here with that particular tidbit, but they go to the house of God to inquire of God. They said, which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin? The Lord said, Judah first.
So what we have here is a request for direction and we have a response from God. Notice, however, that God does not promise victory. We need to make sure that we keep this in mind. God simply tells them, Judah first.
Why Judah first? Well, it could be as simple as the fact that it was Judah, Bethlehem and Judah, where the Levite and the concubine were from. They were the victims of this particular crime that took place in chapter 19. The book of Judges starts off with Judah, chapter 1, verses 1 to 20, Judah being the first going into battle.
So Judah strikes us at the outset as being a warring a group. So they ask God which tribe should go up first and God says Judah first. Now notice in 19, so the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin and the men of Israel put themselves in battle array to fight against them at Gibeah. then the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and on that day cut down to the ground 22,000 men of the Israelites." Now, maybe you don't see the tension in this particular verse.
If you do not, let me remind you. They've gone to the house of God. They've inquired of God. They've asked specifically which tribe should go first.
God says Judah should go first. If I was in the midst of Israel at this particular time, I would suppose that we were going to win. I would suppose that us having gone to the house of God, inquiring of God, and God answering very specifically the question that we posed, would have meant that when we go into battle against the Benjamites, we are simply going to devastate them, and we'll go home and have our dinner later. So what happened?
How do we explain this? What's going on in this particular passage? At the end of the study tonight, we'll try and draw out some lessons. But there is an interesting piece.
And I do not have the corner on these specifically, these two instances. There's a lot of difference of opinion on what's going on in the passage. But if you look at verse 18, The children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God to inquire of God. They said, which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?
Do you think that perhaps the best first question would have been, should we go up to battle against Benjamin? They've already got it in their head what they're going to do. They're already on the course. They've already got troops in place.
I wonder if in this situation and in the second situation, it's a classic case of somebody having in their head what they're going to do, but for obligatory purposes, they throw up some prayers to God and say, will you rubber stamp my decision so that I can tell everybody that I prayed about it? Well, that's exactly what's going on, or seems to be what's going on here. Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin? Not should we launch a military incursion against another tribe in Israel for this particular crime that happened in Gibeah.
That would have been preferable, to know whether or not there was divine sanction for the mission in and of itself. They come to the house of God to inquire of God already having it made up in their mind, all they want to know, and it just seems like a matter of procedure at this point, which tribe should go first? Judah. So now they trot out into battle, and instead of devastating the Benjamites, they themselves are devastated, and they lose 22,000 troops.
This is a huge hit to Israel. Now, in terms of 400,000 people, but you're talking about 11 tribes. You're talking about a pretty sizable group of people at this particular situation. What appears to be going on here, at least in this first situation, is some presumption.
They've already presumed that this is the best response, military action. And out of presumption, we ought to see pride. When we presume to undertake in a particular area, it's asserting the idea that we know what's best, and that's ultimately pride. There is another, this is another instance, as will be punctuated at the end of chapter 21, there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
We think it's best to go do this, we're going to ask God just to give his rubber stamp on the back end so that we can say, but I prayed about it. And as I thought through this more and more, I've heard this interpretation before, and sometimes I've kind of not really given it a lot of thought, but it really does speak to a situation which I think we find ourselves in. Maybe not you, but we pray, or some of us pray, our minds are made up, or we have an action, and then we just want God's blessing upon it. It's not that we want God to actually intervene and direct us according to His will.
We want to do what we want according to our will, but we want His sanction. We want His approval, and we want His blessing. Be like your child coming to you and saying, Dad, would you please give me money so I can go over here and do this? Not only am I not going to give you money, but I refuse that you even go there.
What we want is not what is most important. It's what the will of the Lord God is. And in this particular situation, they had a situation or they had a structure in place where there was a house of God, there was a priest, there was the Urim and the Thummim, there was a way to seek specifically through the priest in Israel what God's will was for them. So they go out to battle, they lose the 22,000.
Battle Two: Pride Repeated
Now notice in verse 22 as we move to the second battle. and the people, that is the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and again formed the battle line at the place where they had put themselves in array on the first day. It doesn't even enter into their minds that battle against the Benjamites may not be what the will of God is. I'd like to think that if we were in that situation, and I'm sure I'm really giving us a lot of credit, we would have probably thought, wait a minute, we just lost 22,000 men to these left-handed you know, sharpshooters, maybe God doesn't want us to go into battle. That doesn't enter in.
Look at what they do. They encourage themselves, they get back into battle array, even before going back to inquire of God. You see, they have an agenda, they have a mission, they have a purpose, they have a track. All they're trying to do is use God to stamp his approval upon it.
