Why in Judges 20 do we see Israel going to battle a righteous cause (punishing the Benjamites for the rape and murder of the concubine), being encouraged by God to do so, and yet losing twice and losing many soldiers in the process? Was God testing their resolve in dealing with the Benjamite sin? Or is there some other deeper reason? -- Justin Renton (South Africa)
How true to life the passage rings! We mean to do well, we try and try again, yet we too fall to the ground. And it can be so discouraging! The Bible does not say whether God was testing their resolve; we can only guess the deeper issues in play. When we read the narrative passages of the Bible, such as Judges 17-21, we need to take special care not to look for morals when the Word itself does not make them clear. The main point of the end of Judges is that without a king, things were very bad indeed. When everyone does right in his own eyes (21:25), atrocious things happen. Righting the situation is seldom as easy as "One, two, three." God may be with us, but that does not mean that we will not have to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14)!
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