I Wish I Went to Jebus Part II

“But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD:
and be sure your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23

Over sixty-five thousand men died as a result of what the men of Gibeah did to a Levite priest and his wife. It’s sadly noted too that this conflict happened within two generations after the death of Aaron. Aaron was the chief priest of Israel alongside Moses at the time of the exodus. More astonishing, this incident occurred one generation after Joshua challenged Israel saying: “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”  (Joshua 24:15)

Was Joshua’s admonition prophetic? Yes, even down to the detail of their turning away from God. The men of Gibeah, who were referred to as the sons of Belial (the Devil), followed the course of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, which occurred ‘on the other side of the flood.’ It appeared the rest of the tribes served the gods of the Amorites, which were present in the land that they settled. However, none served God; all sinned. Of course, by comparison, what the men of Gibeah did was more abhorrent in the eyes of the children of Israel, than was their own sin. It was such an abomination that the children of Israel had no choice but to purge the land of it. To put how they felt in possible perspective, consider how the world would come together today if it learned of another Jewish holocaust. The German holocaust; as was true of what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, remains fresh in memory. It is a terrible reality, but millions, if not billions throughout history have died as a result of the sin of a particular man or men and their willing participants. In fact, all death is the consequence of sin; it’s just that death comes more gently when it comes in the quiet of night, by ones—not by a mass lost in a flood, a war or death camp. Nonetheless….

Saints and sinners. Sinners and saints; all must die, let death acquaint. Oh, how the mighty men of valor fell those days. The children of Israel lost 40,000 men; twenty-two thousand on the first day; 18,000 the second. The tribe of Benjamin saw 25,100 of their men fall to the sword. You might wonder how it was that the children of Israel lost more men than the tribe of Benjamin. Well, first Israel brought more men: 400,000 compared to Benjamin’s 26,000, which meant that Israel lost 10 percent of their army compared to 97 percent of Benjamin’s force. Still, one could believe that the children of Israel, which had such a noble and good cause, would have suffered less. I would answer that, ‘probably, if they hadn’t sinned in their own standing.’ In a way, it appeared that God applied to Israel a rule that Jesus spoke of us, “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?” Matthew 7:2-4 Can you see how this was fulfilled in what happened? I certainly do, and I would suspect that our failure in applying this principle of judgment and admonition of personal accountability is the root of many such tragic human experiences and devastation. In this instance, God used both the measure of judgment that Israel planned to apply to Gibeah (death of those men), and in Israel’s losses, they were ultimately taught to remove the beam (some translations use log) that was in their own eyes before they could remove the mote (or speck) from the eye of Benjamin. To learn that lesson, Israel had to suffer two days before they realized their error.    

On the first day, Israel went to Phinehas, the chief priest, and asked him to inquire of the Lord which tribe should lead against Gibeah. God answered, ‘Send Judah.’ Israel subsequently lost 22,000 men and the battle, and the men of Israel went before God weeping. I can imagine them asking, ‘Why? Oh why? Did we not go up against Gibeah to make right a terrible wrong?’ The problem is, they didn’t inquire whether they should go up at all. No, they had already made up their minds what God wanted, and they were going to purge their sin their own way, even as many today think they can purge their sin through goods works and some such stuff. For Israel, all they wanted was for God to tell them which tribe would lead the way. They presumed God’s answer implied their victory. Wrong! As for their weeping, they had lost many of their own. They didn’t weep over their sin. If they had, then they knew what was needed to be done, but they didn’t get there until the evening of the second day.  

On the second day, Israel was getting the idea, but they still weren’t addressing the log. They asked Phinehas to inquire whether they should go up against the children of Benjamin at all. (That’s kind of like saying, I don’t know if I want to talk about my brother’s speck; not if I have to deal with my own log.) God’s answer to Phinehas was yes, but then they lost 18,000 men and the battle yet again! What in the world is going on here? What did they have to do? Now consider what happened after that second loss: “Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.” Yes! Oh, if we only learned to worship Him in the manner that He established! They went to where God was to be worshipped, sat before Him, wept, fasted and rendered burnt and peace offerings for their sins. They confessed and humbled themselves before God. They acknowledged their sins; removed the log, and with that, they asked again whether they should go up, and if they did, would they be victorious. God’s answer, ‘Yes,’ and on the third day (hmmm, something always tends to be very, very good happening on the third day), they were victorious: led by Judah (from the tribe our Lord descended), and their sins were purged.

Now, I don’t know about you, but looking back when I approached God in my life, I did it my way, and needless to say, my prayers weren’t answered. As a matter of fact, things often got worse before I got it through my thick head and still thicker heart, that I had to address my own sin first! Thank God, however, that He is gracious and merciful!

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9