Judges 21 Study Notes

21:1-9 Before the battle, all the tribes had sworn an oath not to allow their daughters to marry a Benjaminite. Since the Benjaminite women were wiped out in execution of the holy war and only the six hundred men of Benjamin were left in the wilderness, it seemed that the tribe was destined for extinction. The seriousness with which Israel viewed their vow against giving their daughters to the Benjaminites is in marked contrast with their failure to remain separate from the Canaanite tribes, as the Lord had demanded. Seeking a solution, the people went to Bethel. Again they wept and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, just as in 20:26. However, this time they relied on their own wisdom rather than the wisdom of the Lord. Their solution was to make a scapegoat out of anyone who had failed to show up for the muster at Mizpah, when they had taken an oath to impose the death penalty on anyone who refused to fight against the Benjaminites.

21:10-12 No reason is given for the failure of Jabesh-gilead to send soldiers, nor were the inhabitants given an opportunity to explain themselves. Instead, a force of twelve thousand brave warriors was sent to wipe out the men of Jabesh-gilead, along with the married women and male children, while sparing the young virgins, who could provide wives for the remaining six hundred Benjaminites and thus allow the rest of the Israelites to keep their vow not to give their daughters in marriage. This arrangement provided a solution to their dilemma by means of a cynically selective application of the rules of holy war. The narrator signals his opinion by describing Shiloh as located in the land of Canaan. Even though Shiloh had been in Israelite hands for many years, by their behavior the Israelites had demonstrated that they were no better than the people they replaced.

21:13-14 The whole congregation, representing all of Israel, sent an offer of peace to the Benjaminites, and they returned to the fold. However, the four hundred young virgins taken from Jabesh-gilead were not enough to provide wives for the six hundred remaining Benjaminites.

21:15-18 Daniel Block points out that they blame the Lord for the situation, this gap in the tribes of Israel.

21:19-25 The Israelites proposed a second strategy to provide wives for the Benjaminites, involving the annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh. It is not specified which of the three annual festivals is in view here, though the reference to vineyards suggests the Festival of Shelters. The fact that the Israelites needed detailed directions to find Shiloh suggests that for some time they had not been fulfilling their obligation to appear before the Lord at the tabernacle there three times per year. When the young women came out to dance, as would have been typical of such festivals, the Benjaminites would catch wives for themselves. This strategy, which resulted in women being taken against their will or the will of their parents, technically absolved the Israelites of breaking their vow not to give their daughters to the Benjaminites. Obviously this came at the cost of still more violence against women. In effect, the elders (Hb zaqenim) of Israel proposed a solution similar to that suggested by the old man (Hb zaqen) in Gibeah in 19:24, sacrificing virgin daughters for the benefit of the men.

Then the Benjaminites went home and rebuilt their cities, a further deviation from the laws of holy war, which specified that the cities that were destroyed should remain in ruins forever (Dt 13:16). These final chapters of the book give graphic demonstration of the depravity that resulted in Israel from the refusal of the people to recognize the Lord as King.