Judges 20 - The Wickedness of the Tribe of Dan | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Judges 20 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.

In Judges 20 all Israel gathers at Mizpah, just a few miles from Gibeah, to go to war against Benjamin, an army of 400,000. The Levite gives a version of the story which is modified for effect and the Israelites are outraged and commit ten percent of their fighting men to this campaign.

Benjamin has gone off the rails as a tribe. They would rather defend their own evil than defend the law of the Lord. So Israel attacks. Initially 22,000 Israelite men die in battle. Then another 18,000 additional men die bringing the total to 40,000 in total, symbolic of a big test. Then we see the mention of Phinehas the high priest consulting the Lord for them.

Here we have one zealous for the Lord, the grandson of Aaron, but in the previous chapter is Jonathan the grandson of Moses who seemed to have no clue about what God required. This is also an indication about which part of the history of Judges this story appears. It is probably within the first 50 years after the conquest. Now 25,100 fighters from Benjamin die and the battle turns against them. In their zeal for what is right, the Israelites do a much better job destroying Benjamin than they had done removing the Canaanites from the land.

Benjamin effectively disappears leaving only 600 men, no women or children. So in the book of Judges we see two tribes with issues, first Benjamin, and later Ephraim, both greatly humbled and cut down to size. It’s easy to judge the Israelites, and much harder to avoid the same sins ourselves. We all fall into them, and must learn to rely on the Lord and not assume His will in anything.