INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 21 This chapter relates how that when the Israelites calmed down, and seriously to reflect on what had passed, they were sore grieved, and much lamented the case of Benjamin, and were particularly concerned what they should do for wives for those few men that remained, that t... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE MEN OF ISRAEL HAD SWORN IN MIZPEH,.... Where they were there convened, before the war began; after they had heard the account the Levite gave of the affair, which brought them thither; and after they had sent messengers to Benjamin to deliver up the men of Gibeah, that had committed the wick... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PEOPLE CAME TO THE HOUSE OF GOD,.... Not to the city Bethel, as the Targum, Septuagint, and other versions, but to Shiloh, where were the tabernacle and ark; and this is to be understood of the army after they had utterly destroyed the Benjaminites: hence we read of the camp in Shiloh, Judge... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAID, O LORD GOD OF ISRAEL,.... Jehovah, the only living and true God, the Being of beings, eternal, immutable, omnipotent and omnipresent, the God of all Israel, of the twelve tribes of Israel, their covenant God and Father; who had shown favour to them in such a peculiar and gracious manner, a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS ON THE MORROW, THAT THE PEOPLE ROSE EARLY,.... The day after their fasting and prayer, and a sense of their present case and circumstances being deeply impressed upon their minds, they rose early in the morning to acts of devotion, and exercises of religion, hoping that being in... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SAID,.... One to another, after they had offered their sacrifices, and while they were together in Shiloh: WHO IS THERE AMONG ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, THAT CAME NOT UP WITH THE CONGREGATION UNTO THE LORD? when they were summoned to come to Mizpeh, to consult together abo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL REPENTED THEM FOR BENJAMIN THEIR BROTHER,.... Not that they went to war with them, as if their cause was not good; but for the severity they had exercised towards them, especially in destroying their women and children, and for the fatal consequences like to follow here af... [ Continue Reading ]
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 b... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAID, WHAT ONE IS THERE OF THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL THAT CAME NOT UP TO MIZPEH TO THE LORD?.... This is asked not only to bring them to justice, and put them to death, according to their oath, who should be found guilty, Judges 21:5 but as an expedient to find wives for the surviving Benjaminit... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE PEOPLE WERE NUMBERED,.... To know who did come up, and who did not, and particularly to know whether the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead did or not, against whom an information was brought: AND, BEHOLD, THERE WERE NONE OF THE INHABITANTS OF JABESHGILEAD THERE; for as yet none that came had retu... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE CONGREGATION SENT THITHER TWELVE THOUSAND MEN OF THE VALIANTEST,.... That were in their army; in the Vulgate Latin version it is only 10,000; but the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and Josephus c, agree with the Hebrew text. This place, according to Bunting, to which this a... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY FOUND AMONG THE INHABITANTS OF JABESHGILEAD FOUR HUNDRED YOUNG VIRGINS,.... Or damsel virgins e; damsels that were virgins: that had known no man by lying with any male: which was judged of by their age, and by their unmarried state, and by common report, unless it can be thought they were... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE WHOLE CONGREGATION SENT SOME TO SPEAK TO THE CHILDREN OF BENJAMIN,.... Sent some messengers to them, to call them, and desire them to come to them: THAT WERE IN THE ROCK RIMMON; the six hundred men who had hid themselves in a cave in it, of which the people of Israel were informed: AND TO... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BENJAMIN CAME AGAIN AT THAT TIME,.... The six hundred Benjaminites returned with the messengers at the same time to the people of Israel, putting confidence in the assurances they had given them of peace and safety: AND THEY GAVE THEM WIVES WHICH THEY HAD SAVED ALIVE OF THE WOMEN OF JABESHGILEA... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PEOPLE REPENTED THEM FOR BENJAMIN,.... That they had destroyed all their women, and that they had saved no more of the daughters of Jabeshgilead, not a sufficient number to be wives to the Benjaminites: BECAUSE THE LORD HAD MADE A BREACH IN THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL; by almost destroying one of... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE ELDERS OF THE CONGREGATION SAID.... This being the case, that there were not wives enough for them, they were obliged to consult again, and consider of another expedient to provide for them; and this motion came from the elders of the people, not only in years, but in office: HOW SHALL WE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAID, THERE MUST BE AN INHERITANCE FOR THEM THAT BE ESCAPED BENJAMIN,.... The escaped are the six hundred men in the rock Rimmon; four hundred of them were supplied with wives, the other two wanted; and as there was an inheritance divided by lot to the tribe of Benjamin, to that tribe and t... [ Continue Reading ]
HOWBEIT, WE MAY NOT GIVE THEM WIVES OF OUR DAUGHTERS,.... Though their case was so very necessitous and desperate: FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL HAVE SWORN, SAYING, CURSED BE HE THAT GIVETH A WIFE TO BENJAMIN, Judges 21:1 and therefore without the violation of their oath could not give any of their da... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THEY SAID,.... Some of the elders that sat in council debating this matter, and considering of ways and means to assist their brethren the Benjaminites, and preserve their tribe from being lost: BEHOLD, THERE IS A FEAST OF THE LORD IN SHILOH YEARLY; where the tabernacle then was, and before wh... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THEY COMMANDED THE CHILDREN OF BENJAMIN,.... The two hundred men of the tribe that wanted wives; they ordered them as follows, and which they spake with authority, being the elders of the congregation, Judges 21:16 SAYING, GO AND LIE IN WAIT IN THE VINEYARDS; which might belong to Shiloh,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SEE, AND, BEHOLD, IF THE DAUGHTERS OF SHILOH COME OUT TO DANCE IN DANCES,.... As they used to do at this festival, not along with men, but by themselves; and so might the more easily be taken and carried off; and though only males were obliged to appear from all parts at this feast, yet females... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL BE, WHEN THEIR FATHERS OR THEIR BRETHREN COME UNTO US TO COMPLAIN,.... Of this rape of their daughters or sisters, or to bring an action against them, and desire they might be summoned before them, the elders of the people, and be tried and judged according to law for what they had done... [ Continue Reading ]
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, a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DEPARTED THENCE AT THAT TIME, EVERY MAN TO HIS TRIBE AND TO HIS FAMILY,.... The war being ended, and things settled as well as circumstances would admit of, for the preservation of the tribe of Benjamin, who were the cause of it, and had suffered so much in it; the Israeli... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THOSE DAYS THERE WAS NO KING IN ISRAEL,.... No supreme magistrate, Joshua being dead, and as yet no judge in Israel had risen up; for all related in the five last Chapter s of this book were done between the death of Joshua and the time of the judges: EVERY MAN DID THAT WHICH WAS RIGHT IN HIS OW... [ Continue Reading ]