Judges 20:8

Judges 20:8 says, And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house.  Verse nine adds, But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it;   All the men of Isreal took a vow to not return home until they went up against the people of Gibeah for what they had done to the Levite's wife.  Verse ten continues, And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel.  They said they were going to take a tenth of the men of Israel to get provisions for the rest, who would be united in going against Gibeah.  They were not concerned about what would be best for them as individual tribes, but were united in doing what was best for the nation as a whole.  We need that kind of unity today, as a nation, but even more importantly as Christians.  We need to support one another to help us do what God leads us to do for the good of the country.  Veres eleven states, So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.  All the men of Israel were joined together as one against the city of Gibeah.  This had to have been a very scary sight for the people of Gibeah, especially for those men who had acted so badly toward the Levite and his wife.  If Christians were to join together to oppose evil in the world today, we might be a force large enough to cause concern to those engaging in terribly evil things.  Verse twelve adds, And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you?  The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin to ask them what the wickedness was that was among them.  They didn't just overpower them, but gave them an opportunity to defend themselves.  We should always allow people to defend themselves in we hear something bad about them and we should never just attack anyone without knowing the truth, and we should give them an opportunity to explain themselves.  Verse thirteen continues, Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel:  The people of Israel gave the tribe of Benjamin the opportunity to deliver the men of Gibeah so that they could be executed for their crimes, but they refused.  We should never attempt to keep those who need to from facing the responsibility for their actions, even if they are a part of our family.  Verse fourteen says, But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.  Not only would the people of the tribe of Benjamin not turn over the men, but they went to Gibeah to join with them in fighting against the people of Israel, of which they were a part.  As followers of Christ, we are all a part of God's family, and we should never fight each other, especially if the fight is caused by someone who has committed a great evil in the world.  Verse sixteen adds, And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.  The people of Benjamin had twenty-six thousand men who could draw a sword, plus seven hundred chosen men from Gibeah.  They were badly outnumbered.  Verse sixteen continues, Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.  Among them were seven hundred left-handed men who were highly accurate with a sling.  The people of Benjamin were so full of pride that they thought they could take on all of Israel.  If we are acting on our own as Christians, without relying on the power of God, all the self-pride in the world will not save us from an overpowering enemy.  Verse seventeen concludes, And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.  We are once more told that the army of Israel numbered four hundred thousand fighting men of war.