All right, if you have your Bibles and you'd like to follow along, you can turn with me this evening to the book of Judges in chapter number 20. The book of Judges in chapter number 20. If you'll remember, I told you last week, Judges 19, 20, and 21, the last three chapters really deal with one chain of events. What we actually entitled last week a brutal chain or a bloody chain of events. And chapters 20 and 21 are somewhere around 75 verses between the two of them together. And that's just more than I want to try to take on in one setting, maybe even more than in two settings. So tonight we'll just see how far we get. I have an idea where we want to try to break off, but then pick up, but you can. wear out God's saints, and that's not our desire to do that. So I am relieved that we're past the story of Judges 19, but in a great sense, what took place is absolutely behind the events of Chapter 20 and 21, because Chapters 20 and 21 of Judges is Israel's response to what took place in Chapter 19. So in Judges chapter 20, we begin reading with verse number 1. God's word says, Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, and with the land of Gilead, and to the Lord in Mizpah. And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 footmen that drew the sword. Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpah, then said the children of Israel, tell us, how was this wickedness? And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came in to give you, that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine to lodge. And the men of Gibeah rose up 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. 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. Ye are all children of Israel. Give here your advice and counsel. 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. But now this shall be the thing which we will do to give you. We will go up by lot against it. And we will take ten men of an hundred, throughout all the tribes of Israel, and then 100 of 1,000, and 1,000 out of 10,000, to fetch victual, or to get food for the people, that they may do when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribes of Benjamin saying, what wickedness is this that is done among you? 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. But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities and to Gibeah to go out to battle against the children of Israel. The children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities, 26,000 men that drew the sword beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered 700 chosen men. Among all these, there were 700 chosen men left-handed, Everyone could sling stones at a hairbreadth and not miss. And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered 400,000 men that drew sword. All these were men of war. 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. Children of Israel rose up in the morning and camped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin. And the men of Israel put themselves in a ray to fight against them at Gibeah. And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day, 20 and 2,000 men. 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. And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening 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. Children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day and destroyed down to the ground are the children of Israel again 18,000 men. All these drew the sword and we'll stop there. We get there and y'all want some more. We'll go a little further tonight, but we'll stop there in our reading judges. Chapter 20 what I'm going to talk to entitled to this evening's message in almost United Nation and almost United Nation in this 20th chapter 11 of the 12 tribes will respond to the atrocity that had been carried out in the city of Gibeah. And I did not mention this last week. I really, very frankly, I was ready to be done with Judges 19. But if you would take just a minute with me and look at the close of chapter number 19 and see verse number 30. and see what this calling out is. If you'll see chapter 19 and verse 30 says, and it was so that all that saw it and by that is making reference to this man who had taken his concubine and I'm sorry that it's that it is, but it is what it is. This man that had taken his concubine, cut her into 12 pieces and had shipped her, sent her dismembered body parts to all 12 tribes of Israel, that those, verse 30 says, that those that saw that, and that's not the kind of package you'd want to get from the FedEx man, I guarantee you that. All that saw it said that 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." In other words, we've never seen anything like this take place. But in particular, I want you to notice the close of verse 30, where there's a call to action. Consider of it, take advice, speak your minds. In other words, the author here, as he relates this story to us, is saying that these Israelites, having received these dismembered body parts from this slain concubine, they are now saying, fellas, we got to do something about this. We cannot let this go. These wicked men that raped that woman and really, I believe, was responsible for her death or her murder. We have got to do something. We've got to form a plan. And that's the exact language of verse number 30 there at the close of it. We've got to respond. So consider this. Think about this. What should we do? And they respond by assembling together, in chapter number 20, all of the tribes. And if you'll stop and think about this, if what we read is accurate, he sent 12 pieces to all 12 tribes. So seemingly, every one of the tribes, whether he sent it to the elders or exactly how it was done, we do not know. But every one of the tribes would have received this