Again, I think we've got pride and presumption in action in verses 22 to 25. So verse 22, the people, that is the men of Israel, just to clarify, encouraged themselves and again formed the battle line at the place where they had put themselves in array on the first day. Then the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening. It's good.
Weep before the Lord. We ought to cry out to God Most High. And it says, And asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Now they're a bit more tentative this time around. Shall I again draw near for battle against the children of my brother Benjamin?
Now, it's a tentative request, but based on verse 22, their mind is made up. They've encouraged themselves. They're in battle array. They're going back to the house of God, again, just to fetch the rubber stamp on their particular venture.
So God says, go up against him. Notice in battle one and battle two, God never promises victory. He just says, Judah first. And then he says, go up against him.
Verse 24, perhaps this time they were empowered by the reality that we wept before the Lord. You see, that's another thing that we can often do, or sometimes do, is we think that if we weep enough, if we do enough, if we pray enough, then we've got to twist God's arm so that he'll give us what we want. If our motives are mercenary, even if we pepper them with prayer and tears, it doesn't change the fact. It's not as if, or it seems to be, it's not the case that they're really open and desirous to know the will of God in this particular instance.
And notice in verse 24, so the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day, probably thinking, were going to clean house. And Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah on the second day, and cut down to the ground 18,000 more of the children of Israel. All these drew the sword." You can almost hear the murmurings in Israel now. What happened?
This time we wept. We prayed, we wept, we went to the house of the Lord. Yes, but in both of those situations, Your actions preceding those prayers indicated that your minds were made up. You already knew that you were going to do this particular thing.
And so when you seek God's approval only, and not God's will, not God's direction, not God's guidance, if you're just looking for him to rubber stamp it, then it's going to fail.
Battle Three: Repentance and Victory
Now notice battle number three. The third battle, they are victorious. Verse 26, then all the children of Israel, that is all the people, went up and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.
This does seem to indicate more of a repentant spirit. This does seem to indicate that there are some good things going on. And what we find is that God hears and God answers. Verse 27, so the children of Israel inquired of the Lord.
The ark of the covenant of God was there in those days. And Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days. You know what that means? It means that the 11 tribes had the means of grace.
They had access to Yahweh. That is absolutely absent with reference to the Benjamites. There's no house of God that they're going to. There's no access to Yahweh that they're fetching.
There is no presence of God on their behalf. Simply, they are acting completely, you know, in their own strength and in their own ability. So verse 27 and 28 indicates this, and then at the end in verse 28, saying, shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin, notice, or shall I cease? Maybe this isn't the right plan, God.
The first time they actually entertain that maybe we shouldn't engage in this particular pursuit. You see the difference between battle one, battle two, and battle three. And so what happens? The end of verse 28.
And the Lord said, go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand. You know, this would probably have been a good time in Israel's history to sing number 21. God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. It cost them 40,000 people.
We know ultimately, according to 2115, God is sovereign, orchestrating all of these events for his glory and for the good of his people. Notice in 2115, and the people grieved for Benjamin because the Lord had made a void in the tribes of Israel. And so what we have at this point is that God not only says go, but God promises or gives assurance that they will indeed gain the victory. in verse 28. So as we move through the third battle, we won't go point by point, but what it seems to be is that they set up an ambush.
This was the key to success militarily, not the key. The key was God on their side, God blessing this particular effort, God sending them on their way to deal with the tribe of Benjamin. But in terms of military strategy, they They plant an ambush, and the fact that Benjamin had gained victory in two battles prior brought them into a spirit of presumption. There are two instances in the text, the first portion, the general description. and then the second portion where there's a more detailed description notice in verse 32 and the children of Benjamin said they are defeated before us as at first and then again in verse 39 we see presumption on the part of the children of Benjamin.
Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about 30 of the men of Israel, for they said, surely they are defeated before us as in the first battle." So they were caught off guard. They hadn't anticipated this ambush. They didn't anticipate this strategy to lead them away from the city, to see their city burned. When they turn around, they see it smoking, and then Israel falls on them and utterly destroys every single one of them.
So basically that's what's going on in these latter portion, or in the latter portion, again by way of a general description and then a detailed report in 36b to 48. And then it gives us the final or statistical summary in verse 46. So all who fell of Benjamin that day were 25,000 men who drew the sword. All these were men of valor.
And then there were 600 that turn and fled. The 600 will fare in chapter 21. We see that Benjamin is not utterly destroyed, utterly decimated, and utterly removed from Israel. There is a remnant in Benjamin that gets dealt with later in chapter 21.
