Judges 21

CHAPTER 21

Wives for the Benjamites (21:1–25)

1–4 The Israelites had “successfully” punished the Benjamites; only six hundred Benjamite men remained! (Judges 20:47). All the rest of the people of Benjamin had been killed—men, women and children (Judges 20:48). If those six hundred men had not escaped, the tribe of Benjamin would have been annihilated.

Then the Israelites began to have second thoughts about what they had done to Benjamin. They clearly had gone too far when they killed all the women and children and non-fighting men. After all, the Benjamites weren’t Canaanites, who were supposed to be destroyed (Deuteronomy 7:1–2); they were fellow Israelites. How easy it is to get carried away in one’s zeal for the Lord, in one’s zeal to judge and to punish wrongdoing! Jesus gave us a different example to follow when He forgave the woman taken in adultery⁸³ (John 8:1–11).

Therefore, the Israelites were surely relieved that six hundred Benjamites had survived. But there was one problem: they had taken an oath not to give any of their daughters in marriage to a Benjamite (verse 1). They had even called down a curse upon anyone who did so (verse 18). So how were these six hundred Benjamites going to keep their tribe in existence without wives? The Israelites wept bitterly at the prospect that one of the twelve tribes of Israel should be missing (verses 2–3).

5–12 Then the Israelites devised a means by which they could obtain wives for the six hundred Benjamites. They had previously taken a second oath in which they pledged to destroy any Israelite community that did not take part in the assembly at Mizpah (Judges 20:1). One community had not taken part: Jabesh Gilead (verse 8); this fact might not even have been discovered if the Israelites hadn’t been looking for a way to obtain wives for the Benjamites. So they carried out their oath and destroyed Jabesh Gilead, but they spared all the women who were virgins and gave them to the Benjamites⁸⁴ (verse 12).

13–24 However, the Benjamites were still short two hundred wives. So the Israelites devised another scheme—this time to get around the oath they had made not to give any of their daughters to the Benjamites: they invited the remaining two hundred Benjamites to seize Israelite girls for themselves (verses 20–21). This way, the Israelites wouldn’t have to “give” them away and thereby break their oath!

This is an excellent example of following the “letter” of the law but not its spirit (Mark7:9–13;2Corinthians3:6). Godis not pleased when we try to get out of our obligations by playing “word games.” And in this case God must have been particularly displeased: the same Israelites who had been so outraged by the rape of the Levite’s concubine were now condoning the rape of two hundred of their own daughters!

25 . . . everyone did as he saw fit. Here the writer looks back once more to the period of the judges—those days when Israel had no king (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1). That was a dark period for Israel, both morally and spiritually. And the reason was simple: everyone stopped obeying God and “did as he saw fit.” Only by grace did Israel survive those years. It was by grace that God sent judges to save the Israelites. Indeed, from the beginning of their history it had been God’s grace that had nurtured and sustained them. And the same is true for Christians today.

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¹ The author of the book of Judges is unknown; some Bible scholars believe it was put together by Samuel. It was written sometime after the establishment of Israel’s monarchy.

² When Jacob gave his blessing to his twelve sons, he assigned to his fourth son Judah the role of leadership. From Judah’s descendants came Israel’s greatest kings, including the greatest of all—Jesus Christ, the King of kings (Genesis 49:8–12; Matthew 1:1–3; Revelation 19:6).

³ As in previous Old Testament books, the term Canaanites can refer to all the tribes living in Canaan, or it can refer to one specific tribe, as in verse 4. The Perizzites made up another tribe whose land God had promised to give to Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 15:18–21).

⁴ The name Adoni-Bezek means “lord of Bezek.”

⁵ Mutilation was a common punishment in the ancient Middle East. Evidently the thumb and big toe were of symbolic importance: during their ordination, blood was applied to the right thumb and right big toe of Israel’s priests (Exodus 29:20).

⁶ This advance against Hebron had taken place earlier during Joshua’s lifetime. Caleb had been a leader in the attack (see verse 20). Events in the Old Testament are not always mentioned in exact chronological order.

⁷ It is not known whether this is the same city that was destroyed earlier by Moses (see Numbers 21:1–3).Different cities were often given the same name.

⁸ For the meaning of the expression totally destroyed, see comment on Numbers 21:1–3 and first footnote to comment.

