Permission from God or Presumption?

In Judges 20, Israel asks God who should lead the way into battle against their own brethren, the tribe of Benjamin. In response, God tells them that Judah should go first.  Now if you were asking God for direction and you received indisputable evidence that He was leading you, how would you respond if the direction He gave led only to defeat and humiliation?  This is what happened to Israel when they followed God’s lead in Judges 20.  And if that wasn’t bad enough, they asked Him a second time, only this time with weeping…and the result?  The same!  Defeat, death, and humiliation—twenty-two thousand dead on the first day and eighteen thousand dead on the second day.  Can you imagine?  Who would listen to that kind of advice a third time?  And why did God lead them into such catastrophic defeat?  I am looking forward to answering these questions but I thought it would be good if everyone took a look at Judges 20 (it would be good to read 19 and 21 as well) and see if you can come up with a reason as to why God would purposely lead those who were asking for His direction, into such total defeat.  Looking forward…(if you have a Lexicon or e-sword you may want to look at the Hebrew words for God/Lord in the text, and also take a look at Judges chapter 1…there is a repeated phrase that might be a clue)