Judges 21:25
King James Version
25 In those days there was no king in Israel:
every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
It's a sad day when brothers fight brothers.
Or when tribes fight other tribes.
Such happened when Israel had no king.
The fight started when a Levite's concubine was killed.
Judges 20:4-7
King James Version
4 And the Levite,
the husband of the woman that was slain,
answered and said,
I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin,
I and my concubine, to lodge.
5 And the men of Gibeah rose 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.
6 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.
7 Behold, ye are all children of Israel;
give here your advice and counsel.
Judges 19:30
King James Version
30 And it was so, that all that saw it said,
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:
consider of it,
take advice,
and speak your minds.
In response, the men of Israel made a decision:
Judges 20:8-11
King James Version
8 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.
9 But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah;
we will go up by lot against it;
10 And we will take ten men of an hundred
throughout all the tribes of Israel,
and an hundred of a thousand,
and a thousand out of ten thousand,
to fetch victual 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.
11 So all the men of Israel
were gathered against the city,
knit together as one man.
The children of Israel demanded the surrender of the wicked men.
The tribe of Benjamin was one of the 12 tribes of Israel.
Judges 20:12-13
King James Version
12 And the tribes of Israel sent men
through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying,
What wickedness is this that is done among you?
13 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.
The children of Benjamin and the children of Israel prepared to go to war.
Judges 20:14-17
King James Version
14 But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves
together out of the cities unto Gibeah,
to go out to battle against the children of Israel.
15 And the children of Benjamin
were numbered at that time out of the cities
twenty and six thousand men that drew sword,
beside the inhabitants of Gibeah,
which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
16 Among all this people
there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded;
every one could sling stones at an hair breadth,
and not miss.
17 And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin,
were numbered four hundred thousand men
that drew sword: all these were men of war.
Having no king, the children of Israel sought the counsel of GOD:
Judges 20:18
King James Version
18 And the 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.
The result of the battle?
Judges 20:19-21
King James Version
19 And the children of Israel rose up in the morning,
and encamped against Gibeah.
20 And the men of Israel
went out to battle against Benjamin;
and the men of Israel put themselves in array
to fight against them at Gibeah.
21 And the children of Benjamin
came forth out of Gibeah,
and destroyed down to the ground
of the Israelites that day
twenty and two thousand men.
After losing 22,000 men, the children of Israel sought GOD again:
Judges 20:23
King James Version
23 (And the children of Israel went up
and wept before the Lord until even,
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.)
The result of the second battle?
Judges 20:24-25
King James Version
24 And the children of Israel came near
against the children of Benjamin the second day.
25 And Benjamin went forth against them
out of Gibeah the second day,
and destroyed down to the ground
of the children of Israel again
eighteen thousand men;
all these drew the sword.
After losing 18,000 men, the children of Israel sought GOD a third time:
Judges 20:26-28
King James Version
26 Then all the children of Israel,
and all the people, went up,
and came unto the house of God,
and wept, and sat there before the Lord,
and fasted that day until even,
and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings
before the Lord.
27 And the children of Israel enquired of the Lord,
(for the ark of the covenant of God was there
in those days,
28 And Phinehas,
the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron,
stood before it in those days,) saying,
Shall I yet again go out to battle
against the children of Benjamin my brother,
or shall I cease?
And the Lord said,
Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them
into thine hand.
The result of the third battle?
Judges 20:35
King James Version
35 And the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel:
and the children of Israel destroyed
of the Benjamites that day
twenty and five thousand and an hundred men:
all these drew the sword.
Judges 20:46-48
King James Version
46 So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were
twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword;
all these were men of valour.
47 But six hundred men turned
and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon,
and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.
48 And the men of Israel turned again
upon the children of Benjamin,
and smote them with the edge of the sword,
as well the men of every city,
as the beast, and all that came to hand:
also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.
The point of this article?
In any kind of war, when GOD says you will have the victory, you surely will.
We need the anointing of the LORD, that our efforts may bear fruit.
Only GOD has the capability to see the end, from the beginning.
Isaiah 46:10
King James Version
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done,
saying,
My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure:
The next article explores how PEACE can come to Jerusalem, and Israel.
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