Judges 19:30 And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.

Last week we studied the horror that occurred at Gibeah, how homosexual crowds attacked a Levite Priest’s party in an attempt to “know” that Priest. The end result of this sad encounter is that the Levite’s Concubine was molested, raped, and murdered while the men of the family hid behind a locked door. The Levite afterward dismembered the Concubine, and sent the twelve parts to each tribe of Israel. What happened shocked the nation. We are told “no such deed {was} done nor seen” in Israel from the time it was freed from Egypt to that moment. The period of the Judges spans 400 years from the rise of Moses as Israel’s leader to the end of the period. So for 400 years Israel had never seen a thing so shocking and horrid.

But WHAT was shocking to Israel? Was it the open and aggressive homosexuality in Gibeah, the murder of the Concubine, or the fact that a Priest even had a Concubine in the first place?

The reason that Israel got to this horrible place is mentioned four times in the Book of Judges:

Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Judges 18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel …

Judges 19:1 … it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel …

Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

There was “NO KING IN ISRAEL”. There was no ruling Authority. God had been abandoned. It was a repeat of the Garden of Eden. God and His Word were available, but “EVERY PERSON DID WHAT WAS RIGHT IN THEIR EYES”. Man and not God established what was right and wrong. I watched a video this morning where a Pastor from Apologia Studios

honestly tells an irate college student “You’re not a Christian. You do not believe in God’s Word. You believe our ancestor’s were fish, and yet you think Christ is your Savior? You don’t believe the Bible. You don’t believe Jesus’ Word. You don’t believe the Word should be the STANDARD.” The young lady was convinced she was a Christian based on what her parents had told her, based on what her church and friends had told her. But she totally rejected the standard of God’s Word.

When every person does what is right in THEIR own eyes, you are not following the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus said of the Bible:

John 17:17 (AP*) Father, set Your people apart from the world THROUGH YOUR TRUTH. YOUR WORD IS TRUTH.

Israel Gathers To Judge Gibeah

Judges 20:1-3 Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in Mizpeh. 2 And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. 3 (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness?

Regardless as to what action actually shocked Israel, the Tribes come together “unto the Lord in Mizpeh”. Mizpeh or Mizpah means “a place of witness”. The Tribes gathered together to judge Gibeah for what happened, and the courtroom was a place in land owned by the Tribe of Benjamin called “Mizpah”. Later on in its history the Prophet Samuel will erect an Ebenezer Stone, a monument in Mizpah to remind Israel how God allowed them to overcome the Philistines (1 Samuel 7:5-6, 11-12). The first human King of Israel will be Saul, a Benjamite. He will be chosen by Samuel and the people in Mizpah.

Mizpah is, in this case, like the Nuremberg Trials
held by the Allies against Nazi criminals.

20:2 … the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.

The size of the trial can only be guessed. There are “four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword”, a massive army and a show of force. Humanly speaking there is enough power here to punish the criminals of Gibeah. Following Jewish Law, the Leaders ask “Tell us how this wickedness happened”. The Levite now tells a partial story as to what happened:

Judges 20:4-6 And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. 5 And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. 6 And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.

The Levite doesn’t lie – but he doesn’t tell the whole truth. He tells them that the men of Gibeah tried to kill him, but didn’t clearly declare that their intention was homosexual. Further, the Levite did not mention how he cruelly, cowardly, and callously pushed his Concubine out into the enraged crowd to be raped and murdered. He hid behind a locked door while she was horribly abused unto death. The charge the Levite brought specifically was:

vs 6 they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel

Word Study: “lewdness” is the Hebrew zimmâ, which means “a heinous or wicked crime, a wicked sensual act”. This word is used for incest (Leviticus 18:17; 20:14) , for child prostitution (Leviticus 19:29), for adulteries and whoredom (Jeremiah 13:27), for idolatry (Ezekiel 23:49), and for false priests (Hosea 6:9). The word translated “folly” is the Hebrew nᵊḇālâ, which means “disgraceful or profane actions, criminal immorality”. This is the word that the Master of the house in Gibeah told the homosexual mob when they wanted to “know” the Levite:

Judges 19:23-24 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly {nᵊḇālâ}24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so VILE {nᵊḇālâ} a thing.