⁹ The house of Joseph consisted of the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph’s two sons (Genesis 41:50–52). Here, however, the term refers to all six and a half tribes which received their land in the northern half of Canaan. Ephraim and the western half-tribe of Manasseh were the two dominant tribes in northern Israel; later the northern tribes as a group would often be called “Ephraim.”

¹⁰ The name Bethel means “house of God.”

¹¹ This man then moved to the land of the Hittites (verse 26). Originally most of Canaan had been inhabited by Hittites, but they gradually moved north and settled in present-day Syria. Here the expression “land of the Hittites” probably means Syria. For a different usage, see footnote to comment on Joshua 1:3–5.

¹² For a discussion of the angel of the LORD and the various ways in which God chooses to manifest Himself, see Genesis 16:7–10; 18:1–8 and comments.

¹³ These sacrifices were most likely sin offerings (Leviticus Chapter 4).

¹⁴ Parents cannot automatically pass their faith on to their children; being born into a Christian family does not guarantee that one will become a true Christian. But the teaching and, above all, the example of godly parents will indeed predispose their children to become Christians. However, the children themselves must take that final step of faith.

¹⁵ Baal was one of the main Canaanite gods, but it had many local forms. Already Israel had encountered the Baal of Peor (Numbers 25:3). The Ashtoreths were female deities. Included among these deities were Ashtoreth and Asherah (Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5). The worship of these female deities often involved ritual prostitution, which was thought to increase the fertility of both the people and the land.

¹⁶ For the meaning of redeemed, see Exodus 13:11–16 and comment; Word List: Redemption.

¹⁷ It is amazing how otherwise intelligent people fail (or refuse) to recognize the cause of their distress. They blame their distress on their genes, their upbringing, their environment, their ignorance—but never on their sin. Whether the distress be economic, social or physical, the root cause of most of the mental and spiritual distress experienced by people today is sin—the disobeying of God’s law, either in deed or in attitude. The distress, then, is one of God’s main means of making people aware of their sin and drawing them to Himself.

¹⁸ God meant Israel to be a channel of blessing to the world; today He means the Christian church to be a channel of blessing as well. Thus the roles of both ancient Israel and the church are similar—to be a blessing—but the means are different. Israel was called to be a holy nation in one geographic site. Christians are called to go out into the world and “intermingle” with the world’s people. But in doing so, we Christians must not compromise with the world’s values, or else we too will cease to be effective witnesses for the Lord (Acts 1:8).

For further discussion of the similarities and differences between ancient Israel and the Christian church, see Ezra 10:9–11 and comment.

¹⁹ To teach warfare was a secondary reason involving only the Israelites without battle experience. According to verse 4, the major reason for leaving Canaanites in the land was to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord (see Judges 2:22).

²⁰ Let us never suppose that we can overcome evil by joining with it; more likely, it will overcome us. This is often true in the case of Christians marrying non-Christians. The saddest Old Testament example of this is King Solomon (see 1 Kings 11:1–11).

²¹ See comment on Judges 2:11–13 and footnote to comment.

²² This was a temporary anointing of the Spirit, not a permanent indwelling of the Spirit (see Numbers 11:24–25 and comment). The Spirit also came upon other judges in the same way (Judges 6:34; 11:29; 14:6,19).

²³ Moab was east of the Dead Sea. A previous king of Moab, Balak, had tried to bring curses on the Israelites rather than fight them (Numbers Chapters 22–24). The Moabites and their allies the Ammonites (verse 13) were descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot (Genesis 19:36–38). The Amalekites (verse 13) were longstanding enemies of Israel (Exodus 17:8–16).

²⁴ These idols were a well-known landmark; they were most likely carved statues, perhaps of Eglon himself. The Hebrew word for “idols” used here can also mean “stone quarries.”

²⁵ An oxgoad is a metal-tipped wooden rod used for prodding or goading plow animals.

²⁶ This Jabin was probably a descendant of a former king of Hazor, also named Jabin, who was defeated by Joshua many years earlier (Joshua 11:1–11).

²⁷ In biblical times, leadership was not ordinarily given to women; Deborah was an exception. But her exception is important. Being a woman does not automatically disqualify one from holding a leadership position, either in Deborah’s day or in ours. The roles of men and women may differ—especially within the marriage relationship (Ephesians 5:21–33)—but God will choose whomever He pleases to accomplish His work.

