Judges 21:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel.

NIV: The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,' they said, 'so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.

NASB: And they said, 'There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe will not be wiped out from Israel.

CSB: They said, "There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.

NLT: There must be heirs for the survivors so that an entire tribe of Israel is not wiped out.

KJV: And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.

NKJV: And they said, “ There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel.

In the previous chapter, not long before this moment, the leaders of Israel were deeply committed to wiping the tribe of Benjamin from the face of the earth. While God called on them to enact justice (Judges 20:28), He did not tell them to nearly obliterate the entire tribe (Judges 20:47–48). The other eleven tribes raged through the territory and eliminated all but six hundred men. They also made a foolish promise to never give their daughters as wives to Benjaminites. To work around that vow, the nation attacked the only clan who hadn't supported the war, giving those women to the tribe of Benjamin. Guilt for protecting the sinful city of Gibeah (Judges 20:11–13) has been repaid many times over, but about one third of the surviving men still have no wives.

Benjamin's inheritance of land and borders under the promise of God must be preserved for those who survived that terrible day of battle. Now—well after making foolish promises and wreaking excessive havoc—Israel wonders how Benjamin can possibly keep their own territory if their numbers remain so small? The Israelites are urgent to find more wives so the tribe can repopulate as quickly as possible.

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).