5 The children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who didn't come up in the assembly to Yahweh? For they had made a great oath concerning him who didn't come up to Yahweh to Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
Curse you Meroz, said the angel of Yahweh. Curse you bitterly the inhabitants of it, Because they didn't come to the help of Yahweh, To the help of Yahweh against the mighty.
"'Notwithstanding, no devoted thing, that a man shall devote to Yahweh of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy to Yahweh. "'No one devoted, who shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.
He took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Whoever doesn't come forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. The dread of Yahweh fell on the people, and they came out as one man.
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,