The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men who drew sword: all these were men of war.
It is true, of course, that God was sorely displeased with Israel, as evidenced by his allowing the Benjamites to defeat them in successive battles.  As Keil stated, however, "Their sin was not in the fact that they started the war, for the Law in  Deuteronomy 22:22 actually required this.  Their sin lay in their state of mind as they began the war."[14]  We would call this their vainglorious overconfidence and self-reliance.  After all, since the whole nation outnumbered the Benjamites in their available fighting men by 400,000 to 26,000, Israel felt very self-sufficient.  With an advantage like that, who needed God's help!  However, their tragic experience was another example that, "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong"  (Ecclesiastes 9:11).