Chapter 21
The Tribe of Benjamin is Diminished
21:1 Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, “No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.”
We are told that when they first assembled in Mizpah before any of the battles, the men of Israel made an oath that not one of them would give their daughter in marriage to a Benjaminite. This oath was not recorded earlier in the text, but now after the slaughter of so many from the tribe of Benjamin, the oath becomes an important factor. As mentioned several times in the book of Judges, oaths are to be taken seriously, especially those sworn by YHWH (see verse seven).
21:2 And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. 3 And they said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?”
The reality of what just happened finally “sunk in,” and the people of Israel realized that the tribe of Benjamin could become extinct. The promise of God that Israel’s future would be blessed started to look a little bleak, since if one tribe goes away, what will stop others from falling too? So, the people turn to YHWH and ask, “Why?”
21:4 And the next day the people rose early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
Desiring to hear from God what they should do, they build an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings just as they did before the third battle (see Judges 20:26) in Bethel in the presence of the high priest. However, we are not told the location here and there is no mention of any priest. If they were in Bethel they likely would not need to build another altar, so this one is probably “make shift,” one hastily constructed in order to seek and appeal to God. But we do not read anywhere in this chapter a response from God.
21:5 And the people of Israel said, “Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the LORD?” For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.”
Another aspect of the oath that was made earlier in Mizpah is revealed, that if anyone did not come to Mizpah they would be “surely be put to death.” This appears to apply to representatives of people groups (tribes, clans, cities, etc.) not every single person. In the eyes of the people this oath will later become a ‘solution’ to a problem (see verses eight through twelve).
21:6 And the people of Israel had compassion for Benjamin their brother and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel this day. 7 What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them any of our daughters for wives?”
Recognizing that their victory over Benjamin came at a cost that puts the tribe at risk of extinction, the people had compassion for them, they wonder what they can do since they foolishly took an oath by YHWH that they will not give them any of their daughters to be their wives.
21:8 And they said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah?” And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead, to the assembly. 9 For when the people were mustered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there.
Thinking about this problem, they begin to wonder where they could find several hundred young virgin women Israelites. One possibility would be if some region or city did not respond to the Levite’s call and join them in Mizpah, that since they were to be killed (part two of the oath, see verse five) their young virgin women could become wives for the Benjaminite men. There was one such community, it was Jabesh-gilead (located seven miles east of the Jordan River, north of the Jabbok River), no one from there responded or came to Mizpah.
21:10 So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword; also the women and the little ones. 11 This is what you shall do: every male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction.”
The people sent 12,000 warriors to Jabesh-gilead to kill everyone there that had any sexual relations (everyone except virgins). There is no method recorded here as to how they were to determine that, but it is traditionally believed that women that were married wore different clothes than the virgin women.
21:12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
The men found and brought from Jabesh-gilead four-hundred young virgin women to Shiloh.
21:13 Then the whole congregation sent word to the people of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon and proclaimed peace to them. 14 And Benjamin returned at that time. And they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead, but they were not enough for them. 15 And the people had compassion on Benjamin because the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
They sent word to those men hiding at the rock of Rimmon offering a truce and that they had women for them. They accepted the truce, but there wasn’t enough women (400 women for 600 men, see Judges 20:47). We are told once again that they had compassion on Benjamin (see verse six), but here they ‘blame’ God for allowing this event that in their minds created a breach (Hebrew pě’·rěṣ, a gap, a rupture, breaking apart) in the tribes of Israel.
21:16 Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?” 17 And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel. 18 Yet we cannot give them wives from our daughters.” For the people of Israel had sworn, “Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.”
The elders now address this shortage of virgin women as they insist that there must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin so that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel. They again note the first part of their oath while in Mizpah, saying that they can’t do anything about it, as they all swore that they would not give a wife to Benjamin, otherwise they would be cursed.
21:19 So they said, “Behold, there is the yearly feast of the LORD at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” 20 And they commanded the people of Benjamin, saying, “Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards 21 and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Grant them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.’ ”
The elders concoct an odd plan full of “loop holes.” The law required that all men able to travel to pilgrimage to a designated location three times a year, before the Temple was built that location was wherever the Tabernacle was located. Since it was in Shiloh during this time the pilgrimage would be to that location, but here they only mention one annual festival. Perhaps they may have compromised the law here as well by reducing the number of visits to one “yearly feast,” we simply are not given that information. Plus, we also are not given the reason the daughters would go out amongst the vineyards to dance (some believe that they are ether participating in a harvest dance or reenacting Miriam’s dance, see Exodus 15:20).
The scheme they came up with suggests that the men of Benjamin who still did not have a wife, to go to Shiloh during this annual feast and hide in the vineyards, and then snatch a wife from those dancing. Since their families were participants of the oath given in Mizpah, they couldn’t willingly offer their daughter to the men of Benjamin, but since the women were taken unwillingly, it would be acceptable and the curse of violating the oath would therefore be avoided.
21:23 And the people of Benjamin did so and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and lived in them. 24 And the people of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.
The men of Benjamin did as they were instructed and carried off their new wives. The people of Benjamin all went back to their territory and rebuilt their towns. The rest of the people of Israel also returned home.
21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
We are once again told that there was no earthly king and that everyone did what they thought was right in their own eyes. A fitting closing statement for a book that contains so many compromises.
Considerations
Where Was God?
From the time God granted the people victory over the tribe of Benjamin to the end of the story, there is no mention of seeking God’s guidance on any of these issues. As discussed earlier, oaths to God can be annulled (see Considerations under commentary for Judges 11:38-40, see also Leviticus 27:1-8), the outcome would have been less bloody. It is difficult to understand how they justified killing all those living in Jabesh-gilead, people who were Israelites themselves. When left to their own understanding of things without consulting God or Scripture, man’s thinking can be very limited. The last verse exemplifies two things that were important back then and are vital for all Christians today: 1) Know the Word of God, how else will we understand who God is and how to please Him! And 2) Take EVERYTHING TO GOD! Pray about any issue, problem, etc. But always with thanksgiving and praise! What seemed good in the eyes of the people in this chapter was based on human logic and compromise, He always has a better way.