Judges 21:1-25 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Judges 21:1-25. Let’s go!
Judges 21:1-4 (NIV)
1 The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”
2 The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly.
3 “O LORD, the God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?”
4 Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.
On verses 1-4: The Israelites weep bitterly before God when they realize that one tribe of Israel, the Benjamites, is nearly extinct. In verse 3 they ask, “O LORD, the God of Israel, why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?” According to scholars like Daniel Block from the New American Commentary, the tone of the Israelites’ questioning of God is one of accusation. In other words, rather than seeing how their actions resulted in this heart-breaking result, they blame God. Isn’t that so like us humans to do? We make a mess of our own situation and then we blame God for the mess.
Notice that the Israelites took time to weep and cry before God about their problems, but they didn’t take time to repent or inquire of God as to what they should do from here. It’s one thing to weep and cry before God, but if you don’t change and do what God wants, your weeping and crying won’t make much difference in the long run. Let’s not only bring our tears to God; even more, let’s repent, that is, turn from those ways which led us to tears in the first place.
Judges 21:5-14 (NIV)
5 Then the Israelites asked, “Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the LORD?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah should certainly be put to death.
6 Now the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites. “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel,” they said.
7 “How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?”
8 Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah?” They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.
9 For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.
10 So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children.
11 “This is what you are to do,” they said. “Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.”
12 They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.
13 Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon.
14 So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.
On verses 5-14: The Israelites’ unrepentant attitude is evidenced in these verses. Instead of seeking the LORD on what they should do about the remaining Benjamites, the Israelites resort once again to killing and violence, this time wiping out the city of Jabesh Gilead as a means of getting wives for the Benjamites. But the Israelites couldn’t get enough. Managing to get enough wives for 400 Benjamites, they need 200 more.
Judges 21:15-25 (NIV)
15 The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.
16 And the elders of the assembly said, “With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left?
17 The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,” they said, “so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.
18 We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.’
19 But look, there is the annual festival of the LORD in Shiloh, to the north of Bethel, and east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and to the south of Lebonah.”
20 So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards
21 and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin.
22 When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.'”
23 So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.
24 At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance.
25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.
On verses 15-25: Since the Israelites had taken an oath not to give their daughters away in marriage to a Benjamite (v1), so as not to go back on their vow they rely on a technicality. “We vowed not to give our daughters away, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take other people’s daughters away!” And that is what the Israelites do. They kidnap 200 more women from Shiloh to provide wives for the remaining 200 Benjamites.
How can we explain this pattern of injustice after injustice? The last verse of Judges gives us the answer: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” (v25) This phrase, which comes up repeatedly in Judges, sums up the entire book of Judges: people doing much evil all because they have chosen not to live for God but to live for themselves. In this way the book of Judges is one of the saddest books in the Bible. There are some bright lights dispersed throughout the book, people like Deborah, Gideon, and even Samson’s parents. But the book of Judges clearly shows a people whose biggest problem was not external but internal, hopelessly bent on rebelling against God and doing their own thing. Every deliverer that God would sendto the Israelites would bring help and hope, but only for a time. All of this is setting the stage for one day when God would send a perfect king and deliverer unlike any other to rescue the people from their biggest bondage: their bondage to living for themselves. This brings our look at the book of Judges to a close.
Thank You Father that the night is darkest just before the break of dawn. Through the book of Judges You show us how dark our human hearts can get, but You also indirectly point us to our need, and Your promise, of a Saviour-King and Deliverer who will the light the way. Thank You Jesus for being our light in the darkness always, the only One who can deliver us from our biggest bondage. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
