20140313 Thursday, March 13 2014
Judges 21: The Abduction Of The Benjamite Wives

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes"

The civil war between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of Israel (see Judges 20: Israel's Civil War With Benjamin) resulted in not only an annihilation of Benjamin's army, but also a near genocide of the Benjamite social structure. Most of the young men were killed on the battlefield, while nearly all of the young women were killed in their homes.

"20:43 Thus they inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sunrising. 20:44 And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour. 20:45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.

20:46 So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour. 20:47 But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months. 20:48 And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to." (Judges 20:43-48 KJV)

It was only after the war that the Israelites realized what they had done, not just to a tribe, but to the nation as a whole.

"21:1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.

21:2 And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; 21:3 And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel?

21:4 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings [see Leviticus 1: The Burnt Offerings Of The Ancients] and peace offerings.

21:5 And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.

21:6 And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. 21:7 How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?" (Judges 21:1-7 KJV)

The Israelites were in a difficult situation. They were generally not to marry foreign women - a policy based, not on racism or nationalism, since the Israelites themselves originated from most of the foreign nations around them, from Iraq to Syria to Egypt (see The LORD's Seed Covenants With The Two Men Of Iraq, A Biography Of Jacob: The Jacobites Of Syria, Who Were The First Jews? and Genesis 48: The Adoption Of Ephraim and Manasseh), but on the religious corruption of the Israelites that very often then resulted from such marriages. That prohibition was then compounded by a vow made during the civil war that prohibited the marriage of Benjamites to women of the other tribes. The only "solution," in that time when "every man did that which was right in his own eyes," would be for the Benjamites to marry Israelite women - without the permission or agreement of the women or their families.

The first of the "wives" came from Jabesh-Gilead, then an Israelite town of the half tribe of Manasseh, east of the Jordan River (see Numbers 32: The Israel Of East Jordan).

"21:8 And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly. 21:9 For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there.

21:10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. 21:11 And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. 21:12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

21:13 And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them. 21:14 And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead: and yet so they sufficed them not." (Judges 21:8-14 KJV)

The rest of the "wives" were seized from all of the Israelite tribes when they gathered at an annual "feast of the LORD in Shiloh." The Scriptures do not specify which it was, but from the description it might have been the Feast of Tabernacles.

"21:15 And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. 21:16 Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? 21:17 And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. 21:18 Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. 21:19 Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

21:20 Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; 21:21 And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 21:22 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.

21:23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.

21:24 And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.

21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes." (Judges 21:15-25 KJV)

Fact Finder: After the united kingdom of Israel divided into the separate kingdoms of "Israel" and "Judah," which kingdom did the Benjamites choose to remain in?
See Israel In History and Prophecy: Kingdom Of Judah