22 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.'"
Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, "No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin."
Yet we cannot give them wives of our daughters." For the people of Israel had sworn, "Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin."
On the same day went Noah, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them any of our daughters for wives?"
It is a snare to a man rashly to say, It is hallowed, and after vows to make inquiry.
but from [the] beginning of [the] creation God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh: so that they are no longer two but one flesh.
for love's sake I rather exhort, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also prisoner of Jesus Christ. I exhort thee for *my* child, whom I have begotten in [my] bonds, Onesimus, once unserviceable to thee, but now serviceable to thee and to me: whom I have sent back to thee: [but do *thou* receive] him, that is, *my* bowels:
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Judges 21
Commentary on Judges 21 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 21
The ruins of the tribe of Benjamin we read of in the foregoing chapter; now here we have,
Jdg 21:1-15
We may observe in these verses,
Jdg 21:16-25
We have here the method that was taken to provide the 200 Benjamites that remained with wives. And, though the tribe was reduced to a small number, they were only in care to provide each man with one wife, not with more under pretence of multiplying them the faster. They may not bestow their daughters upon them, but to save their oath, and yet marry some of their daughters to them, they put them into a way of taking them by surprise, and marrying them, which should be ratified by their parents' consent, ex post facto-afterwards. The less consideration is used before the making of a vow, the more, commonly, there is need of afterwards for the keeping of it.
Lastly, In the close of all we have,