The Master of the home would rather the crowd rape his daughter and the Concubine than the Levite male. Why? Because God told Israel that homosexuality could cause them to lose the Promised Land. God told Israel:

Leviticus 18:22-25 (ESV) You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion. 24 Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

God said “I cast out the Canaanites because of their sexual sin. If you do this, the land will vomit you out when you make it unclean, and those who do so shall be CUT OFF FROM MY PEOPLE. I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD” (see Leviticus 18:27-30). The Levite has charged Gibeah with doing the thing which God said would cause them to lose the Promised Land. These sexual sins were so forbidden that (Leviticus 20:13-16) the act brought with it the death penalty. To those who believe that this lifestyle is today blessed by God because of Grace and the Cross, I refer you to Jude 1:7; Romans 1:26-28; Mark 10:6-9; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Timothy 1:8-11; and Hebrews 13:1-5. The Levite now puts the matter before Israel:

Judges 20:7 Behold, ye are all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel.

We Must DO SOMETHING About This NOW!

Judges 20:8-11 And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house. 9 But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it; 10 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 {nᵊḇālâ} that they have wrought in Israel. 11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

Following the trial Israel does a “good” thing and a “bad” thing. First the “good” thing. Israel does not procrastinate. They realize that what was done in Gibeah could cause them to be cast out of Canaan by God. God said that such behavior should be punished. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because their sin was VERY GRAVE (Genesis 18:20). The Lord rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24). Israel did not want to be in this position with God, so they said “WE’VE got to DO something NOW!”

Israel did not pray and seek God. Israel approached the matter “religiously” but not “relationally”.

Israel bound together “as one man” with one another, but not with God as their King. They decided to “go up by lot against” Gibeah. They cast lots (like rolling the dice or having a lottery) to see who would confront Gibeah. This is not what God told them to do in the Scripture. In

Deuteronomy 13:12-16 (ESV) If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, 13 that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, 14 then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16 You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.

It was not 10% by lot who were to destroy the city, but ALL of Israel. So Israel came together – but not in accordance with the authority of God’s Word. The Leaders of Israel then reached out to the Tribe of Benjamin, asking them to examine themselves, and turn over the children of Belial who committed the evil in Gibeah.

Judges 20:12-14 And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? 13 Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel. 14 But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

The Tribe of Benjamin came from one of Jacob’s (also known as Israel) favorite children because his mother was Rachel, not Leah. Jacob prophesied of Benjamin:

Genesis 49:27 (ESV) Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.

Benjamin was filled with pride. Though the smallest of the Tribes, Benjamites were skilled warriors who worked together like a wolf pack to destroy the enemy. Benjamin should have remembered the Biblical warning, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2). “The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 16:5). “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Because Benjamin will not do an internal audit and turn over the homosexual mob, there will be over 65,000 deaths in chapter 20.

Judges 20:15-17 And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men. 16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left handed; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. 17 And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.

As the sides gathered, there were 26,000 Benjamites who gathered with the 700 inhabitants of Gibeah – a total of 26,700 warriors who rejected God’s Word completely. These could be compared to “woke” Social Justice Warriors who ignore the parts of Scripture that does not suit their feelings. I like what the Free Bible Commentary states:

“God’s people are to live their lives within covenant guidelines which encourage and support long term societal stability, not instant personal gratification!”

Benjamin’s forces are dwarfed by the opposition from Israel, “four hundred thousand men that drew sword”. Benjamin is outnumbered approximately 15 to 1! Humanly speaking, they should easily be crushed. As Israel prepares to go to battle, they finally pray:

Judges 20:18 And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first.

