10250 North Freeway @ West Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484

SURVEY OF BIBLE HISTORY
(THE JUDGES TO THE KINGS)
The Preservation of the Benjamites

Written by Dr. Lester Hutson

Copyright - Lester Hutson - 1998
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.

Lesson 12

Judges 21

E. Israel in a dilemma:

1. Judges 20 is a sad chapter of the Bible: brothers fighting brothers, the near extinction of a whole tribe in Israel, well over 66,000 soldiers dead, and all an outgrowth of sex perversion; lewd, foolish living and those who would defend it in the name of civil liberty. Once the shooting and stabbing stopped, the reality of the shameful events of the preceding days began to dawn on the men of Israel. In its "lake lay a shattered brotherhood and a realization that in the heat of crises and emotion, some of their vows had been extreme and ill-advised. They particularly regretted their vow not to allow any intermarriage between their daughters and the men of Benjamin. Unless some solution around that vow was found, the tribe of Benjamin would totally perish at the death of the 600 survivors. So, Judges 21:1-3 records these woeful words, "Now the men of Israel hod sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. And the people come to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; 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?"

2. The dilemma in which Israel found itself seemed beyond reconciliation. If the men of Israel stayed by their vow, the whole tribe would perish in one generation. A whole Israeli tribe would be lost. That, the Israelis could not allow.

Yet, "The men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife, " Verse 1. A vow, however rash, could not be revoked. Job 22:2 says, "Thou shalt pay thy vows." Eccl. 5:4-5 says, "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou host vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay The men of Israel could not give their daughters to the Benjamites without violating their vow. Furthermore, the Benjamites, being Israelites, could not marry outside of Israel. It was forbidden. Listen to Deut. 7:3, "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son." Even if these Benjamites married outsiders, the tribal seed of Benjamin would be lost. So, in order for Benjamin to continue, these men must have Jewish wives, but the oath forbade it. In fact, their oath in Mizpeh said any Israelite violating the oath would be cursed, Judges 21:18.

3. When facing any seemingly insolvable dilemmas, the solution is always to turn to God. Judges 21:4 says, "And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings." Again burnt offerings (surrender) and peace offerings (fellowship) were offered; and the grounds for both is humble repentance.

4. In the midst of impossibility, remembrance of another great vow came to mind. Because of the extremity of the situation which brought about this civil war in the first place, the men of Israel had sworn a solemn oath "....concerning him that came not up to the Lord to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely, be put to death," Judges 21:5. A check was made to see if any from among the tribes was not represented. Not one person from Jabesh-gilead was present. The people of Jabesh-gilead, which was located about two miles east of the Jordan and nine miles southeast of Beth-shean, were descendants from Manasseh, the grandson of Rachel. Benjamin was also Rachel's son. Thus, a strong blood-tie existed between the Benjamites and the people of Jabesh-gilead.

Because none of the men of Jabesh-gilead had responded to the call against Gibeah, they had placed themselves under the curse and judgment of death. Here is a good Old Testament foreshadow of those who reject the call of God. For example, the sinner who rejects the call of God to salvation will have "judgment without mercy," James 2:13; and in so doing will have nobody to blame but his own unheeding self.

So, Israel sent 12,000 top soldiers to Jabesh-gilead, with orders to kill every man, woman, and child, saving only the young virgins alive. There were 400 of these, which were brought back to the camp at Shiloh, Judges 21:1.

5. Ambassadors were then sent to the 600 Benjamite men in the holdout at Rimmon. Convinced of the sincerity of the tribes as a whole, and realizing their very existence depended on this course of action, the 600 Benjamites came to the camp at Shiloh, and 400 of them took each one a Jabesh-gilead virgin to wife, Verses 13-14. Although, 200 Benjamites yet remained in a hopeless situation. The matter of wives for the Benjamites was not totally resolved.

6. The leaders of Israel being repentant, Verse 15, and sympathetic to the plight of the Benjamites; and aware that their own rashness had created the situation, sought for a solution, which is recorded in Verses 19-24.

Three annual pilgrimage feasts occurred in Israel: Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, Ex. 34:23. Just which one is under consideration here, I am not sure. Whichever it was, the 200 men of Benjamin were instructed to hide in the vineyards near Shiloh, Verse 20. When the young daughters of Shiloh came out to dance in the feast celebration, the men were to spring forth and each seize one who would be his wife, Verse 21, "Arid 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." This the Benjamite men did, then returned to their inheritance to recover and rebuild their cities, verse 23.

7. Naturally the people of Shiloh would be alarmed at this action. So the leaders of Israel gave these instructions to the Benjamites in Verse 22, "And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be fovourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved riot to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty." The elders would defend the Benjamites' action. Technically they were not taking the girls as an act of war demanding a military response from Israel. Furthermore, the people of Shiloh were not giving their daughters to the Benjamites, thus violating their oath. Thus, both sides in the matter would be technically without offence.

It is not clear whether the citizens of Shiloh were in harmony with this action. Although, in view of the events of the preceeding months, and the attitude and strength of the men of Israel, there seems little they could do to prevent it. Wisdom being the better part of valor, they yielded to the arrangement, and the matter of the Benjamite wives was concluded.

8. The book then concludes with that infamous statement, "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes, Verse 25. The closing parenthesis on this era of idolatry, immorality, and anarchy is as it began: no central leadership, civil rights over exalted, and self will let loose. Such is not a beautiful picture. What a warning for any and all people, especially modern America!

Let us also be reminded that this is not the chronological end of the book. The events of Ruth and Judges 4-16 follow Chapter 21 in point of time.

 

QUESTIONS ON "THE PRESERVATION OF THE BENJAMITES"

1. What is a dilemma?

2. What is the dilemma facing Israel in Judges 21?

3. Explain why Judges 20 is such a sad chapter of the Bible.

4. Why couldn't the 600 Benjamite soldiers marry Benjamite women?

5. Why couldn't the other tribes of Israel give the Benjamites wives?

6. Why couldn't the Benjamite soldiers marry outside the nation of Israel?

7. How was the tribe of Benjamin in danger of extinction?

8. What does God do to let a man out of a foolish vow?

9. What does the offering of a burnt offering say about Israel?

10. What does the offering of a peace offering say about Israel?

11. What was the true basis for burnt offerings and peace offerings?

12.    What had Israel vowed about any Israelis who refused to be represented in the Assembly at Mizpeh?

13. Who had refused to come to Mizpeh?

14. Locate Jabesh-gilead on your map.

15. What was the lineage of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead as related to the Benjamites?

16.    How does the destruction of the men of Jabesh-gilead foreshadow those who refuse the call of God to salvation?

17. Who survived the destruction of Jabesh-gilead?

18. Why didn't the outcome of Jabesh-gilead solve the Benjamite wife problem?

19. How was the remaining Benjamite wife problem resolved?

20.    How does the last verse of Judges place a closing parenthesis on an era?

 "It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"