Judges 20:29-48. \u00a0Yesterday we saw the “sons of Israel” go to battle against one of their own tribes, Benjamin. \u00a0That tribe had stood behind one of their cities, Gibeah, who had been involved in a very evil act (if you haven’t read them go back and read the posts from Judges 19). \u00a0The battle hasn’t gone very well for the Israelites. \u00a0Although they outnumbered Benjamin, 400,000 soldiers verses 26,000 male citizens, the Israelites lost 22,000 soldiers on the first day of battle and 18,000 on the second day. \u00a0both times they asked God about the battle but both times it was on their terms. \u00a0They eventually went to the place of worship of God and had the priest ask \u00a0Him if they should continue to fight. \u00a0The response was “yes” \u00a0and “I will give them to you.”<\/p>\n
In todays reading we see the third day of the battle and the Israelites finally win, sort of. \u00a0From a military point of view they definitely win. \u00a0but from a spiritual point of view the battle is a disaster. \u00a0Judges 20:29-35 give an overview of the battle and the victory by the Israelite. \u00a0Judges 20:36-48 give more detail. \u00a0In the overview we learn that 25,100 men of Benjamin died that day. \u00a0From the more detailed account we learn that the Israelites set an ambush for the Benjamites. \u00a0When the Benjamites saw that the were surrounded and cut off from the town they ran “toward the wilderness”. \u00a0Gibeah was near the westen border of Benjamin’s territory and the wilderness was to the east. \u00a0So the Benjamite troops ran through their own territory with the Israelites army right behind them. \u00a0Perhaps they were trying to abandon the fight and go home. \u00a0. \u00a0Gibeah was completely destroyed, every one and everything. \u00a0As were all the cities which they found. \u00a0Since the territory was rather small and the Israelite army quite large, it seems reasonable that most of the population of Benjamin was affected. \u00a0Near the end of todays reading we will see that only 600 Benjamite soldiers escaped. \u00a0The note that they stayed in their hide out for four months hints that there is more to this story. \u00a0As we will see tomorrow they alone survive. \u00a0There are not even any women or children left in Benjamin and a disaster is brewing.<\/p>\n
A few interesting notes. \u00a0First we must remember what is going on historically in the book of Judges. \u00a0The Israelites were living in a land which God has given them. \u00a0They were supposed to take over the land and get rid of the people that are already there, the Canaanites. \u00a0If you have been following the posts for very long you know that God loves people and is interested in having a relationship with them. \u00a0But there are rules. \u00a0We cannot live any way we want to and still have a relationship with God. \u00a0The Old Testament is about God telling us about this fact and the nation of Israel is a big part of how we get God’s message (See “The Old Testament Connection”<\/a> for more about this.) \u00a0Israel was supposed to live a life dedicated to God. \u00a0During the times of the Old Testament most of the world was polytheistic, that means that they worshipped more that one god. \u00a0The god’s that they worshipped were all made my their hands and according to their ideas. \u00a0Although all people know that there is one true God we consistently reject Him and make up our own gods (Romans 1:18-25). \u00a0Israel was supposed to be a reminder of the true God. \u00a0God knows we are week and turn from Him, especially when tempted so He told the Israelites to not allow the Canaanites to stay among them. Unfortunately in the book of Judges we learn that they did not follow through on what God had told them to do. \u00a0And as we have seen, by the time of Samson they were completely comfortable living with the Canaanites and other people groups among them.<\/p>\n Another interesting thing is that during the battle the Israelites destroyed “Gibeah and all the cities which they found.” \u00a0In Deuteronomy 6:10-12 God indicates that they were not to destroy the cities and crops in the land as they took it over. \u00a0There were rules about not using some of the crops at first. \u00a0There were times they were ordered to destroy all of a city and not to take or use any of the stuff from it. \u00a0But in general they were not to destroy the cities, just get rid of the people. \u00a0It was a common practice of many nations at that time to burn cities that the conquered and take all the stuff they found, \u00a0They would even kill the men and take the women as part of their “spoil”. \u00a0So destroying these cities is \u00a0one way in which the Israelites were falling into the very trap they were supposed to avoid, one way they were becoming like the people around them.<\/p>\n