The Recovery of Gibeah

The effect of the defeat at Ai was that the Israelites learned to know their own hearts better, and at the same time the character of the God who went before them. Before noting the practical results of what God had taught them through -discipline, I should like to point out a resemblance between Josh. 7;8, and Judg. 20;21
It is an accepted fact that the book of Judges after chapter 17 does not follow any chronological order (chap. 20:28), but gives us a picture of what took place before God raised up the judges, of the history of Israel immediately after the death of Joshua. There had been utter and rapid decline; idolatry and moral corruption reigned everywhere. At the beginning and end of these chapters we find the statement: " Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.' No such thing as dependence on God and His word, man's conscience being the measure of good and evil. Each one walked according to his own sense of right and wrong, making conscience the measure of his conduct.
Is not this a picture of Christendom and of what happened after the departure of the apostles? Was decline less complete and sudden?' Leaving aside the corrupt principles of popery, which does enlightened Protestant Christendom bring forward as the rule of conduct, the-word of God or conscience? Does it teach subjection to the Scriptures, or is its watchword liberty of conscience? If conscience is taken as a guide, absolute confusion is the result, each one', hastening to follow his own opinion.
But a horrible sin had taken place at Gibeah and that not as in Josh. 7, the accursed thing, bidden failure, but as a sin committed openly before God and man. The unhappy Levite himself publishes his shame, every tribe in Israel being apprised of it (19:29). And the people, what of them? Well, God uses the sin of Gibeah, as He did the sin of Achan, to lay bare their moral condition, to, humble them and to awaken within them the consciousness of what is due to God. Only here the moral state of the tribes is, more serious; they have sunk much lower than at Ai. Indignant at the -wrong done to them selves, the thought of the wrong done to God is entirely overlooked. They speak of the folly wrought by Gibeah in Israel, of the wickedness done amongst those of the tribe of Benjamin, but not a word of the dishonor brought upon the Lord's name. How evident the declension, and how different are the words of Phinehas to the two and a half tribes: (Josh. 22:16) "What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel?"
To this first symptom of decline, we may add a second; namely, that they had abandoned what might be called their first love. The Lord was no longer before their eyes; their affection for Him, and consequently for those born of Him, had diminished: They forgot that Benjamin was their brother. "Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin?" (Ver. 18):and these last on their side " would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel." (Ver. 13.)
A third symptom of decline is that they lose sight of the unity of the people. No doubt, to all appearance, the eleven tribes presented a unity nearly as perfect as when Israel purified them-:selves from Achan and were restored at Ai. Nevertheless it was no longer God's unity. It was in vain that the people " were gathered together as one man" (ver. 1), or that they "arose as one man " (ver. 8), or that they were knit together as one man" (ver. 11), against Gibeah: God could not recognize the unity of Israel whilst Benjamin was lacking. Beloved, these links in the chain of declension are rivetted one to the other; forgetfulness of the presence of God, surrender of the first love, contempt for the real unity in spite of a show of the same.
And was not Benjamin guilty? Yes, exceedingly so. One sees that his mind was made up, from the outset not to judge evil. Warned equally with the other tribes (xix. 29) of a crime patent to all, knowing that the children of Israel were about to judge the evil, in fact warned, albeit in a carnal spirit, that he would have to purify himself, he yet turns a deaf ear to the call of duty.. By establishing the principle of independence, he disowns the unity of Israel, and far from purifying himself from the crime of Gibeah, he links himself with it, at the same time resorting to a useless and miserable attempt at making a distinction. (Ver. 15.) Benjamin had to be judged, but the state of the people as a whole was too-bad to admit of a divine judgment on their part, and they must be sifted before being able in truth to purify themselves from the sin of Gibeah..
If Israel had had a right sense of things, they would have first humbled themselves before the Lord, taken counsel of Him, and then acted;: instead of which they begin by consulting one another, miserable result of forgetfulness of God's.
presence; they take measures, and decide very scripturally "to put away the evil from Israel," quite forgetting that they are themselves infected by the evil, that Benjamin is in fact part of them. After having made all their arrangements and numbered their warriors, " they arose and went up to the house of God and asked counsel of God." (Ver. 18.) This is also the spirit of declension, and it is to be found everywhere in Christendom; and often amongst the children of God; in fact it is a widely established principle. We propose some plan to ourselves, and at the moment of its execution, often after all is arranged, we ask the blessing of God.
The result of this total oversight of divine principles, was that in the first day twenty-two thousand Israelites were destroyed down to the ground. Then they went up and wept before the Lord; their hearts are now full of sorrow instead, of carnal indignation, and they call Benjamin their brother. Their love and sense of responsibility one to another is revived. After this they again set their battle in array and lose eighteen thousand men in a second defeat. God in His goodness sought to produce a perfect result. Sorrow in itself was not everything, neither the proclamation of the bonds which united them; what was needed was a full and complete judgment of self; repentance before God. To enjoy once more the presence of the Lord and His communion, they must retrace their steps in the pathway of declension. Thus it is said: " 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." (Ver. 26.)
What comes next bears a striking analogy to the scene at Ai. They were obliged to set Hers in wait (ver. 29), to flee before Benjamin (ver. 32); and after all their previous losses to have thirty men -wounded to death, and to make a great flame like smoke rise up out of the city, to serve as a signal. Thoroughly judged and restored to communion with God, Israel can now discharge the painful duty of judging Benjamin for his profanity; but ah! what weeping and tears follow on the victory. (Chapter 21:2.) How different from the scene at Jericho, where " the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat." (Chapter 6:20.) Here it was a question of their own brethren, of a tribe all but cut off in judgment. But God in grace restores the gleaning of Benjamin, notwithstanding the many complications brought about by the carnal hate of Israel in their first decisions.
There is however one part of the congregation of Israel which the restored people treat with more severity than Benjamin himself. There came none to the camp from Jabesh-Gilead to the assembly. (Chapter 21:8.) It was bare-faced indifference, and neutrality with regard to the evil of which they took no account; far worse than the spirit of fleshly indignation in which Benjamin had revolted, despising a decision of the assembly, and which had led him to take arms against his brethren, while associating himself with evil. Jabesh had to, be utterly destroyed.