1 And the men of Israel have sworn in Mizpeh, saying, `None of us doth give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife.'
And all the sons of Israel go out, and the company is assembled as one man, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, and the land of Gilead, unto Jehovah, at Mizpeh.
And all the people rise as one man, saying, `None of us doth go to his tent, and none of us doth turn aside to his house;
Cause not thy mouth to hasten, and let not thy heart hasten to bring out a word before God, for God is in the heavens, and thou on the earth, therefore let thy words be few.
take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitant of the land into which thou art going, lest it become a snare in thy midst; for their altars ye break down, and their standing pillars ye shiver, and its shrines ye cut down; for ye do not bow yourselves to another god -- for Jehovah, whose name `is' Zealous, is a zealous God. `Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitant of the land, and they have gone a-whoring after their gods, and have sacrificed to their gods, and `one' hath called to thee, and thou hast eaten of his sacrifice, and thou hast taken of their daughters to thy sons, and their daughters have gone a-whoring after their gods, and have caused thy sons to go a-whoring after their gods;
and Jehovah thy God hath given them before thee, and thou hast smitten them -- thou dost utterly devote them -- thou dost not make with them a covenant, nor dost thou favour them. `And thou dost not join in marriage with them; thy daughter thou dost not give to his son, and his daughter thou dost not take to thy son,
And Jephthah voweth a vow to Jehovah, and saith, `If Thou dost at all give the Bene-Ammon into my hand -- then it hath been, that which at all cometh out from the doors of my house to meet me in my turning back in peace from the Bene-Ammon -- it hath been to Jehovah, or I have offered up for it -- a burnt-offering.'
and we have taken ten men of a hundred, of all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of a myriad, to receive provision for the people, to do, at their coming to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly which it hath done in Israel.'
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?'
And the men of Israel have been distressed on that day, and Saul adjureth the people, saying, `Cursed `is' the man who eateth food till the evening, and I have been avenged of mine enemies;' and none of the people hath tasted food.
And a man of the people answereth and saith, `Thy father certainly adjured the people, saying, Cursed `is' the man who eateth food to-day; and the people are weary.' And Jonathan saith, `My father hath troubled the land; see, I pray you, that mine eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey.
And thou hast sworn -- Jehovah liveth, In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness, And blessed themselves in Him have nations, And in Him they boast themselves.
and he sware to her -- `Whatever thou mayest ask me, I will give to thee -- unto the half of my kingdom.'
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,