Judges
chapter 20 reminds us of how often we fight against God in spite of
the impossibility. Many of us held on in stubborn resistance that we
would not accept anyone as Lord of our life. The chapter continues
from the previous chapter. The Nation of Israel was outraged at the
“lewd
and disgraceful”
act of the Benjamites in Gibeah. The entire nation “came
out as one man and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah“.
The Levite retold the story, “I
and my concubine came to Gibeah to spend the night… the men of
Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house… they raped my
concubine, and she died“.
The army of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men and demanded
the tribe of Benjamin “surrender
those wicked men of Gibeah so that we may put them to death and purge
the evil from Israel“.
“But
the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites… they
came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites.”
What could make this one tribe resist and defend the vile actions of
these men? Pride will often blind us to our own hurtful behavior.
And pride will often prevent us from accepting our need for the
Savior.
The
battle lines were set; Benjamin and its twenty-six thousand fighting
men in Gibeah against the entire army of Israel standing for
righteousness, ready to defeat them. “The
Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God”
and the Lord replied “Judah
shall go“.
Israel appears to have done everything right when they went into
battle, but we read, “The
Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand
Israelites on the battlefield that day“.
The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord that evening and
inquired, “Shall
we go again to battle against the Benjamites, our brothers?”
And the Lord answered “Go
up against them“.
On the second day the Benjamites came out to oppose the army of
Israel and “they
cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites“.
This time all of Israel came to Bethel and “they
sat weeping and fasting before the Lord until evening“.
They presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord
and inquired again, “Shall
we go up again to battle the Benjamites?”
The Lord responded, “Go,
for tomorrow I will give them into your hands“.
What was the difference? Perhaps this time they no longer trust in
their own military superiority, but trust in God alone to win the
battle. Far too often we neglect to prepare for the spiritual battle
at hand. Remember in Luke chapter 22 Jesus was with the disciples
and they began to argue who was the greatest. Jesus interrupts with
the sobering words, “Satan
desires
to have you, that he might sift you like wheat“.
May we never forget that on our own we are helpless to stand against
the spiritual forces. But “I
can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”
(Philippians 4:13)
In
the third battle, the Israelites set up an ambush by drawing the
Benjamites away from Gibeah. As the army of the Benjamites was
advancing as before, the men who were in hiding “made
a sudden dash into Gibeah, spread out and put the whole city to the
sword… when the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the
Benjamites… were terrified… so they fled before the Israelites…
and that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites“.
The chapter closes, “They
put all the town to the sword, including animals and everything else
they found. All the town they came across they set on fire“.
We also read that six hundred men fled to the Rock of Rimmon, where
they stayed for four months. It seems God always leaves a remnant
behind which He can restore. In the book of Zechariah there is a
beautiful prophesy that the children of Israel will be restored to
the Messiah, but it also speaks to those of us that are yet to
receive Christ. “They
will call My name and I will hear them; I will say, ‘they are My
people’, and they will say ‘the Lord is our God’“.
Do not let pride stand in your way.