ALL IN GOD'S TIME

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What about this awful crime that was committed among you? Now surrender those wicked men of Gibeah so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel."

But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites. From their towns, they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites. At once, the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred chosen men from those living in Gibeah. Among all these soldiers, there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fighting men.

The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, "Who of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?"

The Lord replied, "Judah shall go first."

The next morning the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah. The men of Israel went out to fight the Benjamites and took up battle positions against them at Gibeah. The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day. But the men of Israel encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day. 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."

Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day. 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.

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 to the Lord. And the Israelites inquired of the Lord. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, 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."

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

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."

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 of Gibeah. 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. The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day, the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords. 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. The men who had been in ambush made a sudden dash into Gibeah, spread out, and put the whole city to the sword. The men of Israel had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city, 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." 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. Then the men of Israel turned on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified, because they realized that disaster had come upon them. 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. They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily overran them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east. Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters. 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.

On that day, twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters. But six hundred men turned and fled into the desert to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months. 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.

Judges 20:12-48

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we look at the remaining verses of Judges, chapter 20, we see where all of Israel was joined together to exact justice on the Benjamites for the brutally sinful actions of some of their men.

You’ll recall a group of Gibeathite males wanted to have sex with a Levite who the guest of an older man in Gibeah. Unwilling to allow the men to sexually assault the Levite homosexually, the older man suggested that they take his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine in his place.

As the story played out, we saw where only the concubine was turned over to the men who then raped her and leaving her to die on the doorstep of the older man’s home. After this, you’ll remember that the Levite did something horrific, cutting up the concubine’s body into twelve pieces, before sending one piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Their reaction to what had happened brought the Israelites together for a common cause…to ensure that there would be justice for the concubine’s murder so that the offenders didn’t go unpunished.

As we turn to our scripture passage for today, we see where the Israelites try and handle the matter at the lowest level possible, simply asking the Benjamites to hand over those responsible for the rape and murder of the concubine woman. It didn’t need to get into anything above that but unfortunately, the Benjamites didn’t accept the offer. Instead, they “came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites”, mobilizing “twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns in addition to seven hundred chosen men from those living in Gibeah”. From those initial 26,700 troops, there were “seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss”.

So essentially, the Benjamites were loaded and ready to face Israel who had their numbers as well. The scriptures tell us that they mustered “four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fighting men” and once assembled, they advanced to Bethel. There, we find the people of Israel coming before God and asking this:

"Who of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?"  

To which the Lord responded:

“Judah shall go first."

And so the Israelites “pitched camp near Gibeah” the next morning before heading out to “fight the Benjamites”, taking up “battle positions against them”. We read where things didn’t go well for them as the “Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day”. The outcome was devastating for Israel but the men “encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day”.

The results of the first day obviously left the people of Israel shaken. We read where they “went up and wept before the Lord until evening” before asking Him:

“Shall we go up again to battle against the Benjamites, our brothers?"

We see where the Lord tells them to do so again.

And so the Israelites, most probably armed with renewed confidence, “drew near to Benjamin the second day” and went into battle but the results weren’t much better than the first day. For we read where the Benjamites “cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords”.

In case you’re not keeping score, that was 40,000 Israelite troops killed by the Benjamites in two days...leaving the Israelites returning to the Lord for some answers. They went up to Bethel and “sat weeping before the Lord”. They also fasted until evening and presented “burnt offerings and fellowship offerings” to the Lord before inquiring of Him one more time in regard to the fight against the Benjamites. They asked:

“Shall we go up again to battle with Benjamin our brother, or not?"

And this time, the Lord replied:

“Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands."

And so it was.

For the scriptures show us that the Israelites took a page out of Joshua’s playbook when he went up against Ai, the city he took down after Jericho. We read where they divided up their fighting force with some men drawing the Benjamite fighting force out away from their city while the rest of the men lied in wait to ambush the city once the Benjamite army left it defenseless.

We see in our passage where the strategy worked beautifully, just as it had done prior, with the Israelites gaining victory. The toll was very high for the Benjamites who lost “twenty-five thousand…swordsmen” as well as all of their towns.

Israel’s bloody civil war had ended.

Well, this account of the war between the Israelites and the Benjamites carries with it an important point to remember…

Things happen in God’s time, not our own.

You see, Israel knew something had to be done in response to the attack on the Levite’s concubine and it did the right thing in going to battle with the Benjamites. We   should note that God never told them not to. We should also see that He never assured them victory until just before the third day because that was the time when He deemed victory would occur.

In other words, the Israelites would win when He wanted them to win.

And so the battle lasted three days with heavy losses before the final triumph happened.  The men of Israel knew the possibility was always there that they might die on the battlefield and the Lord never assured any of them that they would survive the fighting. For the matters of life and death also happen on God's timetable…just like the Israelite victory in battle.

In regard to this truth about the timing of things and how that timing is in the hands of a perfect God, we too often get into trouble because of our impatience. For too many times, we expect God to operate on our schedule and in accordance with our expectations and wants.

Friends, it just doesn’t work that way. It didn’t in biblical times and it still doesn’t today. For when it comes right down to it, no person has the right to dictate anything to the Lord. Rather, it is He who dictates everything to us…and then it’s our responsibility to respond to His desires according to His will, not our own. Of interest, I have found that in those times when I am forced to wait on the Lord, He is at work instilling and refining patience within me(one of the fruits of the Spirit…Galatians 5:22-23). Maybe you can relate.

Well, before I close, there’s one last important point to remember about life and the timing of things being in God’s hands. For we all are going to die some day. It’s inevitable and no one knows when that time will come. This is because that time is in the hands of the same Lord who breathed life into us. He is our Maker and Master…and all people belong to Him, whether they acknowledge it or not.

Indeed, God places us into His creation and He will also take us out of it…in the time He has so set. And this could become a harrowing, certain truth, the certainty of knowing any one moment in life could be our last, if it wasn’t for the eternal promise we have in Jesus Christ…who we know came from Heaven to earth at God’s appointed time, in God’s appointed place, to God’s appointed parents, living for God’s appointed period of time before dying in God’s appointed time and place…all in support of God’s ultimate plan to provide salvation to sinners like you and me.

Because of Jesus and God’s promise of eternal life for those who believe and trust in Him, we need never fear death for we know that through Christ, it’s not the end but just the awesome beginning of a new and perfect life, a holy life shared with the Father and the Son forever.

It’s this truth that liberates Christian believers to love and learn in life…doing both with a special peace and joy grounded in the sure hope we have in Jesus, a sure hope that removes our fear of death because we know the best is yet to come…all in God’s perfect time.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.