Judges 20 - 21 Bible Study (Israel's War with the Tribe of Benjamin) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Good evening. Meet me in Judges chapter 20. And verse one. As you can tell from just looking at your bible, this is a pretty lengthy chapter, and we're gonna do our best to cover as much as possible. But the beauty of this study is that as much as we might think we're going in-depth, there's still even more for you to explore and discover.

And if you've been with us throughout this book, you know that, this is a unique book in that it describes the depravity of man in a very special way, in a manner that makes us feel the darkness, and to sense what our potential is if we are left to ourselves apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. And here in chapter 20, if you've been with us, you know that in chapter 19, it's a continuation. Really, the last three chapters of this book is just a series of the same story. And the last thing that we heard together last week was that, there was a Levite who was on the loose essentially. He was not fulfilling his duty, and through these different circumstances, it came to a point where he had to dismember his concubine.

And then divide her into 12 pieces and send each piece to a different tribe of Israel because she was raped by a gang of men from one of the tribes of God's people. And what we're about to read now is the response of this shocking news through this alarming announcement made by this priest, and we're gonna find out where we're headed from that. In verse one we read, then all the people of Israel came out from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah. And the chiefs of all the people of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 men on foot that drew the sword. Now the people of Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.

And the people of Israel said, tell us how did this evil happen? This is something quite astounding. Because for the first time in a very, very long time, we see the people of Israel unified for a righteous cause. Even in the past when we've seen Israel go up against their oppressors, you didn't see the entire nation come together. It was very rare.

You saw some tribes were joining while other tribes would would just stay to themselves. But here in this moment, you have a unified cause. You have an entire people coming together to deal with this issue. And it's refreshing. You know why it's refreshing?

Because it's refreshing for this book. That for a long time, we've only been seeing discouragement and warnings and and ugly scenes, but here in this moment, we see something that should bless us. A people that still have a sensitive conscience. As bad as it was all this time, there's still hope for this people. There's still a moral compass.

This is wrong. This is right. This is wicked. This is righteous. And as they gather together, we can put our finger on the pulse of this scene and get an idea for us in the new covenant, a sign of a healthy community of people who worship Jesus Christ.

If I were to ask you signs of a healthy church, what would you say? And you can answer it. What makes a church healthy? At least some elements, some pillars, some practices, some disciplines. Desire for Christ likeness.

Desire for Christ likeness, not for entertainment, not to satisfy your religious conscience. Go ahead. Holiness. Holiness. Yes.

To strive to be holy. Preaching the whole counsel of God. Preaching the whole counsel of God. Healthy pastor. Healthy pastor.

Absolutely. Leadership. Anything else? A unified people. Say that again.

A unified people. A unified people under the right cause. Yes, absolutely. Anything else? Signs of a healthy church?

Fear of God. The fear of the Lord. Good. Anything else? Prayer.

Prayer. Yes, we just touched on that. People who know how to call upon the name of the Lord. Yes. Anything else?

Sure. The ability to love one another. Jesus said that was the mark that people would recognize that he is they are rather his disciples. Anything else? Have you considered this?

That a shared hatred for sin is one of the healthiest signs of a community of the body of Christ. Most of us are familiar with the church discipline seen in first Corinthians five. Right? There was a man who was committing sexual deeds with his father's wife. And most of us focus on how Paul reacted to such a thing.

He was angry in a righteous way. He he called for the extreme measure of church discipline immediately. But most of us don't consider Paul's reaction to the church's lack of concern toward this man's sin. He was equally as disturbed and stirred about that just as much as the person's sin itself. Let me read this to you in first Corinthians five two.

And you are arrogant. He's telling this to the church. You are arrogant. Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

This proves at least in part that an immature stunted church is recognized because of their unwillingness to be broken in confrontational about somebody's unrepentant sin. What did Jesus tell one of the churches in the seven letters in Revelation? You tolerate that woman Jezebel. You tolerate her. She's preaching and she's giving false teaching.

She's leading people into sexual morality and there's no concern. You let her stay and come week after week and there's no ambition within yourself to say, we must do something about this. No weeping. No brokenness. No seeking for a solution.

Just casually moving along. And that is what we see here. We see a healthy sign that there are people here that are still concerned about the holiness of their people. And we should praise in verse three. What do we see?

We should praise that they come up together with drawn swords. They're ready to eradicate the evil from their midst. They're ready to do whatever God calls them to do to make sure that this evil will be met with justice. But you know what's also important is that though they came with their weapons ready to go to battle against iniquity, they didn't immediately strike a blow. Right?

Because sometimes we think it's a noble cause that as a reflex of somebody else's sin, we immediately rebuke, we immediately bring them down, we immediately do whatever we think we need to do to make sure that they know that they're in the wrong. And if we're not careful, we can fall to the opposite extreme of the Corinthian church and operate as Pharisees. These men came with their swords drawn but they did not immediately come up to Gibeah and start to slaughter them. What did they do? They inquired.

Tell us how this evil happened. How did this come about? Where did this come from? Explain yourself. Explain yourself.

There are so many examples, brothers and sisters, about how you and I as Christians ought to confront sin in our own lives and the lives of others. From cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation, it's there. Whether in the form of didactic teaching or in straight up illustration. And you wonder why? Well, let me ask this.

Jesus only directly mentioned the word church twice in the entire four gospels. Where were those two times? Matthew sixteen and eighteen. Matthew sixteen and eighteen. You got it.

The only two times Jesus directly mentions the church is in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18. What happened in Matthew 16? How did the church come up in conversation? Somebody said something. Peter.

You're right. Peter, upon the revelation of who Jesus was, Christ said, upon this rock will my church be built. Then you come to Matthew 18. What was the context there of the church being mentioned? Church discipline.