And then notice at the end in verse 48. They carry out, remember that harem principle, remember what God said when they dealt with the cities of Canaan. They would go into the city, they would utterly destroy everybody that was there, and they would burn it with fire. Same thing with reference to Deuteronomy 13, verses 8 and following.
When there was a city given over to revolution against God Most High, and cities of Israel, the tribes of Israel went in. they went in and they utterly destroyed. They didn't take the stuff, they didn't loot the stuff, they didn't take it home, rather they put it under the ban and they destroyed everything. And that's what verse 48 indicates. The men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin and struck them down with the edge of the sword from every city, men and beasts, all who were found.
They also set fire to all the cities they came to." Again, it's quite ironic, because how many times did they go into these cities among the Canaanites, and they didn't carry out this harem principle. So with reference to unity and obedience in this particular instance, they apply it not to Canaanites or Ammonites, but they apply it to their own brethren, to the children of Benjamin.
Application
So just a couple of lessons, and then we close. First, one that's come out several times. I'll just repeat it. Unity. 1, 8, and 11 indicate that these tribes are gathered together as one man.
That was the way that Israel was to function. They were to have one Lord, one faith, one altar, one central sanctuary, so that it would indeed foster unity among the people of God, so that they could be the people of God. That there wouldn't be these factions, there wouldn't be these differences, rather there would be, not communistically, but uniformity in terms of their religion in Israel. Davis says, Israel's unity, in this case, is both impressive and tragic. and tragic because it is impressive.
An exceptional unity indeed for an exceptional crime to be sure. Yet it is a unity of Israel against Israel. The story itself breathes an air of tragedy for three times it remembers that all Israel and Benjamin are brothers. No, Benjamin's wrong cannot be ignored. but there is a sadness about it nevertheless.
And it becomes a sadder sadness when one begins to ask, now couldn't Israel ever get that united against the Canaanites or the Midianites or the Ammonites or the Philistines? Why is it that when Israel can really get itself together, it is against itself, Israel? And I think that doesn't take a lot of difficulty to jump into the New Covenant and say, you know, there's a time when the Church is more focused on arguments and fighting and tension and animosity within than combining together in unity and fighting the wickedness that is without. You know, one of those small things that demonstrate a great deal of wisdom, according to Proverbs 30, is the locust.
They advance together. There is cooperation. They move on a field in unison and in harmony. Unity is a good thing.
This isn't just an old covenant Israel concept. This is something that Paul the Apostle specifies for the Church of the Lord Jesus, and it's something that we ought to fight for, not in, you know, I'm gonna kill you so that we can have unity, but I mean in our own hearts, in our own strength, in our own desires to preserve that which God has placed. Paul says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. How do we endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace?
I think traditionally we would think as long as everybody else does what they're supposed to do, well then we'll be fine. No, we need to internalize these things. When Paul says, with all lowliness, and gentleness, we need to first seek to imbibe that in our own hearts. With long-suffering, we cannot have short fuses and expect the Church to do well.
Bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Why do we want the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace? There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. Let us not make the grave error, the grave mistake of Israel that was better equipped, better able, and more unified to fight enemies within than they were to fight enemies without.
Now, if somebody needs to be dealt with, in terms of discipline, all that. But the in-fighting and the day-to-day bickering and the tensions that so often go on in the life of the church, we ought to learn that God the Lord delights in unity.
The Solidarity of the Wicked
A second thing we ought to appreciate is the unity of Benjamin. Not appreciate in a good sense, but notice how wicked people consolidate together. Benjamin, not all of them had been guilty of the crime of rape and murder, but they bandied about for those men of Gibeah. They surrounded them.
The wicked engage in solidarity. The wicked engage in unity. The wicked seek to have a camaraderie when they have a common foe. We see that in the life and times of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke is very clear that Herod and Pilate did not get along together. They were not buddies. They didn't go golfing together. Except when it came time to oppose the Lord Jesus, then they gathered together. to do the will of the devil.
What does Psalm 2 tell us? Look at Psalm 2. We have the mutiny of man. We have all these various peoples, all these various nations, and yet note their solidarity when it comes to their animosity against the Lord.
Psalm 2.1, why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together. These are men that in other situations hate each other and want to go to war against each other, and yet they take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed saying, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. We need to understand the wicked have a unity.
The wicked have a solidarity. and the wicked fight together as one man. And so when the church is fractured, when it's unraveling, we do not present a challenge to this unified foe.
