And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.
When I came to this verse I was amazed that Phinehas was still around at this time. Phinehas made his debut back in the book of Numbers when he stayed the plague by driving that javelin through Zimri and his girlfriend. That was on the other side of Jordan. I’m certain that this passage in the book of Judges is out of chronological order.
Since the Jordan, we’ve seen Joshua conquer 31 kings, we’ve seen quite a lot happen and through many years. Othniel judged 40 years. Moab reigned 18 years. Ehud brought 80 years of rest. There was 40 years after Deborah. Then you have Gideon, his son Abimelech, Jephtha, and then Samson. So I doubt seriously that Phinehas lived that long as if chapter 20 happened last in the order of things.
In fact, I believe that all of Israel coming together to stamp out the tribe of Benjamin was in the character of Israel in the earlier years of Judges. Phinehas no doubt facilitated the attacks. Israel in the days of the later judges, I think not would have united as such.
If you remember, he was the one who had gone over into the the plain of Moab, to Rueben, Gad, and Mannaseh and threatened them after they built that altar at Jordan. He said, “Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day?” He’s referring all the way back to the other side of Jordan, when he killed Zimri and stayed the plague on the Israelites for the whoredoms with the Moabite god, Baal-peor. In other words he was asking, “Do I need to finish the job?”
This assault on Benjamin is very much in the character of Phinehas. He was ready to go to war against the three tribes on the other side of Jordan over an altar. He was very zealous about the Word of God and the law of God. And in this passage, I believe we see the reality of serving God and the bittersweet victories that God affords his children in order to prove them.
Most people know this story. Briefly, this is probably the strangest, most difficult to read, terrible passages of the Old Testament. A Levite’s concubine plays the whore and runs away, back home in fact. She is recovered but on the way back to their homeland, they stopped in the town of Gibeah and lodged with an old man there. There the vile sodomite men of the city compassed the house and demanded that the traveling Levite be delivered to them to rape him. The old man offered his daughter and the Levite’s concubine instead. The sodomites would not hearken, but the Levite gave them his concubine. She was abused all night and left for dead at threshold of the door of the house.
It gets worst. He takes her body home and cuts it up into twelve pieces and sends them out across the land of Israel as a testimony to the lewness and folly that the men of Gibeah (Benjamites) had committed. After the news had spread, the Bible says, “All the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.” They delcared that one out of ten men were to be gathered to do battle against the children of Benjamin; and 400,000 mean gathered to war. They demanded that Benjamin deliver the men of Gibeah that committed these atrocities. But the children of Benjamin would not have it. They instead gathered themselves for war against all of Israel. They gathered 26,000 men including 700 men from Gibeah.
The Bible then says that the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God and asked counsel of God as to which tribe will up first against Benjamin. Enter Phinehas the high priest in the house of God. So upon the shoulders of Phinehas was this burden brought to the Lord. And God said that Judah shall go up first. That day the army of Benjamite held back and destroyed 22,000 of the men of Israel. It was a great slaughter.
And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? (Judges 20:23)
It was Phinehas that delivered the order to fight, the order that would cost them 22,000 men. Thus it was Phinehas that lead in lamentation. They wept before the Lord for the lewd and perverted had prevailed against the children of Israel. Were they to go home and let Benjamin be or were they to continue in battle? They inquired of the Lord again. And once again Phinehas delivered the news, “Go up against him!”
So the children of Israel with heavy hearts go up again against Benjamin to deliver justice and avenge their brethren. Surely Benjamin is weak now. Surely they are no match for a 400,000 man army. But alas, the Benjamites prevail again. 18,000 men of Israel fell on this second day of battle. That’s 40,000 men; one out of ten. Of the one out of ten that were gathered, one out of ten were killed.
Defeated and discouraged they went before the Lord. They wept and prayed and fasted until evening and offered burnt-offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. The Bible says that Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before the ark of the covenant and said, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease?” I can see Phinehas collapsing under such a heavy burden, tears streaming from his eyes, and crying, “Shall I yet again go?” Oh what pain he must felt and what anguish he endured to come before God in such a situation. This was the man that thurst Zimri through; the man that so confidently rebuked Rebuen, Gad, and Mannaseh for their altar; now broken, defeated, discouraged, and weeping before God.
God would give them victory the next day, but at such a cost. There’s so many lessons here we may learn, I don’t even know where to go. But there is question that Moses asks of God comes to mind, “O God, the God of the spirit of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?” (Numbers 16:22) God was going to destroy the whole congregation for Korah’s rebellion, but Moses and Aaron fell on their face and uttered this prayer. There was something in the prayer of Moses that stayed his hand.
I don’t know Phinehas’ heart or the heart of the congregation and all this is speculation, but there’s something sobering about these three words in his prayer: Benjamin my brother. I don’t know all the matter, but maybe the third time their hearts were finally right for the task. I wonder, do we weep and suffer for sins and follies of our loved ones? Consider the words of Jesus.
And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. (Mark 9:29)
The children of Israel, wept, and sat before the Lord, and fasted after that second defeat. How many of us are willing to pay the price? Paul said, “That I may know him… and the fellowship of his sufferings.” (Phillipians 3:10) I’m not trying to be a downer, but sometimes I wonder if we really want to know him? Where is our burden for the lost and for the backslidden? When have we left the ninety-nine? When have we swept the house? When have we sold all that we have? O Lord, give us a burden.
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:5)
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