Judges 21:1 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, “No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.”

NIV: The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: 'Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.'

NASB: Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, 'None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin in marriage.'

CSB: The men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah: "None of us will give his daughter to a Benjaminite in marriage."

NLT: The Israelites had vowed at Mizpah, 'We will never give our daughters in marriage to a man from the tribe of Benjamin.'

KJV: Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.

NKJV: Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.”

Israel acted under God's direction (Judges 20:27–28) to attack and wipe out the city of Gibeah, of the tribe of Benjamin, for the sinful abominations being practiced there (Judges 20:12–13). They killed all Gibeah's inhabitants and burned the city to the ground. But the other eleven tribes did not stop there; the victorious armies then continued to obliterate every remaining person and city in the territory. Scripture gives no indication that this was part of God's command. All but six hundred fighting men are dead; the rest are hiding in an area known as the "rock of Rimmon" (Judges 20:47).

To make matters worse for the tribe of Benjamin, the people of the other eleven tribes took an oath before the fighting started (Judges 21:18). They pledged that none of the other tribes of Israel would give their daughters in marriage to any of the men of Benjamin. The oath seems intended to isolate the evil being practiced in Benjamin from infecting the rest of Israel.

The motive behind making this promise may have been good, but it was not a command given by God. He told the Israelites not to intermarry with Canaanite people, to keep from becoming like them (Deuteronomy 7:1–5). By applying that command to their own people in the tribe of Benjamin—and slaughtering all women in the tribe—Israel may have guaranteed one of the twelve tribes would cease to exist.

Breaking an oath made before the Lord was understood to earn God's wrath (Deuteronomy 23:21–23). The Israelites don't seem to even consider breaking this one. Soon, Scripture will mention another oath made prior to the war which Israel is obligated to honor (Judges 21:5).

Judges 21:1–7 finds Israel mourning. After the other eleven tribes raged through the territory in a civil war, only six hundred men survive from the tribe of Benjamin. Cities, animals, women, and children have been wiped out. Beyond that, the Israelites made an unwise oath not to give wives to Benjamin. The people weep and make sacrifices to God, but He remains silent. Israel's leaders investigate which clans did not send anyone to fight in the war. This might give them a way to honor their oath while sparing Benjamin from extinction.

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).