Judges · chapter 21 of 21
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Judges 21 tells how Israel, which had sworn not to give its daughters to Benjamin, weeps because a tribe is about to disappear. To find wives for the six hundred survivors, it destroys Jabesh-gilead, which did not come to the assembly, and gives Benjamin four hundred virgins. For the rest, it allows men to seize wives at the feast at Shiloh. The book closes by saying there was no king in Israel.
Judges 21 is the final chapter of the book and completes the story that began in Judges 19. It shows Israel regretting its war but seeking solutions that repeat the violence. The closing of the book, with the statement that there was no king and everyone did what seemed right, leaves the reader needing a just king.
At Mizpah the men of Israel had sworn that none of them would give his daughter in marriage to a Benjaminite. Now the people go to Bethel, sit before God until evening, lift up their voices and weep bitterly. They ask the Lord why it has happened that today one tribe is missing from Israel. The next day they build an altar and offer burnt offerings and peace offerings.
They recall that they had taken a great oath that whoever did not come up to the Lord at Mizpah would be put to death. They see that no one from Jabesh-gilead came to the camp, and a count confirms that none was there. The congregation sends twelve thousand men with orders to kill the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, including women and children, and to spare the virgins. They find four hundred young women who had not known a man, and bring them to Shiloh, in Canaan. They give them to the Benjaminites who had remained at the rock of Rimmon, and they receive the women, but there are not enough for all.
The people lament because the Lord has made a breach in the tribes of Israel. The elders look for a way to get wives for those who lack them without breaking their oath. They remember that there is a yearly feast of the Lord at Shiloh, and tell the Benjaminites to hide in the vineyards and, when the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance, each to seize a wife and go back to his own land. If fathers or brothers complain, they will tell them to be gracious, because they could not get wives in the war, and that they have not broken the oath, since they did not give the women. The Benjaminites do so, take wives, return to their inheritance, rebuild their towns and live in them. The other Israelites go home, each to his tribe and family. The book ends by saying that in those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Israel asks the Lord why it has happened that today one tribe is missing from Israel. The question shows real grief, but also that the people do not acknowledge their own responsibility.
The people lament for Benjamin because the Lord has made a breach in the tribes of Israel. There is regret, but what follows shows that the solutions sought are human and violent.
The elders justify seizing the women of Shiloh by saying they did not give them willingly and so did not break their oath. It is legalistic reasoning that keeps the letter of a promise and violates justice.
The book ends by saying that in those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. It is the narrator's final verdict, and it anticipates the need for a king after God's own heart.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: That none of them would give his daughter in marriage to a Benjaminite. — Judges 21:1
Answer: They built an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. — Judges 21:4
Answer: Jabesh-gilead. — Judges 21:8
Answer: Four hundred. — Judges 21:12
Answer: At the feast of the Lord at Shiloh, while the young women came out to dance. — Judges 21:19-21
Answer: By saying there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. — Judges 21:25
Judges 21 teaches that true repentance is not only weeping but changing direction. Israel weeps for Benjamin but responds with more violence and with legalistic reasoning that keeps its oath and harms innocent people. In a small group we can talk about how we sometimes fix one mistake with another, and the need to ask God for wisdom before acting.
The end of the book leaves us waiting for a king. Christians recognize in Christ the King Israel needed, who rules with justice and mercy. Meanwhile each of us does well to ask whether we are living under his lordship or doing what seems right to us.
Judges 21 closes the book with Israel divided and disordered, and with the implied promise of a king. The next book, Ruth, takes place in the same era of the judges and shows, in the midst of that chaos, God's faithfulness in a simple family of Bethlehem.
The text does not say God approves. The narrator tells it as part of a disordered age and concludes with the statement that everyone did what seemed right. Israel's solution is a human way out that keeps the letter of an oath and violates justice.
Because no one from that city came to the assembly at Mizpah, and Israel had sworn that whoever failed to come would die. It is an extreme punishment that shows another rash oath carried out without thinking of the consequences.
That without a king who governs by God's law, the people grow corrupt. That conclusion prepares the way for the books of Samuel and for the hope of a just king that Christians see fulfilled in Jesus Christ.