Judges 20:18–25

Then the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God to inquire of God. They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?”

The LORD said, “Judah first!”

So the children of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin, and the men of Israel put themselves in battle array to fight against them at Gibeah. Then the children of Benjamin came out of Gibeah, and on that day cut down to the ground twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites. And the people, that is, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and again formed the battle line at the place where they had put themselves in array on the first day. Then the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, “Shall I again draw near for battle against the children of my brother Benjamin?”

And the LORD said, “Go up against him.”

So the children of Israel approached the children of Benjamin on the second day. And Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah on the second day, and cut down to the ground eighteen thousand more of the children of Israel; all these drew the sword.

The Benjamites are hopelessly outnumbered, but they have one ace in the hole—their land is in the hill country, far from the Mediterranean coast.

https://mapcollection.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/map-of-the-12-tribes-of-israel.jpg

The hilly terrain means the battles are fought in hills and valleys. If they were on an open plain, they could easily be surrounded, but in the mountains that’s difficult. The other tribes are almost constrained to fight the Benjamites with only a portion of their total forces. Thus they ask, “Which of us shall go up first?” Then their second inquiry of the LORD doesn’t occur until they’ve already arrayed for battle.

They assume too much.

This is the classic error in prayer—assuming too much. In every prayer that asks for help or wisdom or any other kind of assistance, we should first pray, “Lord, what should I be praying about?”

We, like the Israelite tribes in today’s passage, get too focused on our agenda and just go with that in prayer. At least their prayer is asking for guidance—instead of just asking for victory—but they’re still thinking “inside the box.”

Even though God answers their prayers, everything is a bust. The prayers aren’t open ended enough to allow for the full range of possible responses.

This oversight will lead to a major teaching moment.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.