After such a heinous end to the concubine wife of the Levite man, the other tribes gathered to seek a resolution to this grotesque problem with the Benjamites and the perversion of the men who harmed the woman and sought to kill the man. They decided to go to war with them because they wouldn’t give up the individual culprits. They engaged in two battles with them but were unsuccessful and lost 40,000 men. They were dismayed because of their righteous cause and expected God to back them up. However, since they didn’t seek him with all their heart, he allowed them to lose their first two battles. Before they went against the Benjamites the third time, they prayed, fasted, and offered sacrifices to God. That’s when God promised success. This time, they sent out regiments to surround the Benjamite city of Gibeah and succeeded. They killed all but 600 men who escaped into the mountains and burned down the towns after killing all the inhabitants. This same outcome happens to us when we engage in our personal battles because sometimes we go to war thinking we have a righteous cause, expecting God to side with us. However, when we don’t seek him with all our hearts, giving him all the honor he deserves, he may let us fail until we learn that the battles belong to him and that we have no part in the success. Pay attention to your actions and don’t automatically assume success because you are a Christian and the cause is righteous; confess your sin, like the sacrifices they made for cleansing, pray with all your heart, fast so you can hear God clearly, and he will be with you in your battles.
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. Judges 20:26
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