It’s good Israel prayed, and God answered their prayer. “Who shall go first?” God replies, “Judah”. But there’s so much more they should have asked God. When should they go? How many should go? Where should the battle be? When you do a right thing the wrong way, you will make a mess that the preacher will turn into a message! It is good to go to God, but not AFTER but BEFORE.

God will use Benjamin to punish wayward Israel.

Judges 20:19-22 And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. 20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah. 21 And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men. 22 And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.

Israel comes to the battlefield like Goliath before David. There are 400,000 of them, all seasoned warriors. What will 26,700 Benjamites do against such a force! At the end of the day Israel lost “twenty and two thousand men” – nearly as many men as there were Benjamites. But Israel shook it off. They “encouraged themselves”. After all, there were still 378,000 of them left. But now they go to God again. We read:

Judges 20:23 (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until even, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the Lord said, Go up against him.)

They pray. But notice the timbre of their prayer. “Shall I go up again to battle”? Not “Lord, shall WE go to battle – You and I”, but “Shall I”? This is the Church of America today. Let’s see what I can do. Let’s get several I’s together, DO SOMETHING, then ask God about it later. Israel wept crocodile tears, but was not where they needed to be in Christ.

Are you?

Judges 20:24-25 And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. 25 And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.

The Keil and Delitzsch Commentary (pg 452) notes, “The congregation now discovered … that the Lord had withdrawn His grace, and was punishing them. Their sin, however, did not consist in the fact that they had begun the war itself … but rather in the state of mind with which they had entered upon the war, their strong self-consciousness, and great confidence in their own might and power. They had indeed inquired of God (Elohim) who should open the conflict; but they had neglected to humble themselves before Jehovah the covenant God, in the consciousness not only of their own weakness and sinfulness, but also of grief at the moral corruption of their brother tribe.” (emphasis mine)

If you are keeping track, God is speaking through these defeats. Israel lost 22,000 the first battle, and 18,000 the second battle. That’s a total of 40,000 armed warriors, or 10% of the 400,000 that Israel started out with.

God was telling Israel, “You started out with your human solution, 10% by lot. You cut Me out of the process. So I’ve taken My 10% – WAKE UP!

Judges 20:26-28 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 27 And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

Now Israel gets right with God. They “came unto the house of God, and wept”. They repented of what they had done before. They came into the Presence of God. We are told “the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days”. The Ark of the Covenant was a chest carried by the priests that represented God and His glory. When Moses led Israel we are told:

Numbers 10:35 (ESV) … whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” 36 And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”

God was in every battle Israel fought then, for there WAS a King in Israel, and it was YHWH. Moses gave God the glory, as did Israel. It was only when Moses failed to glorify God that he was denied the Promised Land (Numbers 20:9-12). God will not share His glory with any (Isaiah 42:8). The battle is HIS, not Israel’s. Because Israel honors God this time, the Lord for the first time promises:

Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

The horror of the crime of Gibeah is not just Gibeah’s fault. It is the fault of the nation. Israel has no King in it, having rejected the Authority of God and His Word. The Lord will not bless this. Israel had to be humbled to learn the lesson.

Judges 20:29-35 And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah. 30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. 31 And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways. 33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah. 34 And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them. 35 And the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.

The results were much different this time. The Benjamite Army lost 25,100 men. The men of Israel, using subterfuge, drew the Benjamites away from Gibeah so it could be attacked (Judges 20:37-46) and destroyed. We are told:

Judges 20:48 And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

Benjamin did not just lose Gibeah, but over a period of several months lost most of their cities. “As a result of the battle, there remained only a 600 man remnant from the Tribe of Benjamin” (Enduring Word Commentary). Though Benjamin will recover during the Great Tribulation (Revelation 7:8), Benjamin will for a time become a part of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. One commentary notes, “After Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians in the early sixth century BC and its population deported, Benjamin as an organized tribe faded from history”. So shall all fail who do not glorify the Living God! May God touch your hearts with His Word. Amen and Amen.