Judges 20 - Benjamites attacked!

Click to read Judges 20

Synopsis

The whole of Israel, except the Benjamites, congregated at Mizpah after receiving the Levite's message. They heard the Levite's story and decided to war against their fellow tribe. The bloody civil war almost annihilated one tribe of the nation. Thankfully it did not and instead, set the stage for a spiritual revival under the rule of Samuel eventually.

The chapter recorded the only mention of the Ark of the Covenant in the whole book. This probably indicated how seldom the nation consulted God throughout that period.

It is interesting to note that the assembly sought the Lord's advice a number of times and followed God's instruction. And while the Lord gave the go ahead (two times), their troops suffered great defeat at the Benjamites' hands. Still they persevered and eventually fasted and wept to God before the Lord finally fought the battle for them.

The Benjamites, instead of adhering to God's moral principle and handing out justice upon the perpetrators, they banded together to protect them. Quite clearly, this was the consequence of not putting God in the reverent position.

All but 600 Benjamite men survived the ordeal. The tribe was nearly wiped out in the bloody civil war which took the lives of over 65,000 able-bodied and valiant warriors.

Major Verses

V4-5 - The Levite did not tell the whole story but one that put empathy on himself. He was also guilty of the murder by pushing his concubine to the Benjamites to save himself from being abused. He had conveniently left that out of his report.

What I learnt

While the Benjamites were clearly guilty, so was the Levite and yet he put all the blame on others. When we report something, we must do it honorably and not hide those parts that protect ourself.

V12-15 - The Benjamites could have taken the right approach to serve justice by punishing the offenders from Gibeah. That would be the right way and God's way. Perhaps they were not told of the whole truth by the criminals or were too proud to admit that some of their people had stoop so low. In any case, they would not listen to the rest of Israel; they were more loyal to their own tribe than to God's law. Their choice to side with a small number of their kinsmen brought the whole tribe to war.

What I learnt

We must be extremely careful not to trade God's principles with the ways of the world. When we need to make a choice, ask God for His direction and open our heart to follow His answer.

V18-28 - For the first two times that the people inquired God and got His permission to attack the Benjamites, they were routed and 40,000 men were slain. That eventually brought them to renew their relationship with the Lord. They wept, repented and offered sacrifices to God. They probably had not done this for a long time. This set the stage for a national revival eventually.

What I learnt

Many times, when we are far from God, a major tragedy is needed to jock us out of our state and to return to God. Such painful experience can be avoided if we do not stray from God in the first place. While repentance is good, a consistent close walk with God is much better. Let us guard our heart to ensure that we do not need a tragedy to bring us back to the loving arms of God.

V46-48 - While a hideous crime was committed by the Benjamites at Gibeah, the impact should never have gone beyond that group of criminals. The Benjamites should have served justice within their tribe. Instead, the whole tribe chose to defend the wickedness of a small group of criminals and as a result, got almost annihilated.

What I learnt

To prevent problems from turning into major conflicts in our life, we must take affirmative action, quickly and wisely, to resolve them before they escalate to an uncontrollable and painful end. Ask God to provide the wisdom, strength, humility and grace to tackle such problems.

Summary

When the people did not revere God, their moral compass got disrupted. They do not know right from wrong and thus made bad choices. The consequence was tremendous in this case; over 65,000 men lost their lives in the civil war and the tribe of Benjamin was nearly wiped out of the face of this earth.

Up Next ...

Restoration of the tribe is recorded in the next Chapter thus preserving the linage where Saul, Ester and eventually Paul would be born through. Coming up on 10th Sep....