Judges 21:1-25

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, the men from Benjamin’s *tribe. ‘Today *Israel has lost one *tribe’, they said. v7 ‘How can we provide wives for those that remain? We have made a serious promise to the *Lord. We will not allow our daughters to marry them.’

v8 Then they asked this question. ‘Which *tribe of *Israel did not meet at Mizpah?’ Then they discovered this. Nobody from Jabesh-Gilead had come to meet at the camp. v9 They had counted the people. They had discovered that nobody from Jabesh-Gilead was there.

The *Israelites thought again about their actions. They had fought a holy war. But they had made some promises that were too strong. They had promised that their daughters would not marry the men from Benjamin’s *tribe. So they had not allowed them to marry them. They were sorry about that. Because it meant that the *tribe would not continue. They built an *altar. This was probably at Mizpah, because there was already one at Bethel. They could not change their promise. Then they remembered something. If a *tribe sent nobody to the meeting, people would declare a *curse on that *tribe. As a result, the *tribe would suffer *destruction. Nobody had come from Jabesh-Gilead. (The people in Jabesh-Gilead were relatives of Manasseh, Rachel’s grandson. And so, they were also relatives of Benjamin. Later there was a close connection between Jabesh-Gilead and Benjamin’s *tribe.)

v10 So the people at the meeting sent 12 000 fighting men to go to Jabesh-Gilead. These men had to kill all those that lived there. This included women and children. v11 ‘You must do this’, the people said. ‘Kill every male. And kill every woman that has had sex.’ v12 The men found 400 young women that had not had sex. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh. This was in Canaan. v13 Then the people at the meeting sent some people to Benjamin’s men. These were at the rock called Rimmon. The people offered to make peace with Benjamin’s *tribe. v14 So Benjamin’s men returned at that time. The other *Israelites gave the girls from Jabesh to them. These were the girls that they had not killed. But there were not enough girls. v15 The people were sorry for Benjamin’s *tribe, because the *Lord had broken the unity of *Israel’s *tribes.

The people sent very many soldiers to Jabesh-Gilead. These went there to do something that the people had promised. But they also went to avoid the results of another promise. They killed the people that lived there. This was because these had not come to support the other *tribes. We may think that this seems cruel. But the connections between *tribes were *religious and very strong. It was very wrong to break these connections. One *tribe did not come. It did not consider that the event was serious. It did not want to settle the matter fairly. The soldiers brought back 400 girls that had not had sex. They would be wives for 400 men from Benjamin’s *tribe. But in total, 600 men from Benjamin’s *tribe still lived. The *Israelites did not kill them. This showed that the *Israelites wanted to become friends with them again. The *Israelites did not want one *tribe to disappear completely. They went to Shiloh. This shows that this event happened early. It happened before most other events that the writer describes in Judges. The writer explains here where Shiloh was. This shows that Shiloh was not such an important town then. It was not the main place where the people praised God at that time. It did not become the main place until later.

v16 The leaders of the meeting said, ‘There are no more women in Benjamin’s *tribe. How can we find wives for the men that remain? v17 The other men from Benjamin’s *tribe must have children. Then a *tribe of *Israel will not disappear. v18 We cannot give our own daughters to them. We have made a serious promise. We will declare a *curse on anyone that does this. v19 But think! There is the yearly *celebration where people thank the *Lord in Shiloh.’ (Shiloh is north from Bethel and south from Lebonah. It is east from the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem.) v20 So they spoke to the men from Benjamin’s *tribe. ‘Go. Hide in the fields where *grapes grow. v21 Then watch. The girls in Shiloh will come out to dance. Then you each must rush out from the fields where *grapes grow. Catch one girl for a wife. Then go back to the area where Benjamin’s *tribe has been. v22 If the girls’ fathers and brothers protest, we will say this to the fathers and brothers. ‘Please help them. Help them because we did not find enough wives for them during the war. You did not give your daughters to them. So you did not do anything that was against your promise.’ v23 So that is what the men from Benjamin’s *tribe did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one. He carried her off to be his wife. Then they went back to their own area. They built their towns again and they lived there. v24 At the same time, the other *Israelites left the place. They went home to their own *tribes, families and property.

