4 And it came to pass on the morrow, H4283 that the people H5971 rose early, H7925 and built H1129 there an altar, H4196 and offered H5927 burnt offerings H5930 and peace offerings. H8002
And David H1732 built H1129 there an altar H4196 unto the LORD, H3068 and offered H5927 burnt offerings H5930 and peace offerings. H8002 So the LORD H3068 was intreated H6279 for the land, H776 and the plague H4046 was stayed H6113 from Israel. H3478
An altar H4196 of earth H127 thou shalt make H6213 unto me, and shalt sacrifice H2076 thereon thy burnt offerings, H5930 and thy peace offerings, H8002 thy sheep, H6629 and thine oxen: H1241 in all places H4725 where I record H2142 my name H8034 I will come H935 unto thee, and I will bless H1288 thee. And if thou wilt make H6213 me an altar H4196 of stone, H68 thou shalt not build H1129 it of hewn stone: H1496 for if thou lift up H5130 thy tool H2719 upon it, thou hast polluted H2490 it.
And build H1129 an altar H4196 unto the LORD H3068 thy God H430 upon the top H7218 of this rock, H4581 in the ordered place, H4634 and take H3947 the second H8145 bullock, H6499 and offer H5927 a burnt sacrifice H5930 with the wood H6086 of the grove H842 which thou shalt cut down. H3772
And Gad H1410 came H935 that day H3117 to David, H1732 and said H559 unto him, Go up, H5927 rear H6965 an altar H4196 unto the LORD H3068 in the threshingfloor H1637 of Araunah H728 the Jebusite. H2983
The same day H3117 did the king H4428 hallow H6942 the middle H8432 of the court H2691 that was before H6440 the house H1004 of the LORD: H3068 for there he offered H6213 burnt offerings, H5930 and meat offerings, H4503 and the fat H2459 of the peace offerings: H8002 because the brasen H5178 altar H4196 that was before H6440 the LORD H3068 was too little H6996 to receive H3557 the burnt offerings, H5930 and meat offerings, H4503 and the fat H2459 of the peace offerings. H8002
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Judges 21
Commentary on Judges 21 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 21
Jud 21:1-15. The People Bewail The Desolation of Israel.
2-5. the people came to the house of God, … and lifted up their voices, and wept sore—The characteristic fickleness of the Israelites was not long in being displayed; for scarcely had they cooled from the fierceness of their sanguinary vengeance, than they began to relent and rushed to the opposite extreme of self-accusation and grief at the desolation which their impetuous zeal had produced. Their victory saddened and humbled them. Their feelings on the occasion were expressed by a public and solemn service of expiation at the house of God. And yet this extraordinary observance, though it enabled them to find vent for their painful emotions, did not afford them full relief, for they were fettered by the obligation of a religious vow, heightened by the addition of a solemn anathema on every violator of the oath. There is no previous record of this oath; but the purport of it was, that they would treat the perpetrators of this Gibeah atrocity in the same way as the Canaanites, who were doomed to destruction; and the entering into this solemn league was of a piece with the rest of their inconsiderate conduct in this whole affair.
6. There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day—that is, in danger of becoming extinct; for, as it appears from Jud 21:7, they had massacred all the women and children of Benjamin, and six hundred men alone survived of the whole tribe. The prospect of such a blank in the catalogue of the twelve tribes, such a gap in the national arrangements, was too painful to contemplate, and immediate measures must be taken to prevent this great catastrophe.
8. there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly—This city lay within the territory of eastern Manasseh, about fifteen miles east of the Jordan, and was, according to Josephus, the capital of Gilead. The ban which the assembled tribes had pronounced at Mizpeh seemed to impose on them the necessity of punishing its inhabitants for not joining the crusade against Benjamin; and thus, with a view of repairing the consequences of one rash proceeding, they hurriedly rushed to the perpetration of another, though a smaller tragedy. But it appears (Jud 21:11) that, besides acting in fulfilment of their oath, the Israelites had the additional object by this raid of supplying wives to the Benjamite remnant. This shows the intemperate fury of the Israelites in the indiscriminate slaughter of the women and children.
Jud 21:16-21. The Elders Consult How to Find Wives for Those That Were Left.
16. the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain—Though the young women of Jabesh-gilead had been carefully spared, the supply was found inadequate, and some other expedient must be resorted to.
17. There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin—As they were the only rightful owners of the territory, provision must be made for transmitting it to their legitimate heirs, and a new act of violence was meditated (Jud 21:19); the opportunity for which was afforded by the approaching festival—a feast generally supposed to be the feast of tabernacles. This, like the other annual feasts, was held in Shiloh, and its celebration was attended with more social hilarity and holiday rejoicings than the other feasts.
19. on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem—The exact site of the place was described evidently for the direction of the Benjamites.
21, 22. daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances—The dance was anciently a part of the religious observance. It was done on festive occasions, as it is still in the East, not in town, but in the open air, in some adjoining field, the women being by themselves. The young women being alone indulging their light and buoyant spirits, and apprehensive of no danger, facilitated the execution of the scheme of seizing them, which closely resembles the Sabine rape in Roman history. The elders undertook to reconcile the families to the forced abduction of their daughters. And thus the expression of their public sanction to this deed of violence afforded a new evidence of the evils and difficulties into which the unhappy precipitancy of the Israelites in this crisis had involved them.