“The leaders of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 foot soldiers armed with swords.-Judges 20:12-13
Verse 2 kicks things off with the announcement that 11 of the tribes gathered at Mitzpah to prepare for war.
The Hebrew phrase used to describe this assembly is KAHAL HA EDAH.
Literally this means the “congregation of the people”.
This phrase is usually used to refer to a gathering of people who have come together to worship the Lord.
So although this wasn’t an official holy war, it was a holy gathering.
The reason why I say it isn’t a typical holy war is because in the history of mankind there is only one God-ordained official holy war…
And that war is the battle to take the Holy Land…
A war Y’shua will finish when he returns.
Now there are a couple of important points to be gleaned from some of the details here we’d be remiss to overlook.
FIRST, we’re told 400,000 foot soldiers showed up.
This is evidence of the early date of this event even though it was recorded about 300 years after the fact.
We can see the Hebrews to a degree still viewed themselves as one unified nation just like they did back in the good ‘ole days of Joshua.
Remember this portion of Judges actually occurred at the beginning of the era of the Shophetim when Othniel was judge.
However, soon after Israel became very divided with each tribe only giving two hoots about themselves.
Keep in mind when the Levite sent out the 12 pieces of the concubine’s body to the 12 tribes, the tribal prince of Benjamin also got his portion.
It was expected his tribe would join the other 11 tribes to punish the rapists in his territory in Gibeah.
But instead the leadership of Benjamin decided to protect those murdering scoundrels instead.
So make no mistake about it.
The tribe of Benjamin knew what was happening and that the other tribes were preparing to war against them.
Once everyone had gathered at Mitzpah, the Levite was asked to state his case.
We shouldn’t be surprised that with a straight face he lied right through his teeth.
He claimed the men of Gibeah…“wanted to kill me, but instead they raped my concubine to death”.
Yeah right.
What a bunch of bs.
So right from the get-go, we see that things aren’t getting off to a good start.
Let’s take a quick look at verse 8 before finishing up for today.
“All the people stood up
in agreement and said,
‘None of us will go home
to his tent or his house.'”
The 11 tribes are making a vow before God that they aren’t going to return home until justice is done.
Notice the part where it says they won’t return to their “tent” or their “house”.
The Hebrew here is OHEL for tent and BAYITH for house (a dwelling place constructed out of stone, brick or wood).
Again, this is further evidence of just how early this event occurred after the Israelites entered the Promised Land.
We can see that Israel had not yet fully conquered their assigned territories because some of them were still dwelling in goatskin tents…
The very same tents they had lived in during their wilderness journey following the exodus from Egypt.
Alrighty that does it for today.
See ya all next time!
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