²⁸ Though at first Barak did not appear to be a man of strong faith, God used him to lead the Israelites to victory (verses 23–24). He is included among the heroes of faith by the writer to the Hebrews (Hebrews 11:32).

²⁹ The Canaanites believed that Baal was the lord of storm and weather; how wrong they were!

³⁰ Makir was Manasseh’s firstborn son; the tribe of Manasseh was often called “Makir.”

³¹ The Midianites, who were descended from Abraham’s son Midian (Genesis 25:2), lived south of Canaan. Moses had fled to Midian from Egypt; he married a Midianite woman and lived in Midian for forty years (Exodus 2:15–21). Later Moses led a campaign against the Midianites because their women had seduced the Israelites into worshiping false gods (Numbers 31:1–18).

³² Gideon was actually hiding from the Midianites. Usually wheat is threshed out in the open, but Gideon was threshing it inside a wine press so that he wouldn’t be seen.

³³ The Hebrew word for Lord used by Gideon can simply mean “sir.”

³⁴ For further discussion of divine guidance, see footnote to comment on Exodus 28:15–30; comment on Numbers 9:17–23 and footnote to comment.

³⁵ For a discussion of idolatry, see Exodus 20:3–6; 34:15–16; Deuteronomy 4:28 and comments.

³⁶ In verses 5–6, the distinction between the two methods of drinking seems to be between those who kneeled to drink and those who scooped up the water and drank from their hands. The significance of the two drinking methods is not clear; perhaps the distinction was only arbitrary. But God used this means to select the three hundred men He wanted for Gideon’s army.

³⁷ The barley bread symbolized Israel because it was the main food eaten by poor and downtrodden people in the ancient Middle East. Certainly, in Gideon’s time, the Israelites were poor and downtrodden.

³⁸ In verse 13, the Hebrew word for tumbling can also be used for the “turning” or wielding of a sword.

³⁹ Like the Canaanites, the Midianites were made up of a number of tribes, each with its own king.

⁴⁰ In a time when men had multiple wives, it was important to distinguish between one’s brothers and one’s half-brothers.

⁴¹ The original ephod was a garment worn by the high priest (Exodus 28:6–14); to this ephod a breastpiece was attached (Exodus 28:15–28), in which were kept the Urim and the Thummim (Exodus 28:29–30), small objects by which God’s will could be determined. Since Gideon had acknowledged God’s rule over Israel (verse 23), perhaps he thought that by making this gold ephod he could provide Israel with an additional means of discerning God’s will.

⁴² Shechem was an ancient Canaanite city; its citizens had once been murdered and plundered by the sons of Jacob because of the rape of their sister Dinah (Genesis Chapter 34). It lay between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, where Joshua first renewed the covenant between God and Israel (Joshua 8:30–35). And Shechem was the place where Joshua renewed the covenant a second time, his final act as Israel’s leader (Joshua 24:1–27).

The citizens of Shechem were Baal worshipers. Their local deity was Baal-Berith (verse 4); “Baal” means “lord.” (In verse 46, this god is called El-Berith; “El” is the Hebrew word for “god.”) After Gideon’s death the Israelites themselves began to worship Baal-Berith (Judges 8:33). Abimelech was given seventy shekels (almost a kilogram) of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith to hire mercenaries-reckless adventurers (verse 4)—to help him carry out his schemes.

⁴³ Earlier Mount Gerizim had been the site from which blessings had been pronounced (Deuteronomy 27:12).

⁴⁴ Thorn bushes are easily set on fire and burn quickly.

⁴⁵ The oppression by the Philistines will be the subject of Judges Chapters 13–16. In this and the next chapter, the oppression by the Ammonites is described. The Ammonites (together with the Moabites) were descendants of Lot (Genesis 19:36–38). They lived to the east of the tribal lands of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh (eastern Manasseh), the so-called “trans-Jordan tribes.” These two and a half tribes had settled east of the Jordan River on land formerly belonging to the Amorites (verse 8) and their two kings, Sihon and Og (Numbers 21:21–35). The northern two thirds of the trans-Jordan area became known as Gilead (verse 8).