unwanted package including the tribe of Benjamin. And if you'll remember, this city of Gibeah, where this atrocity was carried out, was in the land of Benjamin. And it is Benjamin who fails to respond to this call to arms. And that's why I call this an almost united nation, because it is only 11 of the 12 tribes that assemble together to go to war. And in fact, I've noticed as I pronged to scratch up my Bible, but in chapter 20 and verse 1, then all the children of Israel, and as we've gone, made our way through the entirety of the book of Judges, that thing is spitting out ice and it's freaking me out back here, so forgive me. I'm going to get hit with an ice shard in the back of the neck. All the children of Israel. Here's the thing that I want to emphasize to you tonight. Is that it is sad that the people of God gather together with one mind. With I mean a overwhelming passion to act. Against one of their own tribes. They didn't share that same passion and burning. To read the land of the Canaanites. When you read this, as I was talking about scratching up my Bible, then all the children of Israel went out and the congregation was gathered together as one man. And then again in verse eight, and all the people arose as one man. And then again in verse 11, so all the men of Israel were gathered together against the city, knit together as one man. So they are united but not completely united because the tribe of Benjamin is absent. It is an almost united nation and this zeal that they have is good. These atrocities, they need to be dealt with. This wickedness within the land of Benjamin needs to be addressed. But sadly, rather than Benjamin Joining with the Israelites, they will stand against the other 11 tribes. Benjamin, no doubt, had received one of these dismembered body parts of this poor woman, but they did not muster. When the rest of the men mustered together, they did not. And I really think, had the Benjamites swiftly dealt with this gross sin within their own borders, then we wouldn't have civil war in Israel. Because that's what this is. This is Israeli civil war. It is brother taking up arm against brother. Family member going to war, going to battle against one another. If Benjamin would have dealt with this sin, if they would have gathered up an army of their own and mustered up against Gibeah, then there would have been no need for this united coalition of Israeli men to go to war against this one tribe. But instead of punishing the sin, and you're going to have to forgive me because when you're studying, when you're studying a book, you see it everywhere, okay? I'm studying, we're studying 1 Corinthians, and so I can't help but see it. But rather than being heartbroken and saddened and convicted because this sin took place within their borders, the tribe of Benjamin is puffed up with pride and defend the offenders instead of dealing with them like they should have. And we read that very thing in 1 Corinthians 5 in verse 2 where Paul talks about the wickedness that existed in that church. And it says rather than mourning, you're puffed up. Rather than being broken by this, you're haughty about it. And that's the same way Benjamin was in this case. They should have been broken by this. They should have been embarrassed. It should have been a public embarrassment that such an atrocity would take place within their own borders. But instead of them being broken by it and having a contrite heart, they are puffed up and now are ready to go to war against their own brother. We see something very similar to this in our own nation today and in our country today, when one group, and I'm talking about even among Christianity, among the so-called followers or disciples of Christ, when one group calls out sin and wickedness and declares that it's sin and wickedness, while another group, even within Christianity, defends or justifies that behavior. There are some within the Christian community who will say this, this, and this is still sin in the sight of God Almighty. While there are others under the umbrella of Christianity who are puffed up and prideful that they would tolerate such a thing or allow such a thing to go on. These others should, like Benjamin, should be broken by this rather than prideful of this. But in this case, the 11 of the 12 tribes are right to address this unthinkable action and wickedness. It has to be dealt with. And if Benjamin refuses to do so, these 11 tribes will deal with it. And this leads to Israeli civil war. Against brother in verse 1 we read that they gather together the children of Israel as one man And you see this expression in verse 1 from Dan even to Beersheba And that means from north to south. That's about as far north as you can get in Israel to as far south as you can get in Israel. In other words, we would say it today from sea to shining sea. That's how we would say it. This is a common Hebrew expression that just simply meant Everybody showed up. Everybody except for, obviously, Benjamin. And we'll learn in chapter 21, there's a few others that didn't show up like they're supposed to. But for the most part, everyone gathers together. And that would be great, would it not? If two things, if number one, this was an assembly gathered together for worship, but they're not gathered for worship. They're gathered for war. And then number two, it would be great if they would gather together like this to go rid the Canaanites. Remember, this is early on. It's at the end of Judges. And the author, I think, I tried to teach this last week, the author puts this at the end of Judges as a climactic end to the apostasy in Israel, when actually the chronological order of events, this would have taken place very early in the book of Judges, very soon after the death of Joshua, I am certain. But here