The only thing that Jesus wanted to expound on concerning church life out of everything he could have mentioned, it wasn't the potlucks, it wasn't the preaching, it wasn't the evangelism efforts, discipline. How you should confront the sin of another brother in your local church. You know what that tells me? It's very important to Jesus and guess what? It's his church.

And if it's his church, whether you're a leader or not, you should have the same heart for what Christ has concerning his church. And church discipline is the immune system of the local body. And when there's a lack of concern of church discipline, there is an unhealthy church ready to decompose and rot from the inside out. But with church discipline, whether from the leadership down or from one another, because guess what? Church discipline is not just a matter of leaders dealing with somebody.

Every single person in this place has an obligation. Every single one of us in here, when you commit yourself to a local church, you commit to be confronted for your sin and to confront others about their sin. But in a certain attitude, in a certain wisdom, in a certain way, and from the old and new, we see the wisdom that God gives us. And in this case, we're seeing it manifest. Tell us how this happened.

Because if we're not careful, we can sin in response to somebody else's sin. And so here they heard it. They obviously are seeing very strong evidence that something occurred but they still take it upon themselves to say, we got to find out exactly how this came to be. In Deuteronomy 13, you don't have to turn there. God gave instructions about what the people should do when they hear of a city or a people or a group that have led others into idolatry.

And there was a hefty price. There was stoning, there was death, and there was even cities being burned down, but I want you to just hear this when he gave those instructions. And one part he says in Deuteronomy thirteen fourteen, then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. Diligently. We're called to investigate, to consider both sides of the story, to not jump to conclusions or execute judgments, whether that is church discipline in the highest form or you in your heart making a judgment about somebody in the church?

Why is this important? Well, we think because it protects us from making the wrong kind of decision or thinking wrongly about somebody. Sure. But it's deeper than that. You know why this is important to God?

Because it reflects the character of God. The reason why God gives these instructions both in the old and the new testament is because it's a reflection of who he is and how he operates. Can you give me an example of God making investigation about a scene? Sodom and Gomorrah. Do you remember Sodom and Gomorrah?

We just remember the fire and brimstone. We think about Abraham's intercession. What happened before Abraham's intercession? Well, Abraham told the two angels, shouldn't I not tell him what we're about to do and what's going on? And he does.

And when he speaks to Abraham, I want you to just you don't have to turn there, just listen to these words. In Genesis eighteen twenty to 21, listen to what the Lord says. Then he Then the Lord said, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me and if not, I will know. What are one of the qualities that makes God, God? His omniscience.

He knows everything. He doesn't need to investigate. He doesn't need to ask counsel. He doesn't need to peek into things. He knows it all.

So can this be used against that? The fact that he has to come down and investigate and appear in a pre incarnate state to to see it for himself? Is that what we're dealing with here? Or is he setting an example? He's setting an example.

I'm coming down not because I lack the knowledge, but because I'm gonna show you, Abraham, I'm gonna show the people who would read my word that I am a just judge. I take in the evidence. I apply my wisdom. I am fair. I am without partiality and that shows me that when God has judged in the old testament and when God in Christ will judge again, he will be perfect in his judgment.

He's not emotional like we are. We get angry so we say do this. Let me do this. Let me say this. No.

No. No. No. He's not rash in any way. He's calculated.

He is sure and nobody can stand against his decision. And he says, look, I came down to Sodom and Gomorrah, so you make it your ambition to not make judgment so quickly, church, and you investigate. You investigate. These people, they wanna investigate. What do we read next?

They say, Tell us how did this evil happen? Verse four, and 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. And the leaders of Gibeah rose against me. Now, hold on. We read that gruesome horrific story and now we're being told that the men that surrounded that house were actually the leaders.

How perverse. And 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. So 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. Behold, you people of Israel, all of you, give your advice and counsel here.

You know what's a little concerning? Who's speaking now? The Levi, right? Do you think it's a little concerning that in verse seven, he's asking them what they should do when you're the leader and you're supposed to know what to do. Again, just a little glimpse of where the people are at.

The people are supposed to come to you and get counsel on these things. Why are you turning to the people? You heard what he said. You heard his record of the scenario. Tell me what's missing here.

Because it's it seems word for word. It seems completely accurate but there's a little omission. Did you notice it? Read carefully. Look again at verse five and rehearse it and see how does this differ from the scene that we read last week.

Just a little detail that he he left out. He tossed her. He was the one that gave her up to the crowd. He was the one that took her by the shoulders, opened the door, launched her into the mob, and shut it, and went and take a nap. And when he explains it, he says, they meant to kill me and they violated my concubine and she is dead.

Now we might argue and say, well he was left with no choice. This was not something he wanted to do necessarily, but this is something that he had to do or else fill in the blank. But it's it's a great stretch to try to justify this man's actions. You know what I learned from this? Something about human nature.

We are quite amazing at knowing how to color our stories and our testimonies in a way that makes others look more favorably on us. Right? When we share something in terms of interaction or confrontation or issues with one another, what what are we bent on doing? Coloring it in a way where we leave out certain details that makes us look bad. And we kind of omit this detail and our shortcomings and we want to try to win the heart of a certain person or persons for the sake of your personal ambition.

And that can manifest in different ways. It manifests in many different ways. And one of the ways it manifests is that when a person is exposed for their sin, and they are confronted about their sin, they realize that the evidence is so clear and undeniable that they will admit to it. But even in their confession, they bend the story in such a manner in which they look like the victim still. It's like you're confessing a sin and at the same time you're still trying to make us feel like as though you're the one that's in that's been wronged.

