Judges Chapter 21
1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, "None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife."
2 The people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept severely.
3 They said, "The LORD, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be one tribe lacking in Israel today?"
4 On the next day, the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
5 The children of Israel said, "Who is there amongst all the tribes of Israel who didn't come up in the assembly to the LORD?" For they had made a great oath concerning him who didn't come up to the LORD to Mizpah, saying, "He shall surely be put to death."
6 The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, "There is one tribe cut off from Israel today.
7 How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?"
8 They said, "What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn't come up to the LORD to Mizpah?" Behold, no one came from Jabesh Gilead to the camp to the assembly.
9 For when the people were counted, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there.
10 The congregation sent twelve thousand of the most valiant men there, and commanded them, saying, "Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones.
11 This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has lain with a man."
12 They found amongst the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13 The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.
14 Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead. There still weren't enough for them.
15 The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
16 Then the elders of the congregation said, "How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?"
17 They said, "There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel.
18 However, we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, 'Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.' "
19 They said, "Behold, there is a feast of the LORD from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah."
20 They commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,
21 and see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and each man catch his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
22 It shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, 'Grant them graciously to us, because we didn't take for each man his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them; otherwise you would now be guilty.' "
23 The children of Benjamin did so, and took wives for themselves according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off. They went and returned to their inheritance, built the cities, and lived in them.
24 The children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they each went out from there to his own inheritance.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.
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Judges Chapter 21 Guide
Uninstructed zeal, even in the cause of righteousness, often goes beyond its proper limits. The terrible carnage continued until not above six hundred men of the tribe of Benjamin were left. Another of those sudden revulsions which characterize the action of inflamed peoples is seen as Israel was suddenly filled with pity for the tribe so nearly exterminated. This pity, then, operated in ways that were wholly unrighteous. Wives were provided for the men of Benjamin by unjustified slaughter at Jabesh-gilead and by the vilest iniquity at Shiloh.
It is impossible to read this appendix to the Book of Judges, and especially the closing part of it, without being impressed with how sad is the condition of any people who act without some definitely fixed principle. Passion moves to purpose only as it is governed by principle. If it lacks that, it will march at one moment in heroic determination to establish high ideals and purity of life, and then almost immediately will burn and express itself in brutality and all manner of evil.
The writer of this book more than once drew attention to the fact that at that time there was no king in Israel. Undoubtedly he meant by this to trace the lawlessness to the lack of government. The truth was that Israel had lost its immediate relation to its one and only King.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Judges Chapter 21 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- The Israelites lament for the Benjamites.
Verses 1-25
Israel lamented for the Benjamites, and were perplexed by the oath they had taken, not to give their daughters to them in marriage. Men are more zealous to support their own authority than that of God. They would have acted better if they had repented of their rash oaths, brought sin-offerings, and sought forgiveness in the appointed way, rather than attempt to avoid the guilt of perjury by actions quite as wrong. That men can advise others to acts of treachery or violence, out of a sense of duty, forms a strong proof of the blindness of the human mind when left to itself, and of the fatal effects of a conscience under ignorance and error.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.