Judges 20: 18-48

Red = God-centered actions / God’s own actions

Green = ignorance/wrong thinking because they weren’t God-centered
Purple = violence

Passage title:
Be God-Centered (attitude first) – Repent and Win (the
comes action)

Recap: The Levite, without telling the whole story, got the Israelites to
avenge the Benjamites – it was a battle approved by God. The
Israelites gathered a big army and declared war on their own brothers.

The Benjamites pledged loyalty to their tribe before God. They had a
much smaller army – but they were all superior fighters.

The Levite, the Israelites, and the Benjamites were all self-
righteous/self-centered and not God-centered. They acted according to
their own desires/standards.

Day 1: From less God-centered (and suffered) to more God-

centered (and realized their wrongdoing)

18
The Israelites went up to Bethel [b] and inquired of God. They said,
"Who of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?"
The LORD replied, "Judah shall go first."

19
The next morning
the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah. 20
The men of Israel went out to fight the Benjamites and took up
battle positions against them at Gibeah. 21
The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and
cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield
that day. 22
But the men of Israel encouraged one another and again took up
their positions where they had stationed themselves the first
day.
23
The Israelites went up and wept before the LORD until
evening,
and they inquired of the LORD. They said, "Shall we
go up again to battle against the Benjamites, our
brothers?"
The LORD answered, "Go up against them."

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  [Observation/Interpretation] Verse 18: what did the Israelites
inquire from God? Why did they make that inquiry?
o They already made up their mind to fight (they assembled
soldiers already)
o It’s also unclear if it was really God who told Judah to go
first – as God obviously wasn’t with the Israelites during
Day 1’s battle. Since they were drawing lots, they could
have put in 11 lots and 1 lot (tribe) was bound to be
picked.

 [Observation] See Verse 17: the Israelites had 400,000 soldiers.

Verse 15: ―At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six
thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven
hundred chosen men from those living in Gibeah.‖ Who would
you bet would win? Why?

o It looks like a sure-win for the Israelites as they totally

outnumbered the Benjamites. The Israelites probably
thought the same.
o They probably relied on their own strength to fight this
war.

 [Interpretation] Verse 23: why did they weep before the Lord?
o Hurt. Felt defeated. Helpless. Had lost their confidence.
Had to turn to God.

 [Application] Have you ever relied on your own strength instead

of God – even when serving God?

DAY 2: From defeat to repentance to becoming God-centered

24
Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day. 25
This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose
them,
they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of
them armed with swords.
26
Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel,
and there they sat weeping before the LORD.
They fasted that day until evening
and presented burnt offerings and fellowship
offerings [c] to the LORD. 27

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 And the Israelites inquired of the LORD.
(In those days the ark of the covenant of
God was there, 28 with Phinehas son of
Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ministering
before it.) They asked, "Shall we go up
again to battle with Benjamin our
brother, or not?"
The LORD responded, "Go, for
tomorrow I will give them into your
hands."

 Technical clarification:
o Burnt Offering: (Leviticus 1; 6: 8-13; 8: 18-21; 16: 24)

The burnt offering was for unintentional sin.

This was a blanket sacrifice for wrongdoing in general. The price

was a male bull, lamb or goat. It had to be a perfect animal, without
defect. The poor could offer a pigeon or dove. The penitent would
present the animal at the entrance to the tent, which housed the
altar and the tabernacle.

After presenting the animal, the sinner would place his two hands
on the animal and thus, it was accepted as an offering for sin.
Probably this act transferred the sin from the human to the animal,
which paid the penalty and was sacrificed. They would kill their own
offering and then the priests took over.

The priests bled the animal and cut it up ceremonially. The priests
sprinkled the blood on the altar. Some of the internal organs and
legs were washed. They then burned it whole on the altar. The
aroma was said to be pleasing to God. The fire had to be
continually burning and was never extinguished.

o Fellowship Offering: (Leviticus 3: 7: 11-34)

A voluntary act of worship, thanks and fellowship:

This is called a fellowship offering because the sacrifice is eaten

communally instead of burned. Any clean animal, male or female
could be offered. Bread, both with and without yeast, was also part
of the offering. These were presented at the gate of the tent. The
priests would sprinkle the blood on the four corners of the altar. The
internal organs, the fat on them and the best part of the liver were
burned as a food offering. The rest had to be eaten within two days
or else it was burned also.

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 o Fasting in the Old Testament.
A. The Day of Atonement was observed by fasting, Leviticus 16:29-31.
1. Though the term “fasting” is not found in this text, the phrase
“You shall afflict your souls”was understood to be fasting (see
Acts 27:9).
2. This appears to be the only time fasting was actually
commanded in the Law.
3. This text also tells us something about the purpose of fasting on
this day. It was to have an effect on the soul, not necessarily on
the body. The goal of this affliction was a chastening
of the soul, Psalm 69:10. While the body abstains from food and
other pleasures, the mind (the soul) was to be grieved because of
the sins that had been committed.
B. There are numerous other occasions of fasting. People often fasted
(even though it was not commanded) in times of distress and difficulty.
1. Israel fasted during the war with the Philistines, 1 Samuel 7:6; an
appeal for God’s favor.
2. David fasted for his son when he was sick, 2 Samuel 12:16; an appeal
for God’s help.
3. David fasted at Saul and Jonathan’s death, 2 Samuel 1:11-12; an
expression of grief.
4. Israel fasted in seeking God’s forgiveness, Nehemiah 9:1-2; an
expression of repentance.
5. Esther fasted before seeing the king, Esther 4:16; an appeal for God’s
protection, etc.