they are, gathered together, not for worship, but for war, not against the Canaanites, but against the Benjamites, against their own people. And in verse number two, we find that there are 400,000. That's a big army. 400,000 footmen, soldiers, who are prepared to go to war. And in verse number three, the children of Benjamin, they heard that children of Israel were going up to Mispah. Mispah is just a little village, a little town just a little bit north of Gibeah where this took place. And they bring that Levite, you know that Levite who was at the beginning of all this mess? They gather him together, and they close verse number three, and they say, now tell us again exactly what happened. Retell what happened. And I could just imagine it. And I tell my kids, I said, when somebody begins, a story with this. Well, what had happened was, you better hang on, you're about to get told something. And I just well imagine, that's what, well, what had happened was, and what's really interesting is, as you read his recounting, retelling of the events, there's certain parts of it he leaves out. especially the part about him taking his concubine and throwing her out the door and thrusting her towards the men and saying, y'all go do what you gotta do with her, just leave me alone. I don't wanna be overly critical of this man, but I want you to stop and consider how that the actions within his own, his home, ended up setting tribe against tribe, 11 versus one. You with me, 11 tribes, the actions in his home, Whether he is, and again, if I may, last week, our King James language says that this woman went out and played the whore against him. There's some debate as to whether or not that's the right rendering of it. But the action in his home spills over as he go chasing her down, brings her back home. And then as these men do what they did, their actions affect not only a community, but it affects a nation. I think sometimes we downplay that. We downplay the idea that what goes on in our own home doesn't affect our community or doesn't affect our nation. It can. There is a ripple effect, if you will, a chain of events that took place. It really began as a family feud and it ends up with civil war. Right? I mean, it starts off small, but by the time sin is added to sin and this thing continues to build, the dominoes fall, and now there's 400,000 men of Israel about to invade the land of Benjamin. But he tells a, what I call, in verses 4 through 7, he tells a cleaned up version of what took place. You read it and you study it for yourself. But he tells He tells the truth, but not necessarily the whole truth. He leaves out a few little details in there. And I can't help but think, you know, I don't want to make an application that doesn't exist. In other words, I don't want to just draw something out of the air and stick it down into the text. But what we'll find out is that when the Israelites hear this Levite tell the story, when the Israelites hear this one man recount his cleaned up version of it, I mean, they are bloodthirsty and they're ready to go to war. Obviously, the actions of the men of Gibeah is indefensible. That needs to be dealt with. There is no way to justify their horrendous behavior. But I will caution us all not to be rash in making judgment in something until we hear both sides of a story. Now, there's a good lesson for life to be learned. Now, I'm not going to justify or defend in any way what these men did. It needed to be dealt with. But before 11 tribes of 400,000 men would go to war against Benjamin, it might be good to get both sides of the story instead of one person telling it in a way that presents him in a good light. Folks, is it not a fact of life that when somebody wants you and they want to tell you a story, they're going to tell you If I may just use it like this, if there's a husband and a wife who are fighting one with another, whichever one you're talking to, they're going to give you a cleaned up version of how it really is. And I just tell you, if you come to me for counseling or you come to talk to me, I'm not going to make judgment one way or another till I hear both sides of the story. Because it's usually not quite the way it's painted to be. And I tell you, it really bothers me and I don't even bother you. when people would rush to judgment about you not having heard the whole story. Doesn't that bother you? Does it bother you if somebody makes up their mind about something they never even bothered asking you, they just got somebody else's version of it? Now, I don't want to draw too much and make up any application, but I think we could have avoided national civil war. Possibly, perhaps, number one, if Benjamin would have dealt with it. Number two, if the other Israelites would have investigated this thing a little bit more. But this man, this Levi, it's almost like he lights a fuse on a stick of dynamite and throws it in the middle of Israel and he disappears. Because after he tells his story, poof, he's gone. But the damage has already been inflicted now. I mean, it can't be stopped, if you will. The drums of war have already began to beat and it will not be silenced. In verse 7 again, the reason why I wanted to look back at chapter 19 and verse 30 is because verse 7 and chapter 20 is the same terminology. At the close of chapter 19 where it says, think about this, consider this, take advice, speak your mind. That's what these men are saying in verse number 7. What should we do? How should we respond? We've heard this man's version of the story. What should we do? And so their response is, in verse number eight, and all the people arose as one man, saying we're not even gonna go home until we deal with this mess. We're not gonna stop, slow down, back up in any way. We are gonna deal with these men of