You wanna know something? Every single one of us are capable of that. And you don't know where it came from? Let me ask it this way. What are one of the first signs or the first consequences as a result of the fall in Genesis three?

Think carefully. Cover up is one of them. Blame. You got it. Blame.

Almost right after the fall occurred, one of the first consequences of sin entering into the human race was that we blame each other. Right? Go there in Genesis three in your bibles and see what happened when God came. I mean, you're dealing with God. And God says, where are you Adam?

Do you think God didn't know? No. It's because God wanted Adam to know where Adam was. And I see a pattern. Right?

Don't you see the same method that Jesus has used? Jesus loves to ask questions. Do you think Jesus didn't know? No. It's because he wanted his members, those who were listening to him, to know.

The man said, the woman whom you have who gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, what is that that you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. Blame. We blame.

We deflect it. We call somebody else to be held accountable for what we have done. Now everybody is responsible here, but nobody wants to take responsibility. And what's so profound is that this reflex can become so dangerous, so evil, so vile, that we can even blame God on things. In fact, before Adam blamed Eve, who is he blaming?

Read it carefully. Look at verse 12. The man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me. He's blaming God. We're rebels.

We're ugly. I'm sorry, this isn't the popular message that you're gonna hear. The things that go viral on YouTube and Instagram. You're not amazing and neither am I. We're not cute.

We're not alright. We're vile, despicable human beings. In the first moments after sin entered the world, God is already being blamed by a mere creature made out of dust. And the first song you can argue is from Adam as a result of God providing his wife and then after the fall, we see Adam now blaming God for bringing him a wife that tempted him. We're interesting creatures, aren't we?

And there's a proverb. I want you to hear this proverb. It's quite amazing. In Proverbs nineteen three, when a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. When a man's own folly brings him to ruin, what is he capable of?

What's his instinct sometimes? To turn to heaven and say, how did you let this happen? This verse has taught me another facet about foolishness. Blaming God for the things that you've done in your own life. Not joining in covenant with Christ and then blaming Christ and God for the things that you've allowed to come into your into your life.

How despicable. His heart rages against the Lord. And perhaps many of us in this place would not blame God for the things that happened in our lives, but we are obviously able to to blame others. And I want you to remember this, next time that you're in a scenario, in a kerfuffle, in something where you're entangled with somebody else and a lot of sin is is happening as a result of that, I want you to never forget this rule. Okay?

When you're tempted to justify yourself and putting the blame on another person, whether it's a brother in Christ or a sister in Christ or a leader, whatever it may be, never forget this. God can't forgive you if you do that. He can forgive those that you put the blame on if they confess. You can heap all of it on them, and the moment they turn to Lord, God will forgive them. But because you, though you are in the wrong, will not acknowledge that wrong, God will not be able to forgive you.

How? How can you extend mercy to somebody who will not acknowledge their need for mercy? Do you see? And so it's your responsibility in mind that when we know and we have been exposed for our wrong, whether by the Holy Spirit, by a leader, by a brother to say, yes, you've done your part, but I also have done mine. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But it starts with me confessing my sin. If I'm not faithful to admit my wrong, God will not have to do his part to forgive me of my wrong. So this blame game is very dangerous and you see it a lot, you see it in a lot of couples when they when they go further down marriage, blaming one another for for the brokenness of their marriage and not acknowledging their own sin. God can't extend mercy to you if you're not willing to say, I I am a sinner and I have done wrong. Yes, she's done wrong, he's done wrong, but also myself.

You don't think this is a concern? You don't think that this is something that is dangerous to our spiritual lives? Isaiah 58 is one of those chapters that help us understand God's God's mind behind how prayer works. And we are told there in Isaiah 58, let's turn there quickly, something quite amazing about even a people who fast and pray. You say, how do I get God to answer my request?

Fast and pray? Oh, no. It's much more complex than that. Verse two of Isaiah 58. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways.

I have to admit, this is one of the most concerning, convicting, self searching scriptures in all of the Bible. He's not describing people that are out in the world doing what they want necessarily. They seek me daily like they have a devotional life. They pray, they read their Bible, they go to the verse of the day. They do it.

They seek me daily and they actually want to know my ways. Now most of us in there, if that's all that how we're living, we're we feel safe. Right? But he says, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God. They ask of my righteous judgments.

They delight to draw near to God. And then he quotes the people who say, hey, we're fasting and you're not seeing us. We've humbled ourselves and you're not taking knowledge of it. And then God corrects them. That these religious rituals and practices even in their prayers and their knowledge of the word and not longing to know the word, doesn't mean anything if they are not willing to repent and change their practices and their ways and the way they deal with one another.

And now look at this now. I want you to see this, verse nine. He says, then you shall call and the Lord will answer and you shall cry and he will say, here I am. That's what we want. Right?

I want that every single time I pray. I want that to be God's posture towards me every single morning. When I wake up, I wanna know that this is his face toward me. If. If.

Not if you seek me daily. Not if you fast. Not if you long to know my ways. More than that, there's an if. What's the if?

If you take away the yoke from your midst, now look at this, the pointing of the finger. The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness. You want me to answer your prayers? Stop blaming everybody. Stop accusing everybody.

Stop shaming everybody for why you are the way you are. Own it. Humble yourself. Admit it. Sure they did wrong.

Sure they'd hurt you. Sure they betrayed you. But where's your sin in this? And the moment you stop pointing to others and you turn that finger upon yourself, God says, here I am. I'm here.

Isn't humility attractive? It's attractive to you. It's much more attractive to God. It's attractive that as broken fractured beings ourselves when we see humility in another person, but how much more to a holy perfect just king When he sees a sinner stop pointing and saying it's me Lord too. I've done it.

I've done this. I've said this. I've caused this in part. I'm a part of the issue. God says, here I am.

