How to Inquire of Yahweh

Number 13 of 17 in the *Twilight Zone* series:
An incredible tale of how the Israelites kept inquiring of their god after he had twice led them into defeats.

by Farrell Till

The rape of the Levite's concubine, the subject of our last journey into the Twilight Zone, so enraged the Israelites that they "gathered as one man before Yahweh at Mizpah" (Judges 20:1). When everyone was assembled, the leaders said to the Levite whose concubine had been killed, "Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?"

The Levite explained that he and his concubine had stopped in Gibeah to spend the night. "And the men of Gibeah rose against me," he explained, "and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died" (vs:4-5). Now if this is an inspired, inerrant account of what the Levite said (and of course it is, because it's in the book), he conveniently neglected to explain that he had personally taken his concubine out of the house and given her to the men of Gibeah. The omission of this detail doesn't really matter, because (as previously noted) women were merely chattel in the Twilight Zone of biblical times, so probably none of the Israelite leaders would have cared even if the Levite had told the whole truth. At any rate, the Levite explained that he had butchered the body of his concubine and sent the pieces "throughout all the territory" of Israel because of the "lewdness and outrage" committed by the men of Gibeah (v:6).

Upon hearing the Levite's story, "the people arose as one man, saying, `None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house'" (v:8). A decision to seek satisfaction was made, and the Israelite forces assembled to go against Gibeah to make the people there "repay all the vileness they have done in Israel" (v:10). Since Gibeah was a Benjamite city, the Israelites sent men "through all the tribe of Benjamin" (v:12) to demand that the "perverted men" of Gibeah be delivered up so "that we may put them to death and remove the evil from Israel" (v:13). The Benjamite leaders rejected the ultimatum and gathered an army from their cities to "battle against the children of Israel" (v:14).

Even though the Benjamite army was greatly outnumbered, 26,700 (v:15) against 400,000 Israelites (v:17), the battle would by no means be a pushover for the Israelites, because the Benjamite forces included 700 left-handed "select men," everyone of whom "could sling a stone at a hair's breadth and not miss" (v:16). Where else but in the Twilight Zone could you find precision like that? Without a doubt, there would be plenty of aching heads in Israel when the battle was over.

In those days, an army didn't just rally and go into battle. Gods had to be consulted, and so it was in this case. "The children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God to inquire of God" (v:18). They said, "Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?" And Yahweh's answer was, "Judah first" (v:18). So evidently this battle was going to be a piece of cake for the Israelites. They inquired of Yahweh and received an  answer. Judah was to go against Benjamin first, and if Yahweh had given the word for Judah to go first, surely the first battle would be the last.

If that's what you're thinking, then think again, and this time try to remember that we're talking about a battle that was fought in the Twilight Zone. That made the actual battle results quite different from what one would expect of an army that had an omniscient, omnipotent deity on its side. When the Israelites attacked, the Benjamite forces "came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down to the ground twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites" (v:21). No doubt that taught the Israelites a lesson about the folly of "inquiring of God," you're probably thinking, but again you must remember that all of this happened in the Twilight Zone. So rather than having learned a lesson about the foolishness of consulting  gods before a battle, the Israelites did the only thing any self-respecting citizens of the Twilight Zone would have done. They inquired of Yahweh again!

Well, of course, they didn't inquire of Yahweh immediately after the  battle. They "went up and wept before Yahweh until evening" (v:23) and only then asked counsel of him again. "Shall I again draw near for battle against the children of my brother Benjamin?" the  spokesman asked, and Yahweh said, "Go up against him" (v:23). So there it was, straight from the horse's, uh, god's mouth: go up again. The next day, the Israelites went against Gibeah and... what? Won? No, that's just not the way things happened in the Twilight Zone! Even though the Israelites had consulted an omniscient, omnipotent deity, who had told them to go up again, believe it or not, they suffered another disastrous defeat in which the Benjamite forces "cut down to the ground eighteen thousand more of the children of Israel" (v:25). Believing this will not be difficult if you will only remember that these were biblical armies fighting in the Twilight Zone.

What the Israelites probably needed more than "the counsel of Yahweh" was a good general, but Twilight-Zone armies couldn't be expected to know this. So what did the Israelites do after their second inquiry of Yahweh had brought disaster upon them? As Mark Twain would say, in a hundred centuries you probably couldn't figure it out, so I will tell you what they did. They inquired of Yahweh again!

Yes, that is exactly what they did. Well, first "they sat there before Yahweh and fasted that day until evening," and they "offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Yahweh" (v:26), and then they inquired. Phinehas the priest stood before the ark of the covenant and asked, "Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of my brother Benjamin or shall I cease?" Yahweh said, "Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand" (v:28).

Nothing indicated that the Israelites were reluctant to believe a god who had twice failed them, because the next day they went unquestioningly into battle again. On their third try, they won a resounding victory, so apparently this story has a moral too: even in the Twilight Zone, the third time is charmed. Or maybe the moral is that the two defeats were the fault of the Israelites, because they didn't sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings until the third inquiry. Yes, I think that's probably it. So if you're going to inquire of Yahweh, make sure you sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings.  Why not? They certainly made all the difference for the Israelites.