Joel M Bradshaw

 4And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. 5And the leaders of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house against me by night. They meant to kill me, and they violated my concubine, and she is dead. 6So I took hold of my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel, for they have committed abomination and outrage in Israel. 7Behold, you people of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.”

8And all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, and none of us will return to his house.9But now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot, 10and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions for the people, that when they come they may repay Gibeah of Benjamin for all the outrage that they have committed in Israel.” 11So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man.

12And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What evil is this that has taken place among you? 13Now therefore give up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and purge evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel. 14Then the people of Benjamin came together out of the cities to Gibeah to go out to battle against the people of Israel. 15And the people of Benjamin mustered out of their cities on that day 26,000 men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who mustered 700 chosen men. 16Among all these were 700 chosen men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. 17And the men of Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered 400,000 men who drew the sword; all these were men of war.

18The people of Israel arose and went up to Bethel and inquired of God, “Who shall go up first for us to fight against the people of Benjamin?” And the LORD said, “Judah shall go up first.”–Judges 20

We all who still feel disgusted from chapter 19 will get no satisfaction in chapter 20. In fact, we as readers know far more than the characters. Let’s briefly unpack 3 points.

1. THE LEVITE GAVE FALSE TESTIMONY. To hear him speak he was the hero of the story! He didn’t thrust his wife outside the door to face the lusty mob in his place. They simply tried to kill him and instead killed her he was tragically forced to cut her up and mail her parts throughout the land to seek justice! The Levite’s testimony was false and he was clearly motivated by self-interest. Why didn’t they bring in other witnesses like the old man or people from that city? Why didn’t they fully investigate the crimes? Narrative and emotion won out over truth.
2. THE UNITED ACTION. This would have been the time to gather the priests and consult with God. Instead Israel unites. Benjamin circled the wagons and the other tribes gathered their forces. God was an afterthought in the process. The great tragedy here is that Israel showed more thoroughness and determination going to war against their own brothers than they ever mustered against the Canaanites. So many valuable soldiers will be lost in this chapter. Israel is acting like it hasn’t been oppressed by the enemy and crying out to God the entire book!
3. GOD THE AFTERTHOUGHT. We want to give them credit for inquiring of God, but they already had their minds made up. God existed for them and not them for God. Notice God answered their request, but didn’t give an assurance of victory. We might do this when we come for God not for direction but to ratify our already made plans. God used this situation to humble Israel and only when they approached him the third time after being greatly humbled did God promise victory.

Blessings to you as you head into your weekend. We pray for the people of Florida in the aftermath of the hurricane.–JMB