Now I'll hear you. And so this man in Judges is coloring the story in a way where he will seem like he's faultless in the whole situation when he participated in the problem. Obviously, the weight is much more in the the tribe of Benjamin, but still, it says much about who he is. And we come back in Judges chapter 20, we read. In verse 11, as we skip a few verses, essentially what's happening is that all these men surround Gibeah.

So you have 400,000 soldiers surrounding this one town in the tribe of Benjamin and they are ready to deal with them. They've been told all that they need to know, and as they approach the city, we see here that they now inquire about them. Verse 12. And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin saying, what evil is this that he has taken place among you? Now therefore, give up the men the worthless fellows in Gibeah that we may put them to death and purge evil from Israel.

But what happens? They would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel. Now the men here, the the people of Israel, the the rest of the tribes are doing the right thing. They're coming and they're asking for the culprits, they're asking for the fugitives. They're saying, cough them up.

And what's so heartbreaking here is the response of this tribe because they refuse to listen to the voice of their brothers. And you wonder for what reason? For the same reason why sin surfaces throughout this book. You ready? Idolatry.

Idolatry. But in the most unique form of idolatry that perhaps we've seen up to this point, the idol of tribes, tribalism, family, closeness, people that are around us, people that we associate with based on culture and and upbringing, or whatever it may be. And it's interesting the Holy Spirit is highlighting something here. They would not listen to the voice of their brothers. There was something much deeper within this tribe that they've shared with one another as being from the same father, and that is the covenant that they all have made with God.

And the covenant they had with those who have made a covenant with God, that was much more deeper than being part of the same tribe, but they couldn't see that. And perhaps in our generation, we're not familiar with tribalism like this culture was in other parts of the world. But we are all familiar with the idol of siding with man over God. And that's exactly what is taking place here. They want to reject God's word by standing by their own even if their own were in the wrong.

And I wanna tell you something, because of this attitude, because of this response, a civil war that could have been avoided will actually now erupt. Listen to me. In our lifetime, many civil wars will come and christen them. You know why? Because there will be those like the tribe of Benjamin that will side with those who are clearly in the wrong instead of standing for the word of God.

It's happening now and it's gonna come in full force. We will see tribes, so to speak, turning on one another and the main divide will be this, those who will stand for what is right and those who will sympathize with the sinner. And not sympathize the way Jesus sympathize. I'm talking about sympathize like you can stay in your sin. So what's the divide gonna mean?

The divide's gonna be this, this is an abomination to God. This is vile. This is something that we are called to repent from and turn to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the other side, love is love. And they are born with us and who are we as a people to condemn them for something they cannot control?

You ready for the civil war? Which side are you on tonight? Which side are you on? And you're gonna see many people really feel the cost of standing for the word of God when it's friends that fall into this sin pattern or the narrative of this culture. When it's family members and cousins and siblings that will fall into that unfortunate lie, where they know they're in the wrong and they call evil good.

And something's about to break out because of this. And you know what's amazing? They stand in stark contrast to another tribe that made the exact opposite decision that this tribe did. Now here, this is a reflection. This is where I love these questions because it makes us, it shows us where we've been and what we remember in our past studies.

Tell me a tribe in the old testament that made the exact opposite decision that Benjamin did here. You got it. Levi. Do you remember? Somebody tell me the story in a brief two sentences.

What happened with Levi? The golden calf was created. Moses comes down from the mountain. He sees the entire nation performing idolatry and he gives a chance. He stands at the gate and he says, whoever is on the Lord's side come to me and out of all the 12 tribes only one come and that's the tribe of Levi.

And it's one thing to come and to answer the altar call so to speak, Moses now puts a sword in each of their hands and he says, okay, if you're on the Lord's side, run to and fro and kill as many people as you can even if they're your own. And they do it. And that happens in Exodus and it's not until Deuteronomy when Moses blesses the people and prophesies over each tribe that he says this concerning the tribe of Levi in Deuteronomy thirty three nine. He speaks about Levi and he said, who said of his father and mother, who said of his father and mother, I regard them not. I regard them not.

He disowned his brothers and ignored his children for they observed your word and kept your covenant. Oh, we know which which side they stood on. Do you see the difference between Benjamin and Levi? And what was the reward? Now go to verse 10 and see what happens with this tribe.

They shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law. They shall put incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar. Do you realize that that one decision, even in the midst of their sin to side with God, gave them permission and allowed God to give them the priesthood as a tribe? You want to be used by God? You have to disregard your own family.

You want to be used by God. You want God to promote you. Right? You want God to use you to bless a nation, to bless a people, to bless every single person you come into contact with. Disregard your own siblings.

Disregard your parents. What do I mean by that? Be cultish and ignore them and not love them? No. I'm talking about when they stand against the word of God, you still stand for God.

That's what I'm talking about. No matter what they say, no matter how awkward it is at the Christmas dinners, no matter if they kick you out of the house, God will reward you and use you. And unfortunately for Benjamin, I wonder what could have come out of Benjamin if they chose to stand for God's word instead of their own tribe. But unfortunately, they're gonna be humbled. Humbled to the point of near extinction.

It's amazing where pride can bring you. What do we read in verse 14? Then the people of Benjamin came together out of the cities of Gibeah to go out to battle against the people of Israel. It's not enough that you said we're not gonna give them up, we're actually gonna go to war with you. What's happening here?

They seem to be very confident. Verse 15, and 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. Among all these 700 were 700 chosen men who were left handed, everyone who could sling a stone at the hair and not miss. You have how many people surrounding the city? What was the number?

400,000. That's a lot of people. And the tribe of Benjamin were able to muster up 26,000. And Benjamin wants a war. You know why they want war?