⁴⁶ Gilead included the tribal area of Gad and part of eastern Manasseh. The territory of the Ammonites was situated just east of Gilead, and therefore Gilead was the first Israelite area to come under Ammonite attack.

⁴⁷True repentance means not only confessing sin with our lips but also turning from sin in our hearts and in our actions.

⁴⁸ It is not our parentage that qualifies or disqualifies us for God’s service. The only qualification is our faith (see Word List: Faith). Faith is not inherited; it is something we ourselves must exercise. Jephthah’s story illustrates once again how God often chooses unlikely people to carryout His work.

⁴⁹ Jephthah’s early life is instructive for us. Like other Old Testament leaders, Jephthah suffered rejection and hardship, and God used these experiences to prepare him to lead Israel. Today many worthy men and women continue to experience rejection and ill treatment. Let them bear these things with patience and humility; in due time God will raise them up (1 Peter 5:6).

⁵⁰ Jephthah’s formal appointment as head and commander took place at Mizpah, where the Israelites had assembled (Judges 10:17). The name Mizpah means “watchtower”; there were several towns in Gilead with this name, so its identification is uncertain.

⁵¹ Moses had given this land to the tribes of Gad and Reuben, after seizing it from Sihon king of the Amorites (Numbers 21:21–31). Sihon had originally captured that land from the Moabites (Numbers 21:26). The Ammonites, however, had recently taken control of Moab, and so they were demanding from Israel the return of this former Moabite land.

⁵² Chemosh was the main Moabite god; but since the Ammonites had taken over Moab, they had also “taken over” Moab’s god and made it their own. Jephthah was not suggesting here that he believed in Chemosh; he was only mentioning Chemosh for the sake of argument.

⁵³ One is reminded of another only child, Isaac, who allowed his father to offer him as a sacrifice (Genesis Chapter 22). But that situation was totally different: God had commanded Abraham to offer his son in order to test Abraham; God had no intention of letting Abraham actually kill his son.

⁵⁴ Life is not all “black and white”; throughout our lives we encounter moral dilemmas in which we are obliged to choose the lesser of two evils. For further discussion of moral dilemmas, see comment on Exodus 20:16 and second footnote to comment.

⁵⁵ Jephthah’s sins were his failure to trust God for victory and his attempt to manipulate or bribe God to get what he desired.

⁵⁶ It should be noted that some Bible scholars do not believe that Jephthah actually sacrificed his daughter, but rather dedicated her to the Lord’s service as a perpetual virgin; in Old Testament times, women did serve at the entrance to the tabernacle (Exodus 38:8; 1 Samuel 2:22). Furthermore, these scholars argue that the law concerning vows permitted substitution when dedicating humans to the Lord (Leviticus 27:1–8). However, here it is best to take the plain meaning of the text, which clearly indicates that Jephthah’s daughter was indeed sacrificed.

⁵⁷ Notice that Jephthah had a valid complaint against the Ephraimites: they had refused to come to the aid of their fellow Israelites in Gilead. It’s a common thing for those who are themselves guilty of wrong to be most aggressive in accusing those who are innocent.

⁵⁸ It is not certain what the word Shibboleth means. The point is that the Israelites on either side of the Jordan had lived apart for so long that their pronunciation had become different. Thus it was easy to distinguish the Ephraimites from the Gileadites by their speech.

⁵⁹ The Philistines were a strong, warlike people who had settled along the Mediterranean coast in southwestern Canaan (present-day Gaza). They oppressed the Israelites for forty years until God raised up Samson to deliver Israel. Samson, however, would only begin the deliverance (verse 5); the final defeat of the Philistines would take place a hundred years later during the reign of King David (2 Samuel 5:17–25; 8:1).

⁶⁰ Samson is one of the few characters in Scripture whose birth was announced in advance. Others are Ishmael (Genesis 16:11), Isaac (Genesis 18:10), John the Baptist (Luke 1:13), and Jesus (Luke 1:30–31).

⁶¹ The Nazirite vow is discussed in detail in Numbers 6:1–21. The vow was usually voluntary and made only for a limited period of time, not for life. But in Samson’s case, the Lord made him a lifelong Nazirite even before he was born. For a similar example, see 1 Samuel 1:10–11.

