Judges 21:11

_FOR THE PEOPLE WERE NUMBERED, AND, BEHOLD, THERE WERE NONE OF THE INHABITANTS OF JABESH-GILEAD THERE._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

YE SHALL UTTERLY DESTROY - More exactly, “Ye shall devote to utter destruction,” or “cherem” (Leviticus 27:28 note)....

AND THIS IS THE THING THAT YE SHALL DO,.... Which they gave them in charge to execute: YE SHALL UTTERLY DESTROY EVERY MALE; without any reserve, young or old, married or unmarried: AND EVERY WOMAN THAT HATH LAIN BY MAN; whether lawfully or unlawfully, in a married or unmarried state....

CHAPTER 21 THE REPENTANCE ABOUT BENJAMIN _ 1. Sorrow of the people and Jabesh-Gilead smitten (Judges 21:1)_ 2. The restoration of Benjamin (Judges 21:16) A tribe of the nation was almost entirely exterminated. Then the oath they had made not to give their daughters to wife to the Benjamites left assured the complete extinction of the tribe. The dreadful work they had done dawned suddenly upon them and weeping before Jehovah they said, “Why is this come to pass in Israel that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?” The answer surely was, it came to pass on account of their departure from God and their sins. Thus people ask when they behold the scenes of bloodshed and war, as we see in our times, why is this? and are even ready to blame God, instead of thinking of sin and

JUDES 21. BENJAMIN SAVED FROM EXTINCTION. Two versions of this story have been editorially combined. The second is evidently the older. It was stated that the children of Israel came together as one man (Judges 20:1; Judges 20:11), but it now appears that Jabesh-gilead, the city that was so loyal to Saul the Benjamite (1 Samuel 11:1 f; 1 Samuel 31:11 f., 2 Samuel 2:5 f; 2 Samuel 21:12 f.), did not send a single man to fight against Benjamin. For this sin, all the inhabi

MAN. male. Hebrew. _zakar._...

_And this is the thing … do_ Similarly Judges 20:9. _ye shall utterly destroy_ The city and all its inhabitants were to become _ḥérem_, placed under the ban, for not taking part in the holy war against Benjamin; cf. Judges 20:48 _n._This episode is based upon Numbers 31:7; Numbers 31:17 f. (a late stratum of P). The writer again betrays his forgetfulness: he fails to copy his model in the important particular _ye shall keep alive the virgins for yourselves_Numbers 31:18. The words are accordingly supplied by LXX. cod. B and mss....

EVERY WOMAN THAT HATH LIEN BY MAN— This exception for the preservation of virgins was received in all nations, and was in time the source of the many prerogatives wherewith virgins were honoured; those which they received among the Romans were extraordinary. See Martin's Explication des Textes, p. 130. REFLECTIONS.—Their zeal for the destruction of Benjamin was scarcely so great as is their anguish now that their warmth has subsided. What increases their grief is, that, at Mizpeh, they bound themselves by a solemn oath, not only to destroy every city that should neglect their summons, but also never to give their daughters in marriage to a Benjamite; so that, having slain all the women, and being by their oath disabled from giving them others, while it was forbidden them to marry with the nations around them, though the six hundred men have escaped, the tribe is in danger of being extinc...

_Wives for the Benjamites Judges 21:8-25_ 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 Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. 9 For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there. 10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. 11 And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. 12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13 And the whole c

THE MIGRATIONS OF THE DANITES, AND THE FEUD BETWEEN BENJAMIN AND THE OTHER TRIBES (JUDGES 17-21) This concluding section is really an appendix. Instead of describing a further deliverance, it recounts two tribal stories m which the rough manners and primitive religious ideas of the time are shown with most valuable and vivid detail. Redundancies and discrepancies in the narratives (see on Judges 17:3; Judges 18:17) as well as differences in the language, suggest that more than one account has been used in each of the stories. This is no sign, however, that they are not historical; and they must probably be placed earlier rather than later in the general framework of the period. WIVES ARE GIVEN TO THE BENJAMITE SURVIVORS 1-6. The lamentation for Benjamin....