Because their judgment is clouded. You know why their judgment is clouded? Because they are infected with pride. That's why. Remember Jephthah, when he went to war with Ephraim?

What was the cause of that civil war? Pride on the part of Ephraim. Now we're gonna see another civil war because of the same corrupting attitude of conceit. And we read perhaps why they were proud because they had this special ops. They had these snipers called the men of Gibeah, who were able to take out of their left hand, which was uncommon and with a specific accuracy, sling and actually hit one hair off your head by choice.

So they have something of an unusual ability and accuracy, and this is their source of confidence. We can actually get rid of 400,000 men with the men that we have. And it says here in fact, that they could not miss. That they could not miss. You know what's amazing about that word miss in the Hebrew?

It's the same word used often for the word what? Sin. Kata, I believe is the word. And the idea there is that, they were not they were able not to miss, but what sin is is missing something. It's launching something and what?

Missing the mark. There's a bull's eye, there's a standard, and what sin is is that you fall short of that. You shoot it in the wrong direction. You don't satisfy what is the demand for righteousness. And so that's what it is here.

And you can almost say it this way is that although this people could not miss with their slings, they were way off in representing and glorifying their Lord and their God. Miss, that's what it is. That's what sin is. God has perfect standards and demands for righteousness and you and I fail to meet them. And we're in need of somebody who has perfect aim concerning the law of Moses and his name is Jesus Christ.

He never missed. Can you think about this? I mean, think about the command to love the Lord your God with everything within you, mind, soul, body, strength. Jesus never failed to obey that for one second. For one second.

For one moment, Jesus in his thoughts, in his words, in his emotions, in his motives, never failed to obey that command. And when you receive Christ by faith, it's as though you did that. It's as though you have loved the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength since the day you gave your first breath. And by faith, we believe until you give your final breath. What an amazing thought.

That's the gospel. The gospel is you've never missed. You've never fallen short. You've never disobeyed. You've never ever disappointed the demands of God in righteousness because of Christ who is our righteousness.

This people missed. They couldn't miss with their sling, but they could miss with their tongue, they could miss with their actions. And so what happens? Well, from verse 17 down, we get a detailed account of the battle, like very detailed between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of the nation of Israel. And based on what we read so far, we almost get an idea.

We're pretty confident of how this thing is gonna end. We know who God is siding with here. Even if you look at it statistically, you look at the numbers, it seems like 400,000 can really take on 26,000. But almost immediately, we're stricken. And something interesting happens because the events do not unfold the way we would anticipate.

And what we see is actually the tribes of Israel losing and being humiliated, and Benjamin actually having the upper hand. And when you wonder, how is this actually happening? Well, let's prayfully consider. Verse 18. The 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. Now, stop. Doesn't it seem right what they're doing here? They didn't go immediately to war. They paused.

They looked at one another. They said, they want war? We'll give them more. But we know that we are in a righteous standing and they're in the wrong. Let's go ask God.

So they come up before the Lord and they say, Lord, which one of us, which tribe shall go up and lead the way? And God actually speaks. God actually answers and he says, Judah shall go up. Everything seems wonderful. Everything seems like it's it's gonna unfold great.

Verse 19, and the people of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin and the men of Israel drew up the battle line against them at Gibeah. We're about to see victory. Right? We're about to see what happens when God is on your side.

What happens when you stand against God and his word. Verse 21. The people of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and destroyed on that day 22,000 men of the Israelites. Hold on. We've read enough war stories in the old testament to know that something is way off here.

We've studied over and over again in the context of warfare and how that is connected to faith in God that when you have God on your side, there is no loss. We saw that throughout the book of Joshua, That the one place where there was failure was because there was sin in the camp. But in every other time, there was victory after victory after victory. And here we have a people standing for what is right, seeking God's counsel, getting an answer from God, and twenty two thousand of them die. And not one person from the tribe of Benjamin.

How is this happening? Is God being deceiving on his part? Is there something that we're unaware of? I think when we go back to the first two, three verses of this book, we're gonna have a little bit more clarity. Go to judges one.

Look at verse one and two, and notice the difference. Notice the similarities, but notice the difference of what we just read here. Judges one one. After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the Lord, who shall go up first against the Canaanites to fight against them? And look at verse two.

The Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hand. Notice the difference? The people went up against The people asked God again in the context of warfare here in Judges 20, they inquire to the Lord. And the Lord said, Judah, same thing.

But here's an addition, there's an assurance of victory. There's a confirmation that there will be triumph. But But when you come back to this scene, that is not given. Just the instruction for the one tribe to go up. We're still wondering, well, why?

Why didn't God give assurance? Perhaps, God is taking advantage of this situation to teach the entire nation something. Bear with me. So what happens as a result of their loss? Verse 22, but the people, the men of Israel, took courage.

They dusted themselves off. They looked at one another. They said, okay. It's okay. And again, formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day.

And the people of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until the evening and they inquired of the Lord, shall we again draw near to fight against our brothers, the people of Benjamin? There's a brokenness here that wasn't there in the beginning. Right? There's weeping now. There's waiting upon God.

There there is a different tone now. They're even saying, shall we go up against our brothers? God is crushing them and he's doing it for a reason. He's not doing it without purpose, but God is crushing them. And as they come before the Lord, would you know it?

He answers them. And the Lord said, go up against them. Remember, no assurance of victory. No guarantee that things were gonna play out the way they thought. So he says, go.

And they look at each other bruised, knowing that 22,000 perhaps families have lost their husbands and fathers. And they said, okay. He said, go up against them. So we're gonna go up against them. Verse 24, so the people of Israel came near against the people of Benjamin the second day.

