UST JDG Chapter 21

◄ JDG 21 ║ ═ ©

21 (When the Israelites gathered at Mizpah before they started to fight the tribe of Benjamin, all of the men made a solemn promise. They had declared, “None of us will ever allow one of our daughters to marry a man from the tribe of Benjamin!”) 2 After destroying the people, animals, and property throughout the territory of Benjamin, the Israelites went to Bethel where God’s sacred tent was. They sat down and wept very loudly and sadly all day. 3 They kept saying, “Yahweh, you are the God of us Israelite people. But one of our Israelite tribes does not exist anymore! This should not have happened to us!” 4 Early the next morning, the people built an altar at Bethel. The priests made sacrifices for them that they burned completely on the altar, and they also made fellowship sacrifices. 5 Then the Israelites started asking whether the people of any city in one of the tribes of Israel had not come when they met to ask Yahweh for guidance. They were asking this because they had all sworn very solemnly that they would kill any group that did not come when they met with Yahweh at Mizpah. They thought that if they killed all the people of that city except its young women, they could give them as wives to the surviving men from the tribe of Benjamin. 6 The Israelites were asking about this because they felt sorry for their fellow Israelites from the tribe of Benjamin. They said, “Now one of our Israelite tribes no longer exists. 7 Let us think about what we can do to make sure that that the surviving men from the tribe of Benjamin have wives. This is a difficult problem, because all of us here made a solemn promise to Yahweh that we would not allow any of our daughters to marry a man from the tribe of Benjamin.” 8 That is why the people were asking whether the people from any city in one of the tribes of Israel had not sent anyone to Mizpah when the Israelites met with Yahweh there. They thought they recalled that no one had come from the city of Jabesh Gilead to the meeting at Mizpah. 9 So they checked everyone who was there in Bethel, and they found that no one who lived in the city of Jabesh Gilead was there. This seemed to prove that none of them had come to Mizpah. 10 So all the Israelites chose 12,000 experienced soldiers and gave them orders to go and kill all of the people who lived in Jabesh Gilead, including the women and the children. 11 They told those soldiers: “This is what we want you to do: kill all of the men in Jabesh Gilead. You must also kill every married woman. But do not kill the unmarried women.” 12 So those soldiers went to Jabesh Gilead and killed all the men, married women, and children. But in that city they found 400 young women there who had never been married. So they brought them to Shiloh, where they had all gone by then. That city was across the river from the region where the city of Jabesh Gilead was. 13 Then all the Israelites who had gathered sent a message to the men from the tribe of Benjamin who had gone to the rock of Rimmon where they could protect themselves. The Israelites said that they would not try to kill them. 14 So the Benjaminites then came back from the rock of Rimmon. The Israelites allowed them to marry the young women from Jabesh Gilead whom they had not killed. But there were only 400 women. That was not enough women for those 600 men. 15 So the Israelites still felt sorry for the men of the tribe of Benjamin. It seemed that one of the Israelite tribes would not exist any more because Yahweh had told the other Israelites to fight against that tribe. 16 The Israelite leaders said, “We have killed all the married women of the tribe of Benjamin. So where can we get women to be wives of the men who are still alive?” 17 They continued, “These surviving Benjaminites must have wives who will give birth to children so that their family lines can continue. Otherwise, the tribe of Benjamin will no longer exist in Israel. 18 But we Israelites all solemnly asked Yahweh to curse anyone who gave one of his daughters to any man of the tribe of Benjamin as a wife. So we cannot allow our daughters to marry these men.” 19 Then they had an idea. They remembered, “Every year there is a festival to honor Yahweh at Shiloh.” (That city is north of Bethel and east of the road that extends from Bethel to Shechem. It is south of the city of Lebonah.) 20 So the Israelite leaders told the surviving men of the tribe of Benjamin who did not yet have wives, “When it is the time for that festival, go to Shiloh and hide in the vineyards around the city. 21 Keep watching for the young women to come out of Shiloh to dance. When they come out, run out from the vineyards. Each of you men can seize one of the young women of Shiloh. Then you can all return to your homes in the territory of Benjamin with those women as your wives. 22 If their fathers or brothers come to us and demand that you give the women back, we will say to them, ‘Please allow us to give your young women to the men of Benjamin as wives. Do this because, when we fought them, we did not leave any women alive who could be their wives. And you are not giving your young women now to the men from the tribe of Benjamin as wives. They stole them. So you will not be guilty of breaking the oath that we all swore not to give any of our daughters as a wife to any of them.’ ” 23 So that is what the men of the tribe of Benjamin did. They went to Shiloh at the time of the festival. When the young women came out of the city to dance, each man grabbed one of them and took her away and married her. Then they took their wives back to the land that the Israelite leaders had assigned to them. They rebuilt their cities that the other Israelites had burned down, and they lived there. 24 Then the other Israelites left Shiloh and all went back to where their families and tribes lived. They returned to the areas that the Israelite leaders had assigned to their tribes. 25 At that time, Israel did not have a king, and everyone did what they thought they should do.

◄ JDG 21 ║ ═ ©

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