 [Observation/Interpretation] What did the Israelites repent for?

o We don’t know for sure. But probably their self-
righteousness and their not being God-centered.

 [Application] How do we repent and focus on God today? Any

personal experiences?
o Fasting?!
o We don’t do ―offerings‖ anymore (as Jesus made that one
final sacrifice for us) – what do we do then? Privately and
publicly?
o Repentance = action. Feeling remorse is not enough.

DAY 3: Israelites relied on God and won. Benjamites relied on

themselves and thought they were winning – but were really
losing.

29
Then Israel set an ambush around Gibeah. 30 They went up against
the Benjamites on the third day and took up positions against Gibeah
as they had done before.

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 31
The Benjamites came out to meet them and were drawn away
from the city.
They began to inflict casualties on the Israelites as
before, so that about thirty men fell in the open field and
on the roads—the one leading to Bethel and the other to
Gibeah.
32
While the Benjamites were saying, "We are defeating them as
before,"
the Israelites were saying, "Let's retreat and draw them
away from the city to the roads."
33
All the men of Israel moved from their places and took up
positions at Baal Tamar, and the Israelite ambush charged out of
its place on the west [d] of Gibeah.
[e] 34
Then ten thousand of Israel's finest men made a
frontal attack on Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that
the Benjamites did not realize how near disaster was.
35
The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel,
and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites,
all armed with swords.
36
Then the Benjamites saw that they were beaten.
Now the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, because
they relied on the ambush they had set near Gibeah.
37
The men who had been in ambush made a sudden dash
into Gibeah, spread out and put the whole city to the
sword.
38
The men of Israel had arranged with the ambush
that they should send up a great cloud of smoke
from the city, 39 and then the men of Israel would
turn in the battle.
The Benjamites had begun to inflict casualties on the men of Israel
(about thirty), and they said, "We are defeating them as in the
first battle."
40
But when the column of smoke began to rise from the
city, the Benjamites turned and saw the smoke of the
whole city going up into the sky.
41
Then the men of Israel turned on them, and the
men of Benjamin were terrified, because they
realized that disaster had come upon them.
42
So they fled before the Israelites in the
direction of the desert, but they could not
escape the battle.
And the men of Israel who came out of
the towns cut them down there. 43 They
surrounded the Benjamites, chased them

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 and easily [f] overran them in the vicinity
of Gibeah on the east.
44
Eighteen thousand Benjamites
fell, all of them valiant fighters.
45
As they turned and fled
toward the desert to the rock
of Rimmon,
the Israelites cut down
five thousand men
along the roads.
They kept
pressing after the
Benjamites as far
as Gidom and
struck down two
thousand more.
46
On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of
them valiant fighters.
47
But six hundred men turned and fled into the desert to the
rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months.

 (Observation) Please describe their battle strategy:

o They got the Benjamite soldiers away from the town
o Then they attacked the city
o Then set fire
o The Benjamite soldiers got scared when they saw the fire –
and lost

 Point of interest: very similar strategy as Joshua 8

 (Interpretation) The Benjamites first thought they were winning

– as they had won before. What does that reveal about their
state of mind?
o They were relying on their own strength and experience –
they were self-centered and not God-centered

 (Application) Have we had similar experience – when we did

something wrong, it felt great at first, and then it went bad?

 (Observation) Let’s find all the references to the Benjamites who

got killed. What’s one commonality?
o They were all soliders.

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EPILOGUE: After having experienced God’s power and victory,
don’t get carried away!

48
The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to
the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All
the towns they came across they set on fire.

 (Observation) Who did the Israelites kill in the towns?

o Innocent brothers and sisters
o They were not gentiles – they were brothers and sisters –
no reason to kill them all

 (Interpretation) Why did they do that?

o Revenge? Self-righteousness?
o They got further away from God again
o They regretted their act in the next chapter

 (Application) Have we ever followed God closely – and may have

even experienced God deeply – and then we get self-
righteous/arrogant – and leave God?
o At point of victory – we lower our guard
o Remember – we have to pay when we leave God!

Summary

The Israelites, the Levite, and the Benjaminites were all acting
out of their own desire/will – they were all self-centered. God
allowed the war to happen – but He also used the war to teach
all parties involved a lesson – that they needed to return to
God, be God-centered.

Day 1: From less God-centered (and suffered) to more God-

centered (and realized their wrongdoing)

DAY 2: From defeat to repentance to becoming God-centered

DAY 3: Israelites relied on God and won. Benjamites relied on

themselves and thought they were winning – but were really
losing.

Epilogue – After having experienced God’s power and victory,

don’t get carried away!