And Benjamin went against them out of Gibeah the second day and destroyed 18,000 men of the people of Israel. All these were men who drew the sword. Come on. The second day after inquiring of God with weeping and brokenness, God gives them an answer and what do you have? 18,000 more.

A total of 40,000 men lost on the side of those who are standing for righteousness. This is not turning out the way we've heard things should turn out when you pray and stand for righteousness. And so the people are wondering what is happening here. And we're wondering as we read it, what is happening here? Look at verse 26.

Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. Now look at this, they sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. You see an intensifying of humility, of desperation, of longing. So after the second day of war, they're realizing that there's something wrong, not just with Benjamin, but with themselves. Because the burnt offering, according to Leviticus one, you have the five main offerings given as instructions in those first few chapters of Leviticus.

The burnt offering was a general offering that you would give as a declaration of wanting to be reconciled with God, of knowing your need to be forgiven by God and wanting to be consecrated to God. That's why the burnt offering is so symbolic of every part of it was given to the fire, not one part was given or left to you. And so here are these men, they come up before the Lord and they put the whole thing on the altar as a reflection of where they're at in their heart. And why? Why?

Because the entire nation was in idolatry, not just Benjamin. What have you and I been reading up to this point? What have you been I've been learning that not one tribe was outside of fault here? We've heard of the tribe of Dan. We've heard of the tribe of Ephraim.

We've heard of these different tribes that have failed God. But in this moment, because the the crime was so heinous and ugly, everybody else felt righteous. And they felt like they were holier. And so they took it upon themselves to to stand for God when they themselves in different areas had a plank in their own eye. And here is the New Testament principle.

Do you think that I'm gonna partner with you trying to take the speck out of your brother's eye when you have a whole log sticking out of your pupil? And so what God is doing here is in his wisdom, not in deceit, he's disciplining the entire nation and they finally realize that we're the one who also in fault. God, we ourselves, not just Benjamin, have turned against you. And we're capable of the same thing. Right?

We measure sin by its severity and we feel pretty confident in where we stand in our righteousness but we don't view sin the way God views sin. And not until do we see the holiness of God and his perfect righteousness, do we see how even the smallest speck of missing the mark is hideous and vile. Amen. You can even tell in the way they're approaching God with this request that they are being broken by him. What did it start with?

Who shall go up? Who shall They didn't ask if they should go up. They just said, who God? We're ready to do this. Who shall go up?

And then they went to, shall we go up? And then they go up to what? Shall we go up or shall we cease? They wanted God in every detail. They wanted God to lead every step.

They wanted God's, not just instruction for what they determined already to do, but even his instruction if he doesn't want him to do it the way they wanted it to be done. And notice here also verse 26, then all the people, not just the people as we heard earlier. Look at verse 24. So the people of Israel. No.

26, all the people. All the people of Israel came before God weeping and broken and offering burnt offerings and peace offerings. Now look at the difference in God's answer. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening and offered them burnt offerings, peace offerings before the Lord and the people of Israel inquired of the Lord. And in verse 28, Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron ministered before it in those days saying, shall we go out once more to battle against our brothers, the people of Benjamin or shall we cease?

And the Lord said, go up for tomorrow I will give them into your hand. There's the assurance. There's the promise, there's the seal that next time you go up, I'm gonna make you succeed. We're seeing a theme here. Right?

Pointing the finger, coloring the story to so we look better. What are we learning here? God partners with the humble. He's magnetized towards those who realize that even one sin makes them worthy of God not coming to their aid. But because He is so merciful, He is willing and eager to do so, but He first needs to see a people that will stop pointing the finger and point at themselves.

You want God to hear your prayers? Learn how to confess before him. You want God to lead you and give you the next step in your life? You want him step by step in your life? Continue to express your need for him and your need for his blood, and that you're no better than the next person that you're sitting beside or the person that is more in sin than you are, who has committed this act, and you think to yourself, I will never do that.

Cancel those thoughts out and say, I am capable of the same. Keep me from that. And God will work with us. Notice here that there's a man mentioned. Phineas, the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron.

Verse 28. Why is that interesting? Can somebody tell me why that's interesting at this point of the book of Judges? He's a true seeker and he investigates. Yes.

That's his character nature. Absolutely, we're gonna get into that. But the timing of the story, Phineas is Aaron's grandson, and we're near the end of the book of Judges. Here's a simple question. How is the man still alive?

Remember Phineas. Right? Phineas was a young man in the book of Numbers who who slayed the mole bite, and the Israelite that was sleeping with her. Remember that? And in Joshua, he was under Joshua's leadership when the tribes beyond the river erected an altar.

He led all the people to come and say, hey, what's going on here? And now we come near the end of the The man is ancient. How is he still alive? And here's a little tip to understand how the authors of the Bible and how the Holy Spirit constructs his books sometimes, his word. It could be very well that what we're reading here in Judges 20 is an earlier incident near the beginning stages of their entry into the promised land, and he is more concerned about thematic lessons than being chronological in his writings.

Does that make sense? The Bible oftentimes and even narratives will not put things in order, not because it's contradicting itself, but because the authors wrote differently than how authors write today. They wanted to present themes even though if they were misplaced in the storyline to make a point about something. And in the book of Judges, we've seen individual judges and their failures and their inconsistencies, and in the latter portion, the Holy Spirit wants to show us not just the leaders, but the nation of Israel and the people from within the community being just as vile and wicked and inconsistent. It's a thematic thing.

I hope that makes sense. But then we come to what we just heard. All of this is happening under the leadership of a man named Phineas, who had a reputation of rushing in righteousness in a holy way whenever there was evil popping and rearing its ugly head. Right? When all the people were mourning about the sins with the Moabites, it was Phineas as a young man who came with that spear, went into the tent where the man was sleeping with this woman, and plunged that spear through their torsos.

