Before Revenge of the Sith, I often pondered why Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi (the last two Jedi it seemed) didn't confront Palpatine and Vader in a two-on-two battle of Jedi vs. Sith.

When ROTS came out, I saw the sequence of events and realized that the two Jedi did stand up to the Sith, just not in a two-vs-two battle. So since seeing that, I often pondered whether I thought Yoda made the right decisions about how to confront and stop the Sith Lords.

At first I thought Yoda should have stayed with Obi-Wan and they could have gone after Vader together first. But then I argued to myself that Obi-Wan did defeat Vader in battle (just didn't finish him off), so Yoda wouldn't have been needed for that.

Then I thought, Yoda should have confronted the Emperor with Obi-Wan to give them a better chance of victory. But then, I argued to myself, they both could have been killed by Palpatine and two of the last Jedi leaders would be gone. Also, having to keep an eye on Obi-Wan might have hampered Yoda.

Recently, I have thought that Yoda and Obi-Wan should have gathered more surviving Jedi and confronted the two Sith in a large group of Jedi Knights and Masters. But then I argued, they didn't know how many other Jedi had survived. Also, the Jedi that did survive might not have been strong enough or experienced enough to help Yoda and Obi-Wan, and might have been a hindrance if the two Masters felt they had to protect the lesser Jedi (as Yoda did instead of continuing to fight Dooku in the hanger on Geonosis).

I have also thought that maybe Yoda and Obi-Wan were too quick to confront the Sith, but then realized that every moment they would have waited, the Emperor would have been able to mobilize more and more Clones to assist them. I remembered that while the newly anointed Darth Vader killed many Jedi in the Temple, the Clones took out their share as well, both in the Temple and throughout the Galaxy.

Throughout these thoughts and ponderings, one thing keeps coming up in my arguments to myself. This is something I thought in the 20 or so years before the prequel trilogy even came out. I didn't know then that Yoda and Obi-Wan did confront Palpatine and Vader, just not together. When I discussed it with my brother I made the point that Yoda and Obi-Wan didn't want to risk themselves in a confrontation with the Sith. They probably felt it was more important to be available for Luke (and Leia) when they were ready. After seeing Yoda and Obi-Wan's choice to go into hiding and to keep watch on the Skywalker twins (either close or distantly through the Force), I realized that I was probably right.

Eliminating the Sith was important and the two Jedi took a shot at it. But they then realized that being available to protect and train a "new hope" was more important to the Galaxy and the Force.