Now the men of Israel had (a) sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not
any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.
(a) This was a rash oath, and not from judgment: for they later broke
it, showing secretly the means to marry certain of their daughters.... [ Continue Reading ]
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and
built there an (b) altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace
offerings.
(b) According to their custom, when they would consult the Lord.... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of Israel (c) repented them for Benjamin their
brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.
(c) Or, were sorry that they had destroyed their brethren, as it
appears in (Judges 21:15).... [ Continue Reading ]
And they said, What one [is there] of the tribes of Israel that (d)
came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the
camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly.
(d) Condemning them as lovers of evil, who would not punish it.... [ Continue Reading ]
And the whole congregation (e) sent [some] to speak to the children of
Benjamin that [were] in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto
them.
(e) That is, about four months after the punishment, (Judges 20:47).... [ Continue Reading ]
And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which
they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead: and yet (f) so they
sufficed them not.
(f) For they were short two hundred.... [ Continue Reading ]
And they said, [There must be] (g) an inheritance for them that be
escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
(g) Benjamin must be preserved to have the twelfth portion in the
inheritance of Jacob.... [ Continue Reading ]
Then they said, Behold, [there is] a feast of the LORD in Shiloh
yearly [in a place] which [is] on the (h) north side of Bethel, on the
east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on
the south of Lebonah.
(h) He describes the place where the maids used to dance yearly, and
si... [ Continue Reading ]
And it shall be, (i) when their fathers or their brethren come unto us
to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for
our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war:
for ye did not give unto them at this time, [that] ye should be
guilty.
(i) Though they att... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of Benjamin did so, and took [them] wives, according
to their (k) number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they
went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and
dwelt in them.
(k) Meaning, two hundred.... [ Continue Reading ]