The Means of Grace
Thirdly, we've mentioned this. Israel had the means of grace, and they used it. They used those means. They went to the house of the Lord.
They inquired of God. Their heart motives weren't necessarily right, and their procedure wasn't necessarily on in those first two instances, but they did have access to God. And they used the means that were available to them. This is specified very clearly in verses 27 and 28, or 26 and 27.
The Mystery of Providence
And then, fourthly and finally, the mystery of providence. What we have to conclude, with reference to these first two battles, is that the Lord was judging Israel too. judging them, yes, for their presumption and their pride and their procedural errors as they went about this particular task. But as well, Israel was not innocent. In fact, I have thought about this.
This is one of those instances where you have an idea and then you kind of get encouraged because one of the other guys actually says it. I thought about that Deuteronomy 13 connection. I'm not saying this, you know, I'm some great guy. It just came into my head.
Deuteronomy 13, religious apostasy and idolatry. You go and you neutralize the threat. Now as bad as the crime of murder is, that's not what Deuteronomy 13 says. When you find a city that murders a concubine, descend upon it and execute them and burn their city to the ground.
It doesn't say that. It says that for Deuteronomy 13, so I'm thinking, you know, the children of Israel are doing a good thing here. They want to neutralize this particular problem, but they've not done it when it comes to religious matters. They've let apostasy slide.
They've let idolatry slide. They've let violations of the first and second commandments Go. But when it comes to this particular commandment, they are all over it. Gil says some of the rabbis thought that that was what was going on.
So at least I have some, I don't know if Gil took that position. Maybe I shouldn't be too happy. At least I connect with a few rabbis somewhere in the history of the church. The children of Israel were not without sin.
They needed to be humbled before the Lord as well. They needed to be taught specific lessons. And I think that's what's going on in battle one and battle two. And we must conclude that the Lord works according to his sovereign will.
He is going to teach his people, even if it means 40,000 must die. That's a tough pill to swallow. I mean, still, having said everything we've said, seeing the procedural errors, we cannot minimize the fact that 40,000 men died in this particular exchange. Davis makes this very excellent observation.
Speaking to the idea of the children of Israel received the favor of divine guidance, but did not receive divine help. They inquired of God, God answered. Well, in a certain sense, don't we have that? We inquire of God, not through the Urim and the Thummim, not at the tabernacle, but we go to the scriptures.
And sometimes our path is very clear, right? Everybody with me? But when you take that path, is it trouble-free? When you take that path, is it nothing but happiness and joy?
Is every path in the Bible that is specified for us to pursue, is it filled with rose petals and bluebirds? Absolutely not. The path of obedience doesn't always mean the absence of trouble. They got guidance, but they didn't get help, because there was a bigger purpose that God had for them.
He wanted to teach them specific lessons. So Davis says, does this not constitute one of the enigmas of Christian experience? Being certain of the divine will, because a matter is clearly taught in scripture. And yet finding that path marked more by trouble than by success.
Does that mean we are out of the divine will or simply that Yahweh is dealing with us in one of his hidden ways? See, we can't forget that. The God of the Bible is not a formula. We do this and we get blessing.
Who made that mistake just very recently in the book of Judges? That man Micah lived in the mountains of Ephraim. He concluded, as soon as he installed that Levite, according to 1713, now everything will go good for me. We get to chapter 18 and what happens?
The Danites come along, they take everything from him. Things didn't go according to plan. And that was, you know, completely not legit. But just because we follow God, just because we pursue the path of obedience, just because we do what he calls us to do, that is no magical guarantee that it's always going to be happy times.
And so perhaps that's something we need to learn with reference to battle number one and battle number two. Well, let us close in prayer.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for this book of Judges and the way that it speaks so clearly to the church today. I pray that you would help us in our church to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And God, we do praise you and we thank you and we give you public recognition for the unity that we do have. We know we went through many years or several years where we didn't have unity and we had troubles and difficulties and you saw us through that and we thank you for what is in place now.
Help us not to take these things for granted, help us not to get lazy, help us, God, to practice those things Paul says, to be low, to be gentle, to be forbearing, to be long-suffering. May you give us grace to pursue these things. I ask as well, Father, that we would be submissive to you, that we would realize that you do move in mysterious ways, your wonders to perform. Help us never to forget the fact, though, that behind Clouds of providence, you do hide a smiling face.
We thank you that you've covenanted, you've promised to do all things for your glory and for the good of those who love you and those who are the called according to your purpose. Cause us to believe this, cause us to walk in hope and confidence and trust. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.