Judges 20

At the end of Judges 19 a message was sent out to all the tribes. It was a message of judgment written in the mutilated flesh of a woman who had been raped and murdered by the men of Gibeah of the tribe of Benjamin. The message was a call to action to all the other tribes, and the men of war responded to that call and came together to hear what had happened and to do what had to be done against those who had committed this evil crime.

Peace was not easily achieved. The conflict escalated after the men of Benjamin refused to turn over the rapists to the people of Israel for justice. Because of their unwillingness to acknowledge the guilty and to purge the evil from Israel the entire tribe of Benjamin was now at war with all of Israel.

The people of Israel inquired of God and received a clear answer that they should go up and fight against Benjamin, yet when they did what they were told to do 22,000 of their own men lost their lives in battle. When they sought the Lord again the same instruction was given and again 18,000 of their own warriors lost their lives at the hands of their adversaries.

God used the stubborn Benjaminites for his own purposes against the rest of Israel. Israel came out to be agents of the Lord's vengeance against the tribe of Benjamin, but they were very surprised and dismayed when their own men were killed.

They sought the Lord a third time, and this time the message was not only to go up in battle, but it included an assurance that God would give the men of Benjamin into their hand. In the end 25,000 fighting men of the tribe of Benjamin died, but at what cost? Over 30,000 lost their lives from Judah and the other tribes.

Throughout the centuries of the history of Israel and the church, the Lord has used enemies to discipline His children. We don't want to see thousands of young men die, especially when the Lord seems to be using a conflict to humble everyone involved.

Perhaps these accounts of dysfunctional Old Testament life will give us some insight into the Lord's unusual providence within the church over these many centuries. When the church forgets that our crucified and risen Savior is King we will not go unpunished. Why? God disciplines those He loves. He is drawing us back to Himself, even through heartbreak.

When we see warfare within the body of Christ where everyone seems to lose, there is only one course of action that makes any sense. We must remember again that God is King in Israel. We must acknowledge again with our mouths and our lives that Jesus is Lord. We must turn again to the Word of His grace that is able to build us up and to give us an inheritance among all who are being sanctified. See Acts 20:30-32 where Paul warns the Ephesian elders that trouble will arise from within their number.

If we humble ourselves under God's almighty hand, He will lift us up again. At just the right time He will more fully establish His kingdom, and the King who gives us grace upon grace will grant to us the fullness of joy in His presence and true peace with one another through Jesus Christ our Lord.