Jebus Crepus                                      May 1, 2009

Did you know that you can be obedient to the Lord, and still be defeated?

Hold on.

Before you stone me, let me show you something that I have always wondered about in the Bible.

I can't pretend to completely understand this, and frankly, it goes against my grain, but it is still in the Word of God, so it must be true, and important.

In the book of Judges chapter 19, we find a Levite who takes this girl to be his concubine.

I really don't quite get that, because in the next chapter, he is referred to as the girl's father's son-in-law.

At least in the NIV.

This girl isn't a nice respectable woman either.

She takes off, goes back home, and starts fooling around.

After 4 months, this guy decides to go after her.

4 months, doesn't seem like he is in a big hurry to get her back, does it.

When he goes to her parent's house, he finds the girl, and after several delays, he heads home with her.

They stop for the night in a town called Jebus.

I would have called it Jebus Crepus.

They stop in the village square, and this old man begs them to come to his house for the night, and not to try to sleep outdoors.

He knows what kind of a town this is, and what sort of people live there.

If you read on in this chapter, you see just what nice people they were.

They wanted to have sex with him, and pounded on the doors.

Sure reminds me of Sodom and Gomorra.

Well, to make a short story longer, they end up putting the concubine out instead, and the village people end up killing her in a horrible manner.

The Levite notifies all the tribes of Israel what has happened, and the people fly into a justified rage.

You have to read it for yourself, for the gory details, and they certainly are that!

Let's jump forward to chapter 20.

JUDGES 20:1 Then all the sons of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, came out, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah.

2 And the chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, took their stand in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 foot soldiers who drew the sword.

That is a serious army.

The Benjaminites hear about this, and they know that they are in serious trouble, for these people who had done such a despicable thing, and for allowing them to reach that point of total moral decay.

So the fellow asks the leaders what he should do about this.

They say that they will all go up against the Benjaminites, who were their cousins, and destroy them.

JUDGES 20:12 Then the tribes of Israel sent men through the entire tribe of Benjamin, saying, "What is this wickedness that has taken place among you?

13 "Now then, deliver up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove this wickedness from Israel." But the sons of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.

You see? The whole tribe of people were defending, and hiding these wicked, and perverted killers.

Rather than just handing them over, they refused.

Not a good idea, by the way.

In fact, they did more than just hide them, look at this.

JUDGES 20:14 And the sons of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel.

They actually decided to fight for them, to literally start a war in defense of them, and their sins.

They had just 26,700 men, against 400,000.

That alone would make me think twice, but not them.

When sin is involved, and Satan is ruling, logic, and common sense, goes right out the door.

JUDGES 20:18 Now the sons of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God, and said, "Who shall go up first for us to battle against the sons of Benjamin?" Then the Lord said, "Judah shall go up first."

OK, the Israelites aren't going to just rush into battle, they have the wits enough to check with the Lord first.

JUDGES 20:19 So the sons of Israel arose in the morning and camped against Gibeah.

20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel arrayed for battle against them at Gibeah.

21 Then the sons of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and felled to the ground on that day 22,000 men of Israel.

26,700 men fought 400,000 men, and killed 22,000 of them.

That's pretty amazing.

You'd think the sheer number of the army would have just crushed them, but they didn't.

JDG 20:23 And the sons of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and inquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall we again draw near for battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin?" And the Lord said, "Go up against him."

You see, they couldn't understand it either.

They had done what the Lord had told them to do, yet they lost.

So they go up against the bad guys again, still massively out-numbering them.

JUDGES 20:24 Then the sons of Israel came against the sons of Benjamin the second day.

Once again, being obedient to the word of the Lord.

JUDGES 20:25 And Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah the second day and felled to the ground again 18,000 men of the sons of Israel; all these drew the sword.

Woe, it happened again.

This little band of bad guys, killed 18,000 of the trained soldiers of Israel.

This is not right.

Something must be wrong.

JUDGES 20:26 Then all the sons of Israel and all the people went up and came to Bethel and wept; thus they remained there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening. And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

In verse 28, they ask a third time, and this time the Lord says something different to them

JUDGES 20:28 and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, Aaron's son, stood before it to minister in those days), saying, "Shall I yet again go out to battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin, or shall I cease?" And the Lord said, "Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand."

Now, God hadn't told them that He was going to deliver the enemy into their hand before, He had just told them to go up, and fight.

If you read on, you see that the Israelites did have a great victory that day.

But what is the deal with the 2 losses before that?

Didn't God tell them to go up, and fight?

Didn't He actually tell them that Judah was supposed to go up first?

That sounds like pretty specific instructions to me.

I put the keyboard down, and asked the Lord to explain this to me.

As I walked out of the room, I received it.

It took about 3 seconds for God to answer me.

I will tell you exactly what He said, with no additions, omissions, or translations.

“Haven't you ever prayed for someone, and they aren't healed on the spot?

Haven't you witnessed to someone, only to have them reject it?

The victory isn't always in the proof, often it is in the obedience.”

The light came on!

They lost, not because they were disobedient, or hadn't had enough faith, or didn't confess enough verses.

They lost twice, because the Lord wanted them to be obedient, even in the face of defeat, and death.

Also, He wanted them to come to Him with fasting, and in complete trust, and submission.

How do we approach the Lord?

Do we demand?

Do we beg?

Do we whine?

Do we command?

We need to learn the best way to approach the thrown of God, and that is on our knees.

On our knees in the spirit, and maybe even in the flesh.

Be submissive to Him, even when you lose.

Maybe you didn't mess it up after all.

God certainly didn't abandon you.

Maybe He has a completely different agenda than you do.

In fact, I am sure of that!

Let the Lord be God, and not yourself.

We can't do it anyway, so just obey, and let the results fall on God's shoulders.

Let's pray.