In this video listen to Judges 20 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.

In Judges 20 all Israel gathers at Mizpah, just a few miles from Gibeah, to go to war against Benjamin, an army of 400,000. The Levite gives a version of the story which is modified for effect and the Israelites are outraged and commit ten percent of their fighting men to this campaign.

Benjamin has gone off the rails as a tribe. They would rather defend their own evil than defend the law of the Lord. So Israel attacks. Initially 22,000 Israelite men die in battle. Then another 18,000 additional men die bringing the total to 40,000 in total, symbolic of a big test. Then we see the mention of Phinehas the high priest consulting the Lord for them.

Here we have one zealous for the Lord, the grandson of Aaron, but in the previous chapter i ...