JUDGES - CHAPTER 21
VERSES 1-9
v1 Israel’s men had made this serious promise to the Lord at Mizpah. ‘We will not allow our daughters to marry a man from Benjamin’s tribe.’ v2 The people went to Bethel. They sat where God was. They sat there until evening. They were weeping very much. v3 They said this. ‘Lord God of Israel’s people, this should not have happened to Israel’s people. Now one tribe in Israel has almost gone.’ v4 Early next morning, the people built an altar and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
v5 Then they asked this. ‘Which group from all Israel’s tribes did not meet where God was?’ They had seriously promised to kill anyone that did not go to Mizpah. v6 Now the Israelites were sorry for their brothers, the men from Benjamin’s tribe. ‘Today Israel has lost one tribe’, they said. v7 ‘How can we provide wives for those that remain? We have made a serious promise to the Lord. We will not allow our daughters to marry them.’ v8 Then they asked this question. ‘Which tribe of Israel did not meet at Mizpah?’ Then they discovered this. Nobody from Jabesh-Gilead had come to meet at the camp. v9 They had counted the people. They had discovered that nobody from Jabesh-Gilead was there.
COMMENTARY
The Israelites thought again about their actions. They had fought a holy war. But they had made some promises that were too strong. They had promised that their daughters would not marry the men from Benjamin’s tribe. So they had not allowed them to marry them. They were sorry about that. Because it meant that the tribe would not continue. They built an altar. This was probably at Mizpah because there was already one at Bethel. They could not change their promise. Then they remembered something. If a tribe sent nobody to the meeting, people would declare a curse on that tribe. As a result, the tribe would suffer destruction. Nobody had come from Jabesh-Gilead. (The people in Jabesh-Gilead were relatives of Manasseh, Rachel’s grandson. And so, they were also relatives of Benjamin. Later there was a close connection between Jabesh-Gilead and Benjamin’s tribe.)
VERSES 10-15
v10 So the people at the meeting sent 12,000 fighting men to go to Jabesh-Gilead. These men had to kill all those that lived there. This included women and children. v11 ‘You must do this’, the people said. ‘Kill every male. And kill every woman that has had sex.’ v12 The men found 400 young women that had not had sex. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh. This was in Canaan. v13 Then the people at the meeting sent some people to Benjamin’s men. These were at the rock called Rimmon. The people offered to make peace with Benjamin’s tribe. v14 So Benjamin’s men returned at that time. The other Israelites gave the girls from Jabesh to them. These were the girls that they had not killed. But there were not enough girls. v15 The people were sorry for Benjamin’s tribe, because the Lord had broken the unity of Israel’s tribes.
COMMENTARY
The people sent very many soldiers to Jabesh-Gilead. These went there to do something that the people had promised. But they also went to avoid the results of another promise. They killed the people that lived there. This was because these had not come to support the other tribes. We may think that this seems cruel. But the connections between tribes were religious and very strong. It was very wrong to break these connections. One tribe did not come. It did not consider that the event was serious. It did not want to settle the matter fairly. The soldiers brought back 400 girls that had not had sex. They would be wives for 400 men from Benjamin’s tribe. But in total, 600 men from Benjamin’s tribe still lived. The Israelites did not kill them.
This showed that the Israelites wanted to become friends with them again. The Israelites did not want one tribe to disappear completely. They went to Shiloh. This shows that this event happened early. It happened before most other events that the writer describes in Judges. The writer explains here where Shiloh was. This shows that Shiloh was not such an important town then. It was not the main place where the people praised God at that time. It did not become the main place until later.
VERSES 16-25
v16 The leaders of the meeting said, ‘There are no more women in Benjamin’s tribe. How can we find wives for the men that remain? v17 The other men from Benjamin’s tribe must have children. Then a tribe of Israel will not disappear. v18 We cannot give our own daughters to them. We have made a serious promise. We will declare a curse on anyone that does this. v19 But think! There is the yearly celebration where people thank the Lord in Shiloh.’
v20 So they spoke to the men from Benjamin’s tribe. ‘Go. Hide in the fields where grapes grow. v21 Then watch. The girls in Shiloh will come out to dance. Then you each must rush out from the fields where grapes grow. Catch one girl for a wife. Then go back to the area where Benjamin’s tribe has been. v22 If the girls’ fathers and brothers protest, we will say this to the fathers and brothers. ‘Please help them. Help them because we did not find enough wives for them during the war. You did not give your daughters to them. So you did not do anything that was against your promise.’ v23 So that is what the men from Benjamin’s tribe did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one. He carried her off to be his wife. Then they went back to their own area. They built their towns again and they lived there. v24 At the same time, the other Israelites left the place. They went home to their own tribes, families and property. v25 At that time there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what seemed right to him.
COMMENTARY
In Benjamin’s tribe, there were still 200 men that did not have wives. So they made a plan for the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles was a celebration because of the harvest. This one was at Shiloh. It included some local customs. For example, people danced. During the dance, those other 200 men from Benjamin’s tribe would each seize a girl. So they would each get a wife. They would not take these girls as an act of war. And the men in Shiloh would not actually give their daughters to them. So the men in Shiloh would not do anything that was against their promise. (They had promised not to give their daughters to a man from Benjamin’s tribe.)
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