Gibeah. The events that took place in this man's home is now leading to this conflict between brothers. And here they are, verse number nine, but now this shall be the thing which we will do to give you. We'll go up by lot against it. We will go to war. In verse 10, very simply, is they take a tithe or a tenth of the men, the 400,000 soldiers that they have together. They take a tenth of them and they send them out to gather provisions for the army. That's very simply what they do. We're going to send these men out. We've got 400,000 men. We've got to feed them. Presumably, they send these men through the land of Benjamin to find what they need to supply food and water for this Israelite army. But to close, verse number 10, is really some strong language. And they say, we're going to send these men out to get the provisions that we need so that when we come to Gibeah of Benjamin, we will deal with them according to all the lewdness or folly or wickedness that they have wrought in Israel. Strong language. As soon as we have what we need, To supply our armies and make sure our men are strong and ready, we will show them, we will deal with them, we will handle them. And again, I'm not justifying in no way, but it ought to sadden us when we see brother taking up arm against brother. It should break our hearts when Christian brothers and sisters and family can't get along. Now obviously, there's not a direct parallel, but there is an application. In verse 11, so all the men of Israel were gathered together against the city, knit together as one man. And there's a part of us that says, go get them, right? I mean, they deserve that awful, horrible, ungodly way in which that lady was treated they deserve to die. Part of us says, go get them. In verse number 12, the tribes of Israel send men through Benjamin saying to them, why have you allowed this to take place? Why did you let this go on? How could you allow such lewdness and wickedness in your borders? And they warn them, in verse number 13, This vast 400,000 man army warns them, if you don't deal with this, we're gonna deal with this. And you see it now, deliver us unto men, give them to us, these children of Belial, remember those worthless fellows, these good-for-nothing sons of the devil, really, which are in Gibeah, give them to us that we'll put them to death and put away from this evil from Israel. But notice the second half of verse 13, but the children of Benjamin would not hearken to voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. That's a sad indictment against the tribe, that they would rather stand against their own brethren who are on a just mission. They are on a just mission to rid this evil from the land, but the children of Benjamin would rather stand against their brethren than stand against those vile sinners of Gibeah. And then you will see in verse number 14 that their response, the Benjamites response is they get together their own army. Children of Benjamin gather themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah to go out to battle against the children of Israel. Sad, sad words, friends. Wonder how old Jacob would feel, knowing that he has one of his sons, and I use in the tribal sense, one of his sons going to war against all the other sons. And verse 15, the children of Benjamin gather together, 26,000 men that drew the sword. They get 700 chosen men from Gibeah. And I don't know, you know, I read the scriptures, and I don't mean in any way to make light of this, but it's just interesting how the author throws in this little side note in verse number 16. that among all this people, the 26,700, now you get that, there's 400,000 versus 26,700, that in verse number 16, they have 700 chosen men that were left-handed. Every one of them could sling stones at a hair breadth and not move. The name Benjamin means son of the right hand. Now he's telling us about these 700 Benjamite snipers who can put a rock in a sling and throw it. And I'm talking about split a hair, or I mean bullseye, a dead eye with it. I hadn't been living down here in Perry very long. And I went bass fishing with Jerry Dean back here. I stand on the back of the boat and I seen him take that left hand and sling that rod, and he make that thing land just right where he want it to. I said, how does he do that? I mean, I was just, I can't hardly throw it anywhere where I want it. I get agonized. I said, he up there left-handed throwing this. And we come back and I was telling Mr. Wally about it. I said, Wally, I ain't never seen a man throw left-handed like that. He said, you do realize he is left-handed? I said, no, I didn't realize that. That does make a difference after all. But he could cast that thing, and man, I ain't gonna brag on him too much, he's gonna make it up, but right where he wants it most of the time. But here, these men could sling a stone at a hare's breath, and the very language of it is, if you put a spot on that door, they gonna nail it. And obviously, these Benjamites are proven warriors, because when they go up against 400,000 men, they whip the Israelites not once, but twice. So I don't know if we're told this detail because these men are left-handed and it would be uncomfortable or unnatural as you tried to defend against that. I don't know, but we simply know that they were men of war, special as I, if I may say, Benjamite snipers called to action. It's a shame they wouldn't use that same thing against the Canaanites and rid the land of the Canaanites, but they ready to do war with their brethren. And then in verse number 17, the men of Israel, and here is the author, the writer of the book, drawing a parallel. There's 26,700 Benjamites against 400,000 of the Israelites that drew the sword. And then the battle begins. this almost united nation. Eleven tribes