Worksheet - Judges 20 - 21

Apply 1 (mini lesson) From reading Judges 20 - 21 Study Questions:  Samson died after being the judge over Israel for 20 years.  The remaining chapters of Judges show a very dark time in the history of Israel, for their idolatry had led them so far from God that they were not even crying out for deliverance any longer, but settling in with the idolatry and heathen lifestyles of all around them.  A key repeated phrase for the remaining chapters of the book of Judges is first stated in Judges 17:6 saying that there was no king in Israel and every man did what was right in his "own eyes".  We saw last week what Proverbs 14:12 tells us happens when we judge by our own eyes rather than God's about what is right or wrong.  Proverbs 14:12 - "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."   We saw in the last lesson how the man named Micah set up worship as "he saw it" in his own home with a house to his gods of silver and yet he hired a Levite to be the priest over it.  He was mixing different religions together hoping to get something right.  Along came the tribe of Dan and they wanted the gods and the Levite priest to come to their new place of dwelling so he left the house of Micah and  went with them.  Now, we come to chapters 20 and 21 at the end of our course in Judges... Let's review the horrible event that has just happened in the city of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin from the facts given in chapter 19 of Judges.  A Levite was traveling through the area with his concubine and could not find a home willing to take them in for the night for lodging.  They thought they would just sleep out on the street in the town square, but an old man begged them to not do that and come to his home instead.  He was willing to help them out.  However, the 'men' in the town saw the Levite 'man' and came to the old man's house to ask that he be brought 'out' to them.  We saw that they wanted to have relations with him just like the men did with the male angels that were visiting Lot's house before the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah.  As Lot did, in Genesis 19, this old man does in Judges 19 ... they both offered their virgin daughters 'instead' of the guest 'male', but they do not want a woman but a male.  The old man put the guest male's concubine out there instead of him.  They abused her all night and in the morning she was holding on to the threshold of the home and finally died from her injuries.  It is such a sad story.  Well, to get the attention of all the tribes in Israel so that they would know just how bad the sons of Benjamin from the city of Gibeah had treated them and what they had done to his wife (concubine, a legal wife), the Levite cut his dead wife up in 12 pieces and sent to each tribe.  Judges 19 ends with verse 30 - All who saw it said, "Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day.   .... Consider it ..... take counsel ..... and speak up !"  ... That is something I would like to say about so many things that happen in our nation today. What does Jesus say our world will become like before He finally returns for us?  What events does He refer back to?  Luke 17:24-30 How does Paul describe the last days to Timothy as far as the behavior of mankind goes?  2 Timothy 3:1-8 What does Peter tell us Lot went through everyday in regard to the lawless lifestyle in Sodom & Gomorrah?  Describe how He helped Lot and the reason why, and what will eventually happen to these unprincipled men who indulge in corrupt behavior and despise authority...  2 Peter 2:6-10 In Judges 20, the tribes of Israel "do decide" to "speak out" and they come together as one man, in unity, to the Lord at Mizpah.  The chiefs of all the people "took their stand".  How many foot soldiers were there that drew the sword for battle? Judges 20:2 - The sons of Benjamin heard that the tribes were gathering and wanted to know - "How did this wickedness take place?" ... so the Levite, who was the husband of the woman that the men of Gibeah had murdered, told them how he came to spend the night there with his concubine and although the men wanted to kill him, they ravished her in this way until she had died.  What did the people say in one voice concerning this? Judges 20:8-11 Men were sent through the entire tribes of the sons of Benjamin and were asked the question:  "What is this wickedness that has taken place among you?" ... and then they were each encouraged to ... "deliver up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and remove this wickedness from Israel." (v.12,13).. What did the sons of Benjamin do concerning the request to handle this in a civil and right way?  Judges 20:13 - Not only that, but what else did the tribe of Benjamin decide to do in order to protect the criminals of their own from the other tribes of Israel?  Judges 20:14-18 - We have a CIVIL WAR going on when this could have been handled and the crime taken care of.  The sons of Israel went to Bethel and inquired of God to ask who should go up first against the sons of Benjamin.  What tribe did God say should go first?  Judges 20:18 - How many sons of Israel fell on the first day of battle and what did they do in response?  Judges 20:19-23 - What did the Lord tell them to do once again? Judges 20:24 -   How many of the sons of Israel fell in the battle on the second day they fought Benjamin?  Judges 20:25 - This time, all the people of Israel went to Bethel instead of Mizpah.  Bethel was where the ark of the covenant was and the priest was there to make the appropraite offerings before the Lord on their behalf.  What did the Lord reveal to them through Phinehas, the priest, when they inquired of the Lord about the battle against Benjamin; if it should continue?  Judges 20:26-28 - The sons of Benjamin took down about 30 men of Israel and thought "They are struck down before us, as at the first.", but the sons of Israel thought of a way to trick them.  They acted as though they were fleeing the battle and drew the sons of Benjamin outside of the city to the highways.  10,000 choice men from all of Israel came against Gibeah and the battle became fierce.  How many did the Lord take down from the tribe of Benjamin that day?  Judges 20:35 - Remember the number they started with?  Look back at Judges 20:15.  What is the difference, showing how many are left now?  The next section goes back and describes how the Lord helped Israel to ambush the sons of Benjamin.  600 of the men fled and hid in the wilderness in the rock Rimmon and remained there four months.....  In Judges 21, we see all of Israel before the Lord in Bethel weeping because one tribe was now missing from their tribes.  They wondered what they would do to give the remnant of Benjamin, the 600 that had hidden themselves "wives".  Why could they not give any of their own daugthers?  Judges 21:1 - They investigated to find out if there were any families who had not come to gather as one to punish the men of Gibeah of the sons of Israel for what had been done to the Levite's concubine and the fact that the sons of Benjamin would not take care of it themselves delivering up the worthless men who did the criminal acts...they found out that the family of Jabesh-gilead had not come.  Therefore, they struck them and only let the young virgins who had not known men survive.  Those 400 virgins would be given to the 600 men of Benjamin that was left .... but that was 200 that still would not have a wife to continue the name of the tribe with children, etc... How did these 200 men get themselves a wife?  Explain from Judges 21:19-24 How does this sad book in Israel's history end?  What does the final verse, verse 25 of Judges 21 remind us of yet once again? Judges 21:25 -    Apply 1:  Why is it easier to "tolerate" sin among the brethren than to confront it and deal with it?    Read & comment on:   Judges 20:13 - Compare and comment on:   1 Corinthians 5:1-13 - Ephesians 4:14-15 -   How can you apply this to your life? ...    Your summary of all of today's lesson:      Your prayer for today:       The purpose of the Apply 1 mini lesson is .....to help you focus on at least "one" thing that you can apply to your life from the chapters read today.