Judges 20:23

Overview - Judges 20
The Levite in a general assembly declares his wrong.
The decree of the assembly.
12 The Benjamites, being cited, make head against the Israelites.
18 The Israelites in two battles lose forty thousand.
26 They destroy by a stratagem all the Benjamites, except six hundred.
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Judges 20:23  (King James Version)
(And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.)
 


wept
Judges 20:26 Judges 20:27 ; Psalms 78:34-36 ; Hosea 5:15

And the
It seems most evident that the Israelites did not seek the protection of God. When they "went to the house of God," (ver. 18,) it was not to enquire concerning the expediency of
the war, nor of its success, but which of the tribes should begin the attack: and here the question is, "Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?" Having so much right on their side, they had no doubt of the justice of their cause, and the propriety of their conduct; and having such a superiority of numbers, they had no doubt of success. But God humbled them, and delivered them into the hands of their enemies; and shewed them that the race was not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.