The Book of Judges
Judges 21
Chapter XXI · Vol. II, pp. 621–622
1 The people bewail the desolation of Benjamin. 8 By the destruction of Jabesh-gilead they provide them four hundred wives. 16 They advise them to surprise the virgins that danced at Shiloh.
1 Now the men of Israel ahad sworn in bMizpeh, saying, There cshall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.1
a ch.20.8. Je.4.2.
b ch.20.1,3; ver.5,8.
c Ex.34.12-16. De.7.2,3.
1 This part of the narrative describes the evil consequences of rash and unhallowed vows.—Note, How important to all, but especially to men inflamed by resentment against personal injury, or public wrong, to remember that word, 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.'—C.
2 And the people came to the dhouse of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;2
d ch.20.18,23,26. Jos.18.1. ver.12,15.
2 Sorrow for sin is a hopeful but by no means a certain sign of repentance; for there is much difference between feeling sorrow for the inconvenience, annoyance, and loss occasioned by sin to ourselves, and feeling grief for the insult that sin has offered to God. So Israel 'wept sore' for the national injury of their rash vow; but, so far from being truly penitent, they prepare to rectify the vow by a verbal evasion, and to remedy one sin by the perpetration of another.—C.
3 And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?
4 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people frose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.
f Ps.78.34,35. ch.6.24. 1 Sa.7.17; 11.15; 16.2,5. 2 Sa.24.18,25. 1 Ki.18.30. Ex.20.24.
5 And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they ghad made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
g ch.20.4,8; ver.1,18. Ga.4.18.
6 And the children of Israel hrepented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day:
h Lu.19.41,42. 2 Co.11.28,29. ver.2,4,15.
7 How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have isworn by the LORD, that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?
i ver.1,18. Ec.5.2. 1 Sa.25.22. Ps.15.4. Pr.20.25. ch.11.35.
8 And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? and, behold, there came none to the camp from kJabesh-gilead to the assembly.
A.M. 2579 B.C. 1425
k 1 Sa.11.1,3; 31.11. 2 Sa.2.5,6; 21.12. ver.10,12.
9 For the people were numbered,3 and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there.
3 It is to be remembered that this occurred very soon after the death of Joshua, and this accounts for the census of the people being so easy and so accurate, and also for the terrible slaughter that followed the military conflicts of a people who had, in their youth, been all trained to war.—C.
10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, lGo and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.
l Le.27.28,29. De.13.15. Jos.7.24.
11 And this is the thing that ye shall do, Yem shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that nhath lain by man.4
n Heb. knoweth the lying with man, Mat.1.25. Lu.1.34.
4 It ought not to be forgotten in reflecting on the whole of this painful narrative, that the people of Gibeah had been guilty of a crime so heinous and abominable that it was calculated to bring disgrace upon the whole land. The tribe of Benjamin condoned the crime by refusing to give up the perpetrators; and the people of Jabesh-gilead practically became partakers of the guilt by refusing to unite with their brethren in bringing the guilty to punishment.—P.
12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins,5 that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp oto Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13 And the whole congregation sent some to speak6 to the children of Benjamin that were in thep rock Rimmon, and to qcall peaceably unto them.
14 And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives7 which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead: and yet so they rsufficed them not.
7 Certainly this was not against the letter of the oath, ver.1, but being against its spirit, it was a mere evasion.—Note, Satan never more effectually triumphs, than when he involves men in a rash vow, and then binds them to it, like Herod, by false honour, or leads them to evade, like Israel, by a verbal subterfuge.—C.
15 And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
16 Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?
17 And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin,8 that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
8 The Benjamites must have their whole inheritance, and therefore all of them need to have wives.
18 Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel shave sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.
19 Then they said, Behold, there is a tfeast9 of the LORD in Shiloh yearly,1 in a place which is on the north side of Beth-el, on the east side2 of3 the highway that goeth up from uBeth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.4
t Ex.23.14-17. Nu.10.10; 28.16,26; 29.12. Le.xxiii.
9 This must have been one of the great annual feasts, and though none but the 'daughters of Shiloh' were expected to attend, it is to be recollected that the Mosaic law did not require the attendance of the women, but only of the males, on these solemnities.—C.
1 Heb. from year to year.
2 Or, towards the sun-rising.
3 Or, on.
4 This is a most accurate description of the position of Shiloh: north of Bethel, east of the great road that runs from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.—P.
20 Therefore 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 xdance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, yBe favourable unto them for our sakes; because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not zgive unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty.5
y Or, gratify us in them, Col.3.12. He.13.1.
z ver.1,7,18. Pr.20.25.
5 That is, ye have sworn not to give your daughters to the Benjamites; and, as ye have not given, but the Benjamites have taken them, ye are free of any guilt.—Note, How flimsy is the sophistry with which sinners succeed in satisfying conscience. This is that very spirit of the Pharisees, which, in after days, our Lord so loudly rebuked, and so solemnly condemned, Mat.15.3,6. Mar.7.11.—C.
23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught; and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and arepaired the cities, and dwelt in them.
a ch.20.48.
24 And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe, and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.
25 Inb those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was cright in his own eyes.6
b ch.17.6; 18.1; 19.1. Ps.12.4. Hab.1.14.
c De.12.8. Pr.3.5; 14.12. Je.10.23. Lu.16.15.
6 The repetition of this expression seems evidently intended to remind us that the best laws will not administer themselves, and that therefore civil rulers have been appointed of God, as a 'terror to evil-doers.' It is also as evidently intended to remind rulers that they rule for God, and are the administrators, not of their own will, but of his.—C.
Notes
[Ver. 4. Offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. The transition from a peace-offering to another act of extermination seems an almost incredible contradiction. But the history of human nature furnishes many instances of not merely making professed religious services the prelude to cruelty, but of actually commingling them together. The history of the crusades against the Waldenses affords an example of the one, and the autos-da-fe of the Spanish inquisition afford an example of the other—the massacre of St. Bartholomew in some degree exceeds both; for the massacre of the sleeping and unoffending Huguenots was celebrated at Rome by a solemn Te Deum. C.]
Reflections.—Rash oaths are ordinarily ensnaring. True zeal may be carried too far. And there is often an overdoing in well-doing.—War may be ill ended that was well begun. Even necessary justice ought to be executed with deliberation and deep compassion; for strong passions prepare work for an after repentance. And one rash step, or even rash word, sometimes draws after it the most terrible consequences.
In perplexities and distress it is proper to have recourse to God and the atoning blood of his Son. He can extricate us in a decent and honourable manner. But amidst violent fits of repentance, men are often readier to support their own authority than to consult God, and to extirpate brethren rather than Canaanites. Dancing, even without mixture of sexes, often renders persons an easy prey. And who knows how often the ambuscades of evil spirits transport souls from the dancing-floor into everlasting destruction! How great the confusion of an unsettled government! It is a great mercy for a land to have proper rulers in church or state.