with their vast army goes to war against one tribe and their small army. And you might think that the poor pitiful Benjamites are about to get routed, but that's not how it happens. And there's some questions really as to why did God allow this? Why would God allow this Israelite army who are on a just mission, a just cause, to lose. I think really, if I may speculate, I think that this Israelite army needed to be reminded that there is no victory without God. There is no victory without God. And as you read the narrative, they treat God like He's a lucky charm. They go get the Ark of the Covenant out of Shiloh and bring it to Bethel near where they are and act like they got some kind of their own little rabbit's foot. Like a good luck charm, if you will. They're not really calling out for God. As a matter of fact, in verse number 18, they don't ask if we should go up. They just presume they should and they say who should go first. I think there's something for that. They didn't ask what they should do, they just presumed that. And when they go up to battle against the Benjamites, in fact, you see the narrative, the children of Israel arose, they go up to the house of God, and they ask counsel of God, which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamite? Now you have to understand, these people are far, far from God. They're treating this Ark of the Covenant, they're treating this box like it's their own little lucky charm, that if we can just call out and have this witness, they can do this again, and we'll see if again we ever get over to Samuel. We'll get into the book of 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, you'll see they do this again. But they don't ask whether they should, they assume they should. And then the Lord responds by saying, send Judah up. They make war, verse 20. The men of Israel go out to battle against Benjamin. The men of Israel set themselves in array. Verse 21, the children of Benjamin come down and they destroy down to the ground of the Israelites 22,000 men. So just think about that. Benjamin only has 26,700 men. And they destroyed 22,000 Israelites. Almost one for one. And the almost united nation, the 11 tribes, tuck tail between their legs, go home, licking their wounds, trying to figure out why they were beaten. And they go again in verse number 22 and the people of men of Israel encouraged themselves set their battle array again Just repeat of day one, but this time verse 23 the children of Israel go up may weep before the Lord Until even they ask counsel of the Lord Shall I go up now? They're asking you see that now they're asking should we go to war in verse number 23? Shall I go up against? To battle against the children of Benjamin, and the Lord said, yes, go. What happens? Children of Israel come near the children of Benjamin the second day. Benjamin goes out, everything day one, day two, things flow the same. And what happens this time, 18,000 Israelites are killed. 40,000 in two days. I know that's a big number. It's far removed from us. It doesn't mean necessarily just a whole lot to us. That's 40,000 families that's lost a dad or a husband. 40,000 of God's chosen nation, these men have been killed. And a lot of it could be related back to the sin in that city of Gibeon. And the fact that Benjamin, went to war to kill their own brothers instead of these wicked men inside their own nation. That's sad, isn't it? It's sad when brother turns on brother. There's always going to be casualties when the family of God feud with one another. There are three battles that ensue. First one, 22,000 die of the Israelites. Second battle, 18,000 will die. And then there's a third battle. And this time, Israel will win. I just want you to think about this. There is a repetition. One, two, three battles. Who should go? Answer, Judah should go. They attack, they're defeated. Second battle. Should we go? Yes, you should go. They attack, they're defeated. Third time they go, should we go again? Yes, but this time, and that's where we'll pick up, Lord willing, the next time that we get together, this time God says, I will give you victory. And I think, and this is just my thoughts in this, that I think that the reason why the Israelites were defeated the first two times is not because they weren't doing a good thing, I believe With all the contingencies being involved in, I think they were doing the right thing in dealing with this sin. But I think they needed to be reminded that you don't run out ahead of God, and you'll never have victory. I don't care even if you're fighting for the right cause, if you don't have God in your corner, and I don't mean just some superficial way, your heart's not right, you cannot expect victory with God. are acting like Canaanites. Remember me using this word, the Canaanization, the Canaanization of Israel. That's what we see a lot in the book of Judges. The Israelites becoming like the Canaanites and now we see it clearly, clearly that the Benjamites are acting like Canaanites. And sadly Israel is more ruthless We'll get into that next time. They are more ruthless towards the Benjamites than they are to their true enemy, the Canaanites. We read these stories, there's a lot of Old Testament history right here. A lot of questions that I don't have good answers for. I don't wanna just make stuff up. But I will simply say as we close with this, a little bit on the heels of my message this afternoon at the nursing home. Before we are too quick to judge, let us be reminded that we are only what we are by the good grace of God. If it weren't for God's grace, we could be a men of Gibeah. We could be like the Levi. We could be like the Benjamites. If there's any goodness within us, it's because of the grace of God that has implanted it in our heart and soul.