Judges 21:7

_HOW SHALL WE DO FOR WIVES FOR THEM THAT REMAIN, SEEING WE HAVE SWORN BY THE LORD THAT WE WILL NOT GIVE THEM OF OUR DAUGHTERS TO WIVES?_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

Verse Judges 21:7. _HOW SHALL WE DO FOR WIVES FOR THEM_] From this it appears that they had destroyed all the Benjamitish _women_ and children! They had set out with the purpose of exterminating the whole tribe, and therefore they massacred the _women_, that if any of the men escaped, they might neither find wife nor daughter; and they bound themselves under an oath not to give any of their females to any of the remnant of this tribe, that thus the whole tribe might utterly perish....

HOW SHALL WE DO FOR WIVES FOR THEM THAT REMAIN,.... By which it seems, as well as by what is after related, that they knew of the six hundred men hid in the rock Rimmon: SEEING WE HAVE SWORN BY THE LORD; by the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; and such an oath with them was a sacred thing, and to be kept inviolable, even to their own hurt: THAT WE WILL NOT GIVE THEM OF OUR DAUGHTERS TO WIVES; as in Judges 21:1 and therefore they must either marry among the Heathens, which was forbidden, or they must make void their oath, or the tribe in a little time would be extinct; these were difficulties they knew not how to surmount, and this was the object of their inquiry....

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

_wives for them that remain_ Cf. the parallel version in Judges 21:16....

_Mourning for Benjamin Judges 21:1-7_ Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. 2 And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; 3 And said, O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel? 4 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 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 had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the Lord to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death, 6 And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and sa

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,

מַה ־נַּעֲשֶׂ֥ה לָהֶ֛ם לַ † נֹּותָרִ֖ים לְ נָשִׁ֑ים וַ אֲנַ֨חְנוּ֙ נִשְׁבַּ֣עְנוּ בַֽ יהוָ֔ה לְ...