It was Phineas who came up to the tribes beyond the river when they all received their allotment, and they heard there was an altar when there's supposed to be one altar, who led who led the troops to go out and say, what are you guys doing? You haven't even taken one step out before you've broken God's law. And now here, we understand why there is this righteous reaction, this this indignation against Benjamin because of Phineas, I believe. In other words, because of the spiritual leadership of that day. Like people, like priest.

Why are these people so caught up in wanting to make things right? I believe the reason why is why we are told here, because of Phineas, the high priest of their day. Whatever you see in your leadership will be replicated in the church. And if the leadership of a local body is not passionate about holiness, you will not have a people passionate about holiness. If you do not have a leader who is passionate about loving God and being intimate with him and walking with him, you will not replicate that.

Phineas here, in his leadership was contagious to the people and we are again being told the importance of the right leadership in a generation. Now, we can read the rest of this, but I would encourage you to do that on your own. Instead of reading the the account of how the victory took place, I want to highlight a few verses from within. And so they received the assurance and they go out to war and when they go out on the third day of this civil war, being assured by God that they would have the upper hand. Look at verse 34.

And there came against Gibeah 10,000 chosen men out of all Israel. Now look at this, and the battle was hard. Some translations say fierce, some say sore, but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was close upon them. Two things I take out of that. Ready?

One truth for those who are walking in obedience, and another truth for those who are walking in deliberate disobedience. The first truth about those who are walking in disobedience. What do you take out of this? The battle was hard. The battle was difficult.

There was resistance. There was challenges. There was temptations. But I read that God said, I'm gonna give you the victory. So I learned something.

If I trust God's promises, if I take him by his word, if I stand by his commands and obey him with my life, it doesn't mean it's gonna be easy. Then It doesn't mean it's gonna play out in a way where everything is gonna fall into place and things won't come against me or try to trip me or try to make me doubt. That is given. That is going to happen in fact. And so I know from this verse here that if I'm gonna set myself to stand for God and his word, it's not gonna be easy to do so.

And if you choose to side with God in this time when other people are willing to sympathize with sinners and men who stand against God's word, it's it's not gonna be easy. Don't think it's gonna be easy. It's gonna be difficult. You're gonna be met with things that will make you tempted to think that maybe maybe maybe we're gonna fail again. Maybe things are not No.

Believe him and endure and stay strong. God will pull you through. But look at the insight for the disobedient. But the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was close upon them. So So I hope if you're obedient to the Lord in this place that you're reminded that this is not gonna be an easy walk.

Be encouraged. Victory is coming, his promises will be known. But for those who are walking outside of the will of God, and for those who are not in covenant with Christ in this place or wherever is watching, you may have a confidence like Benjamin and it's a false confidence. And here's the confidence of this tribe. They thought that even though they were standing against God and his word, that they even had more success than those who stood for God and his word.

And so they had this sense of, we're better off without him. We're better off without this. I I can I can determine what is right in my own eyes and still be okay? And my life will look glamorous, it will look wonderful, it will be comfortable, and here's a reminder, not just for this tribe, but for every single person who is outside of Christ, disaster is coming. It's looming over your head.

And the only reason why you're not experiencing it now is because God is giving you a chance to turn to him before that disaster meets you and shatters every false confidence that you ever thought you had. Disaster was close upon them and they did not even know it. You see it so much. You see it happening in people's lives when they step outside of God's will, and for those who choose to determine that they will never live for God and surrender the lordship of Jesus Christ. And if it doesn't come in this life, it will come in the life to come.

And so know this, I rather live a hard life with God than an easy one without him. I rather be in the boat with him, go through the storm than be on dry land with the sun shining upon me without him. Because in the end, God will be victorious. And so we learn here that the tribe of Benjamin is about to face a very eerie surprise. And from the rest of the scripture, what you'll notice is if you take the time to read it, and maybe we can read a few verses and I'm curious to know if anybody will pick up on how this sounds familiar.

Look at verse 38. Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men of the main ambush. So what happened at this point is you have you have Gibeah, you have the tribes, but then they're setting up an ambush on the other side. And they're going to war and Gibeah is so confident that they come out of their city and are drawn into the highways, and they had a plan. The signal for them to turn back on this tribe is that when the ambush comes into the city and smoke comes up.

The main ambush was that, when they had made a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city, the men of Israel should turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about 30 men of Israel. This is so suspenseful. God promised them victory and on the short term, it looked like the promise wasn't gonna be fulfilled. You can imagine the doubt that probably is arising in the hearts of these tribes.

30 men are already slain. You can imagine the slings of these Benjaminites killing one, killing another, and they're thinking to themselves, okay. God said we're gonna have victory. It doesn't look like it right now, but God said it, so we're gonna keep trusting him. And what happens?

Verse 40, but when the signal began to rise out of the city in a column of smoke, the Benjaminites looked behind them. And behold, the whole of the city went up and smoked to heaven. And the men of Israel turned and the men of Benjamin were dismayed for they saw that disaster was close upon them. Does this remind you of any of the story that we read recently? The past few months.

It's a strategy that has been replicated. It's something that we've seen before and they've been led to use it again. What strategy is that? Think of a specific battle in the book of Joshua. And how they overcame a city because of the same strategy.

Remember? What was the name of the place where God did not give them the chance to overcome because of sin in the camp? Ai. Ai was that place. And in Joshua eight, after repenting before God, they did the very same thing to Ai, and they're now doing it to their own brethren.

