Judges 21:22 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Grant them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.’”

NIV: When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, 'Do us the favor of helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war. You will not be guilty of breaking your oath because you did not give your daughters to them.''

NASB: And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we shall say to them, ‘ Give them to us voluntarily, because we did not take for each man of Benjamin a wife in battle, nor did you give them to them, otherwise you would now be guilty.’?'

CSB: When their fathers or brothers come to us and protest, we will tell them, 'Show favor to them, since we did not get enough wives for each of them in the battle. You didn't actually give the women to them, so you are not guilty of breaking your oath.' "

NLT: And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be sympathetic. Let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find wives for all of them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not actually give your daughters to them in marriage.’'

KJV: And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty.

NKJV: Then it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we will say to them, ‘Be kind to them for our sakes, because we did not take a wife for any of them in the war; for it is not as though you have given the women to them at this time, making yourselves guilty of your oath.’ ”

The leaders of Israel (Judges 21:16) have produced a plan to secure two hundred Israelite wives for the remaining unwed survivors of the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 20:47–48). The goal is to save the tribe from extinction without violating a hasty oath that any who gives a wife to Benjamin will be cursed (Judges 21:1, 18).

Using blatantly legalistic arguments, the Israelite leaders have suggested there is a difference between "giving" a daughter to a Benjaminite, as opposed to a Benjaminite "taking" a daughter as a wife. Their plan is to have the remaining Benjaminite men capture unsuspecting women at a festival, then formalize their marriages among the families. The intent, of course, is the same. Rhetoric aside, this is a plan to "give" wives to these men (Judges 21:19–21).

Here, Scripture records the logic which will be presented to the fathers and brothers of these girls. The Israelites will ask the men of Shiloh to let the Benjaminites have their daughters as wives. They will explain how this serves as an escape from the nation's oath. "Giving" wives would break the vow. Since they were "taken," this solves the current problem.

It's true that these women might well have been betrothed to the same men, in other circumstances. Marrying a man she had never meant was nothing scandalous or unusual for a woman in that culture. What's bizarre—and unsettling—about this is that women aren't being told what is happening. For all they know, they're being kidnapped outright. It's hard to imagine any father or brother accepting the Israelite's defense. Even if everything is legitimized, their daughters will have been taken, traumatically and against their will, to become the wives of strange men.

This was not the Lord's will for Israel, as nothing in the passage indicates He has commanded these actions. Rather, this is another example of Israel continuing to do whatever is convenient for them, at any given moment. At the very end of the book (Judges 21:26), the writer will again emphasize that such events were typical in the time before Israel had kings (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1).

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).