1 And the men of Israel have sworn in Mizpeh, saying, `None of us doth give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.'
2 And the people come in to Beth-El, and sit there till the evening before God, and lift up their voice, and weep -- a great weeping,
3 and say, `Why, O Jehovah, God of Israel, hath this been in Israel -- to be lacking to-day, from Israel, one tribe?'
4 And it cometh to pass on the morrow, that the people rise early, and build there an altar, and cause to ascend burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.
5 And the sons of Israel say, `Who `is' he that hath not come up in the assembly out of all the tribes of Israel unto Jehovah?' for the great oath hath been concerning him who hath not come up unto Jehovah to Mizpeh, saying, `He is surely put to death.'
6 And the sons of Israel repent concerning Benjamin their brother, and say, `There hath been to-day cut off one tribe from Israel,
7 what do we do for them -- for those who are left -- for wives, and we -- we have sworn by Jehovah not to give to them of our daughters for wives?'
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,