Judges 21:23

23 And the children of Benjamin did so; and they took wives according to their number from the dancers whom they seized: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them.

Judges 21:23 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 21:23

And the children of Benjamin did so
Went and laid wait in the vineyards, and when the daughters of Shiloh came out to dance, they rushed upon them:

and took them wives according to their number;
two hundred of them, each man a wife, and no more; for though polygamy was in use in those times, and if at any time necessary, and could be excused, it might seem now; yet it was not indulged to, neither by the elders, nor by the children of Benjamin:

of them that danced whom they caught;
the rape of the Sabine virgins by Romulus, at the arena plays and shows, mentioned by various authors ^F8, and the carrying off of fifteen Spartan virgins from the dances by Aristomenes the Messenian ^F9, are sometimes observed as parallel cases to this, and justified by it, particularly that of Romulus ^F11:

and they went and returned unto their inheritance;
the six hundred Benjaminites, with their wives, returned to their own tribe, which was their inheritance by lot; and these, being the only survivors, had a right to the whole:

and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them:
in process of time they rebuilt the cities the Israelites had burnt in the late war, and repeopled them as their posterity increased. And the Jewish writers say, that in later times they were allowed to marry with other tribes as before, since the oath only bound those present at Mizpeh; for they observe, that it ran only,

there shall not any of us
not any of our sons; they might give wives to Benjamin, and so in time they became numerous again.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Liv. Hist. l. 1. p. 7, 8. Flor Hist. Rom. l. 1. c. 1. Aurel. Victor. de Vir Illustr. c. 2. Valer. Maxim. l. 1. c. 4.
F9 Hierop adv. Jovinian. l. 1. fol. 17. B, C.
F11 Vid. Albericum Gentil. de armis Roman l. 2. p. 114.

Judges 21:23 In-Context

21 and ye shall see; and lo! if there come out the daughters of the inhabitants of Selom to dance in dances, then shall ye go out of the vineyards and seize for yourselves every man a wife of the daughters of Selom, and go ye into the land of Benjamin.

22 And it shall come to pass, when their fathers or their brethren come to dispute with us, that we will say to them, Grant them freely to us, for we have not taken every man his wife in the battle: because ye did not give to them according to the occasion, ye transgressed.

23 And the children of Benjamin did so; and they took wives according to their number from the dancers whom they seized: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them.

24 And the children of Israel went thence at that time every man to his tribe and his kindred; and they went thence every man to his inheritance.

25 And in those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own sight.