In Benjamin’s *tribe, there were still 200 men that did not have wives. So they made a plan for the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles was a *celebration because of the harvest. This one was at Shiloh. It included some local customs. For example, people danced. During the dance, those other 200 men from Benjamin’s *tribe would each seize a girl. So they would each get a wife. They would not take these girls as an act of war. And the men in Shiloh would not actually give their daughters to them. So the men in Shiloh would not do anything that was against their promise. (They had promised not to give their daughters to a man from Benjamin’s *tribe.)

E. M. Blaiklock wrote, ‘These last few Chapter s tell us what happens to a nation that forgets its God.’

v25 At that time there was no king in *Israel. Everyone did what seemed right to him.

This does not mean that a king would make things fair and good. Many kings led the people in the wrong way. ‘Everyone did what seemed right to him.’ This means that everybody had the responsibility to check their own actions. We may want to know who had the final authority. God showed people things about his purpose. That was the final authority. People could still live as true people of God even then. We can see this from the book called Ruth. God was still there. He had not left his people. He made sure that they would not destroy themselves by their own foolish behaviour. In Judges, we read a story about God’s grace. (God forgives us for the wrong things that we have done. And he does good things to us, although we do not deserve it. That is what grace means.) When people were doing more wrong things, God’s grace increased even more. Even when we have no trust, he remains loyal. He cannot act in a way that is different from his character.

This book is particularly important for people that live today. In many countries, people encourage other people to do what is ‘right for them’. They do not believe in absolute truth and moral standards. They do not believe in life that comes after death. They do not believe in judgement either. They laugh at these ideas. Sometimes people do not obey laws and they forget God. In this book, we read what results this has. The terrible events in the story in chapter 19 seem very modern. Judges contains a message for our world today. The world is becoming more and more evil. Its people allow other people to do whatever they like. God will punish what is evil. But he also loves people and he forgives them. He hates to see his people suffer. He can free those who try to find him. But they must also stop doing wrong things. That freedom comes by the *Lord Jesus Christ. He was born. He lived. He died. He rose again. He did not come to punish people. He came to free them. In the book called Judges, God often sent a special man (a judge) to rescue *Israel’s people. And this was similar to something that God would do later. Later he would send someone even more special, his own son Jesus, to rescue the world’s people from their *sins.

Israel ~ the nation that consisted of Jacob’s descendants; the country where they lived; another name for Jacob.

descendants ~ members of your family that are born and live after you.
Lord ~ a name for God. It means that he is the master, the ruler over all. Also, people often use this word to translate Yahweh, a very special Hebrew name for God.

Yahweh ~ the name of God. It means ‘I am what I am’. Or it can mean ‘the same always’.
Hebrew ~ the Hebrew people were Abraham’s descendants; and they spoke a language called Hebrew.
descendants ~ members of your family that are born and live after you.
tribe ~ a large group of people that are all relatives of each other.
altar ~ a special table where people put a sacrifice to God (or to a false god). They usually made it from stone.

sacrifice ~ something valuable (usually food or a dead animal) that people offer to God or to a false god.
Israelites ~ the people that belonged to the nation called Israel. God had chosen them as his own special people.

Israel ~ the nation that consisted of Jacob’s descendants; the country where they lived; another name for Jacob.
descendants ~ members of your family that are born and live after you.
curse ~ something bad that someone says in order to punish or hurt a person.
destruction ~ when someone has damaged something so badly that it does not exist any more.
religious ~ when someone or something has a connection with religion.

religion ~ belief that God exists; and belief that we should obey his rules.
celebration ~ a social event that people arrange because of a happy or important occasion.
grape ~ juicy green or purple fruit that grows on the branches of a vine. People use this fruit to make wine.

vine ~ a plant that climbs. Its fruit is the grape.
sin ~ when people do not obey God’s rules.