Let me repeat that. The very same thing that they did to their enemies, they are now doing to their own brethren. You're supposed to feel sad about that. This should be a very disturbing thing to us. The same tactics and warfare and judgments that were used against the enemies of God are now used against one of the tribes that God promised would be a part of a covenant forever.

We're disturbed. We should be disturbed. And here's where it's even more disturbing. You ready for this? You come down, let's go to verse 47.

But 600 men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the Rock Of Ramon and remain at the Rock Of Ramon for months. We went down from 26,000 to 600 men. 600 men fled the scene and hid behind some rocks in a cave somewhere and hid there for four months. You're talking about one of the tribes coming to near extinction because of the civil war. And it gets even uglier than that.

Verse 48, and the men of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, the city, men and beasts, and all that they found, and all the towns that they found, they set on fire. I wonder where you sit on this. Do you think that they went too far? Or do you think that this was justified? And it's not a thing where if you believe either or that you're a heretic, but it's important to think about because this all was about a few men from Gibeah, and now they are burning and destroying the entire tribe.

This is where I'm disturbed, and we should all end with this feeling. Don't you think it's sad that the tribes of Israel put this kind of faith and zeal and ambition to destroying their own when they still had Canaanites living in the land, and they didn't exercise that same faith and zeal to see God's enemies overthrown? Think about how messed up that is. We've read in the beginning of the book of judges that they could not overcome this people group and that people group and that people group, but when it came to their own brethren, they were willing to burn them to the ground. And even after they lost, what happened?

They went back to God. God, what's going on? They didn't do that with the enemies. When they couldn't overcome, they realized that they were too weak. They just moved on and said, let's just make them live and be our slaves.

Why all this energy and effort to destroy your own when there are still enemies that God has called you to destroy? And again, we read that and we're supposed to feel disappointment. We're supposed to feel this disgrace. And we're supposed to realize that sometimes we can be the same with our own brothers. Not in the sense that we do warfare with other people in the physical realm, but sometimes we can get so caught up in civil wars over issues that don't really matter, not about issues that matter, when there's a real war out there.

I've seen more Christians believe that people of their own church are the devil than the actual devil that wants to destroy them and is deceiving them in their false cause. And it's a sad sight to see. And the fact that they have gone to this extent we're about to find out in this next chapter and final chapter that they they regretted going that far. And perhaps they did take it too far, And it's a picture again of sometimes in the moment, it feels right. When we look back, we realize we could have done it better.

That's why we need God's wisdom in all that we do. I have one main call to action as a result of this bible study. Where is your finger pointed tonight? People will wrong you. It's not to say that we never acknowledge or confront the wrongs of others, but realize that God is drawn to those who do not exclude themselves as sinners.

And so tonight, I just call all of us to say, oh God, I'm not only capable of doing these vile things that I condemn others for, but I've done things in my own life, and I will not pretend to be something that I am not. I heard a quote, and I'll end here, from AW Tozer who said something along the lines of, it was a form of a prayer and he said, Lord, when people praise me and honor me for being a man of God, for standing for truth, for being righteous in this generation, help me remember that they would not praise me as such if they were familiar with me as I am familiar with myself. And if that's what Tozer really meant about himself, there's no wonder why God used him in so many mighty ways. And there's no limit to how God will use you when you have a right view of yourself in light of his holiness and our sinfulness. Let's pray.

Father, tonight under this bible study, under the word of God in Judges chapter 20, we believe this is inspired by your Holy Spirit. Lord, we understand that there's a call to action. And Lord, we know that in this place, many people have been wounded by somebody so close to them. Whether it's a spouse, whether it's a brother in the flesh, whether it's a parent, whether it's a leader, a spiritual leader. And Lord, it's possible for us to be wronged against and us not being in the wrong at all.

But Lord, if there is wrong on our part, we choose not to justify it. We choose to humble ourselves and say, my reaction was not godly. My response was not like Jesus Christ. Help us to see not just the sins of others, but our own shortcomings, Lord. Because we want you to be merciful to us.

And we want you to hear our prayers, and we want you to lead us in the next step of our lives. And so Lord, tonight in this place, we wanna experience the freedom of walking in the light and just sitting before you and saying, Lord, cleanse me. Lord, we will not pretend to color our circumstances in a way that makes us seem perfect. But we will say, oh God, I've fallen here. Would you forgive me, Lord?

And, Lord, for those in here who are not on the side of righteousness and truth, but on the side of justifying their own sins, perhaps the sins of others, may they know according to your word that disaster is the only end road for such a way of thinking, and that they would turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in your righteous rule no matter what the cost is. May they embrace the love of Jesus for them and your wisdom. Lord, we just worship you in silence tonight. We worship you in silence. For deliver us from the curse of Adam and make us like the last Adam.

And finally, Lord, as we are a people that live with one another, this is our family. We pray for the wisdom to know how to deal with each other's sins. Whether we hear the about the sins of another or we have been we've been faced with the the failures of people directly. Help us in wisdom to know how to be like Jesus. How to be like our God.

Slow to judgment, quick to mercy, but also willing to stand when we need to stand. We bless you, father, for your word. It is life. We feel fed tonight. We feel like our souls are satisfied.

And Lord, even though it is mingled with lament and a sense of darkness for because of the depravity of man as we've just read, Lord, we also know that the same word that is honey in our mouths can also be bitter in our stomachs as it was for the prophets. And we receive all of it because we know it's for life. We bless you, Lord. We bless your holy name, and we see how even your word in the Old Testament is for our sanctification. Glory be to your name.

Be exalted and lifted high in this place. In Jesus' name, we pray these things. Amen and amen. Amen. If you wanna stay seated, you're welcome to do that.

If you wanna worship the Lord with hands lifted up, you're welcome to do that. Let's just respond to him in light of his divine word.