Judges 21:23

Verse Judges 21:23. _THEY WENT AND RETURNED UNTO THEIR INHERITANCE_] It appears that the Benjamites acted in the most honourable way by the women whom they had thus violently carried off; and we may rest assured they took them to an inheritance at least equal to their own, for it does not appear that any part of the lands of the Benjamites was alienated from them, and the _six hundred_ men in question shared, for the present, the inheritance of many thousands....

Compare the very similar account of the rape of the Sabine women by the Romero youths at the festival of the Consualia, as related by Livy....

AND THE CHILDREN OF BENJAMIN DID SO,.... Went and laid wait in the vineyards, and when the daughters of Shiloh came out to dance, they rushed upon them: AND TOOK THEM WIVES ACCORDING TO THEIR NUMBER; two hundred of them, each man a wife, and no more; for though polygamy was in use in those times, and if at any time necessary, and could be excused, it might seem now; yet it was not indulged to, neither by the elders, nor by the children of Benjamin: OF THEM THAT DANCED WHOM THEY CAUGHT; the rape of the Sabine virgins by Romulus, at the arena plays and shows, mentioned by various authors h, and the carrying off of fifteen Spartan virgins from the dances by Aristomenes the Messenian i, are sometimes observed as parallel cases to this, and justified by it, particularly that of Romulus k: AND THEY WENT AND RETURNED UNTO THEIR INHERITANCE; the six hundred Benjaminites, with their wives, ret...

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

REPAIRED. rebuilt, or built up....

_took them wives … carried off_ Render CARRIED OFF _wives_… SEIZED. The expression _to take wives_in the sense of _marry_is found only in late writings; the reference here, however, is not to marriage, but to capture. This verse closes the narrative of A....

_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....

LIFE WITHOUT LAW JUDGES _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 21 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,