This was often known as the famous “days of Gibeah” to the Israelites (Hosea 10:9), where a great tragedy happened among the people of Israel. It was an ugly story of violence by some leaders of Gibeah against a Levite and his concubine. A Levite and his concubine were travelling from Bethlehem to Ephraim. As it was getting late, they decided to stay in Gibeah for a night and was hosted by an old man. During the night, some wicked menof Gibeah went to the old man’s house and these men violated and killed the concubine. To bring attention to this outrage, the devasted husband chopped up the concubine’s body into many pieces and sent one to each of the tribes of Israel.

The other tribes were enraged by the sinful acts of these people who were from the tribe of Benjamin. Four hundred thousand men with swords, from all tribes came together to confront the tribe of Benjamin and demanded that they release the wicked men of Gibeah to be punished. The tribe of Benjamin would not listened to the voices of their brothers, and they fought against the tribes of Israel. At least twenty five thousands Benjaminite and forty thousands of the rest of the tribes were killed in the battles. Israel knew the “days of Gibeah” as one of the most tragic incident in the history of Israel, where Israel had to see blood against their own brothers.

What was puzzling in this narrative was that Israel had inquired of God before they fought the tribe of Benjamin, not once, not twice, but three times and in each time God seemed to have responded to them. Yet Israel lost the first two fights to the Benjaminites. So what went wrong? The attitude of Israel was one of vengeance rather than for reconciliation. They had assumed that God would expect them to take revenge against the tribe of Benjamin. However, when a national crisis as terrible as this happens, it would be expected for the entire Israel to come before God for self-searching and repentance. In Judges 2, when the angel of the Lord rebuked the Israelites of their sins, ALL the people lifted up their voices and wept...And they sacrificed there to the Lord. It was expected that ALL of them would come together to seek God in repentance.

Contrary to soul searching and repentance, in this narrative in verse 2, ALL the children of Israel gathered together with their swords drawn. Their inquiry to God was not from a posture of self-searching to ask if they have sinned against God and what they should do with the tribe of Benjamin. They had decided themselves that their brother deserve to be punished. They had drawn their sword even before they inquire of God. Their first inquiry before they set off to fight was not whether they should go, but “Who shall go up first for us to fight against the people of Benjamin?” (v18)

After they lost their first battle, the question then became “Shall we again draw near to fight against our brothers, the people of Benjamin?”(v23) But pay attention to the details in the sequence of actions. They had formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day before they inquired of the Lord. This meant that the second inquiry continued to be formalities.

It was only after they lost their second battle, the entire army went up up to Bethel, to weep, fast and finally to offer their sacrifices to the Lord. Then they seek the Lord and asked, “Shall we go out once more to battle against our brothers, the people of Benjamin, or shall we cease?” (v28a) Finally they humbled themselves before God to seek Him before the fight. Note the response from God, it was only on the third inquiry that God told them that He will give Benjamin into their hands (v28b).The entire Israel were so caught up with their self-righteousness nature, that they fail to see the need to seek the Lord and His will. The sinful nature of Israel in this case is so subtle. It looked as if they were seeking the Lord, when the truth is they had already planned their course of action. As a result of that, forty thousand of their army was lost.

Dear brothers and sisters, are there plans in our lives where we make assuming that they are from God when it is actually self-serving? Just because it is pious, does not always mean that it is according to the heart of God. This requires us to humble ourselves and search our own hearts in accordance to His truth. Paul calls us to test and approve God’s will by not conforming to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. To seek not our own patterns, but God’s pattern of life. Our piety can sometimes be deceiving.