Judges 21:23 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the people of Benjamin did so and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and lived in them.

NIV: So that is what the Benjamites did. While the young women 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.

NASB: The sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who danced, whom they seized. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the cities and lived in them.

CSB: The Benjaminites did this and took the number of women they needed from the dancers they caught. They went back to their own inheritance, rebuilt their cities, and lived in them.

NLT: So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. Each man caught one of the women as she danced in the celebration and carried her off to be his wife. They returned to their own land, and they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.

KJV: And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.

NKJV: And the children of Benjamin did so; they took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they caught. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them.

The men of Benjamin carry out the plan given to them by the leaders of Israel (Judges 21:19–22). Their former wives, daughters, and mothers were recently slaughtered (Judges 20:47–48). As instructed, the men hide in a vineyard. They wait for a specific group of young women to start dancing. Then they jump out from the vineyard, each of them catching one of the young women for his wife and carrying her off by force back to their own territory. These women become Benjaminite wives and give birth to the next generation of Benjaminite citizens. The tribe survives its brush with extinction. They rebuild the towns and repopulate their land.

This is the end of an ugly episode in the history of Israel. The situation begins with a runaway concubine (Judges 19:1–2) and ends with the staged abduction of hundreds of young women. In between, Israel wavers between seeking God's will and running out of control. The nation, at that time, seems to have some sense of worship of God and a desire to receive His direction. They hold people accountable for sin (Judges 20:11–13). Yet they repeatedly go beyond the will of the Lord in clumsy attempts to follow the law while also violating morality and virtue (Judges 21:10–14). As the final verse of this book notes, this is a time of spiritual anarchy in the Promised Land (Judges 21:25). Everyone does what is right according to their own preferences, with disastrous, tragic results.

Judges 21:8–25 closes the book of Judges by describing a convoluted process. Israel has made several ill-considered vows and gone too far in punishing the tribe of Benjamin. Without a creative way to find wives for the surviving men, the tribe will quickly die out. First, Israel destroys Jabesh-gilead for not joining in the war. The young women are spared and given to Benjaminites. The remaining two hundred men of Benjamin obtain wives through a staged kidnapping near Shiloh, so Israel can claim they never "gave" wives to Benjamin. The book ends with a reminder that Israel was without a king during this era.

Israel grieves the near extinction of the tribe of Benjamin, though the situation is the result of their own excessive force. Worse, the other eleven tribes vowed not to give wives to Benjamin. To prevent the loss of a tribe, two schemes are enacted. First, the Israelites of Jabesh-gilead are wiped out for not sending anyone to support the civil war; the young women are spared and given as wives to Benjamin. Next, the remaining unmarried men of Benjamin stage an arranged kidnapping to "take" wives they cannot be "given." The book ends with another reminder of Israel's lawlessness in this era.

Judges 21 finds the people of Israel reeling after they killed nearly every person in the tribe of Benjamin. This began as an effort to enact justice and turned into a wide-ranging massacre. To keep Benjamin from dying out, Israel's leaders must work around their own mistakes and two ill-considered vows. The book ends with another reminder that Israel was without a king in this era. The nation was literally leaderless, and spiritually rebellious. Soon, the judge-and-prophet Samuel will rise to guide the people into the era of kings.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).