Judges 20:29-48
29 Then Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah. 30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in battle array against Gibeah as at the other times. 31 So the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. They began to strike down and kill some of the people, as at the other times, in the highways (one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah) and in the field, about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the children of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us, as at first.”
But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” 33 So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel’s men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba. 34 And ten thousand select men from all Israel came against Gibeah, and the battle was fierce. But the Benjamites did not know that disaster was upon them. 35 The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel. And the children of Israel destroyed that day twenty-five thousand one hundred Benjamites; all these drew the sword.
36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel had given ground to the Benjamites, because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. 37 And the men in ambush quickly rushed upon Gibeah; the men in ambush spread out and struck the whole city with the edge of the sword. 38 Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise up from the city, 39 whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty of the men of Israel. For they said, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.” 40 But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke to heaven. 41 And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them. 42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and whoever came out of the cities they destroyed in their midst. 43 They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily trampled them down as far as the front of Gibeah toward the east. 44 And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor. 45 Then they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon; and they cut down five thousand of them on the highways. Then they pursued them relentlessly up to Gidom, and killed two thousand of them. 46 So all who fell of Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all these were men of valor.
47 But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months. 48 And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them down with the edge of the sword—from every city, men and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to.
They did not know that disaster was upon them due to their pride of being unable to be defeated in their blindness to the LORD’s word and power to hold them accountable for the heinous sin of Gibeah. It will be likewise true for all who reject Jesus Christ and the gospel of His merciful grace (2 Thessalonians 1:8); they will be defeated utterly and eternally as they are drawn out from their places of feigned security that are protected by a false trust in their own abilities (Romans 1:22) and belief opposed to God’s word. The tribe of the Benjamites chose to protect their own of Gibeah, even though what those intended to do to the Levite and did to his concubine was clearly known but defended against God to pro their own in the face of such heinous abomination. The LORD promised Israel that He would honor His name by using them to defeat these who defended such sin (Romans 1:26, 27, 32) by drawing them out in their misplaced confidence backing their sin and cutting them off by the sword. The sword of God’s word is even sharper than (Hebrews 4:12, 13) our planning and plotting, and will separate the unrighteous from the sheep who hear His voice (Matthew 25:32, 46, John 10:3-4) and follow into holiness in the righteousness of Christ because they hear and obey His voice in the gospel to turn from sin to Him and not reject it for their temporary passing pleasures of sin. We see here how the righteous were used to defeat the unrighteous despite their own mortal strength because they opposed the righteousness of God. In the end at the final judgment, then lord Himself will defeat the disbelievers who refuse to heed His word with the sword of His word (Revelation 19:15) of decisive judgment. How much better then to hear and heed the gospel of reconciling grace to forgive our most heinous sins and bring victory (Romans 8:37, 1 Corinthians 15:57, 1 John 5:4-5, Revelation 21:7, 8) to us in Him? Jesus Christ is the ultimate Judge and only Deliverer as none in the time of the book of Judges ever could attaint to as they pointed to our need for Him. The message is clear: remembering the unseen disaster on our pride, instead of resisting the gospel call to righteousness, repent from such heinous and even seemingly mundane sins to enter into eternity under His wings of grace and forgiveness.
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