The word “Nazirite” comes from a Hebrew word meaning “to separate” or “to consecrate.” A Nazirite was to be consecrated to the Lord. As a sign of this consecration, he was not to drink alcoholic beverages or cut his hair for the duration of the vow. For additional restrictions, see Numbers 6:2–8.

⁶² For a discussion of clean and unclean foods, see Leviticus 11:1,44–45 and comment.

⁶³ The Old Testament was originally written in the Hebrew language.

⁶⁴ For a discussion of the burnt offering and grain offering, see Leviticus 1:1–17; 2:1–16 and comments.

⁶⁵ As with other people (Judges 6:34; 11:29), the Holy Spirit came on Samson to enable him to accomplish a particular task—in Samson’s case, to kill a lion (see Judges 3:9–11 and comment). The Holy Spirit did not “fill” Samson in the New Testament sense (Ephesians 5:18), because Samson was never under the control of the Spirit; after all, he was on his way to marry a Philistine girl in disobedience to God. But the Spirit did give Samson one specific gift, the gift of physical strength; it was through Samson’s strength that God intended to punish the Philistines.

⁶⁶ In New Testament times, such companions were called guests of the bridegroom (Mark 2:19).

⁶⁷ In a similar incident, Shamgar killed six hundred Philistines with an ox goad (Judges 3:31).

⁶⁸ City gates were often two stories high and were made of heavy wood reinforced with metal.

⁶⁹ The secret of Samson’s strength was not in his hair; it was in his relationship with God. His uncut hair was simply a sign of that relationship, a sign of the Nazirite vow that had set him apart to God. When Samson virtually “invited” Delilah to cut off his hair, his relationship with God was broken; and God left him (verse 20). Therefore his strength left him as well (verse 19).

⁷⁰ The image was made of wood overlaid with silver; the idol was solid metal-probably a cheap metal which was then overlaid with silver.

⁷¹The Levites had no tribal land of their own; they lived interspersed among the other tribes and were supposed to be supported by the tithes of the people (see Numbers 18:20–24; 35:1–5 and comments). However, since so many Israelites had stopped worshiping God, they probably also had stopped supporting the Levites. Thus this Levite was searching for some kind of livelihood, and happily he came upon Micah!

⁷² In Joshua 19:47, this same town is called Leshem. It was located beyond any of the land allotted to Israel’s tribes.

⁷³ It is uncertain which captivity the writer is referring to here. Some scholars believe he is referring to the Assyrian conquest of Israel’s northern kingdom in 722 B.C. But more likely the reference is to a local “captivity” that occurred earlier. The fact that Micah’s idols were used all during the time the house of God (tabernacle) was at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1) indicates an earlier captivity, because Shiloh was destroyed by the Philistines in about 1050 B.C. (Jeremiah 7:12–15).

⁷⁴ A concubine was a secondary wife. She may have been sold to her husband (Exodus 21:7–11), or she may have married without a proper dowry. But she was considered a wife, not merely a mistress.

⁷⁵ Bethlehem in Judah was the birthplace of Christ (Luke 2:4–7). It is important to mention again that different towns were often given the same name; for example, the Bethlehem mentioned in Judges 12:8 is a different town altogether.

⁷⁶ Many years later, Gibeah would become home to Israel’s first king, Saul (1 Samuel 10:26).

⁷⁷ The Levite said he was on his way to the house of the LORD (verse 18)—that is, the tabernacle at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1; Judges 18:31). He was possibly planning to offer thanks there for the return of his concubine.

⁷⁸ The expression from Dan to Beersheba meant “all Israel from north (Dan) to south (Beersheba).” Gilead was on the east side of the Jordan and included the territories of Gad and the eastern half tribe of Manasseh. Mizpah (meaning “watchtower”) was the name of several towns; the town referred to here was near Jerusalem, not far from Gibeah. It became an important meeting place for all Israel during times of national crisis.

⁷⁹ Mention is made of seven hundred stones lingers (verse 16). The sling was an effective and deadly weapon (see 1 Samuel 17:48–49).

⁸⁰It was probably on this occasion that “the lot was cast” (verse 9). At that time the ark (Exodus 25:10–22) and the high priest were at Bethel (verses 27–28); the high priest’s use of the Urim and Thummim would have been the usual means of determining God’s will in such situations.

⁸¹ Though the writer does not tell us, we can surmise that the reason things were going badly for the Israelites had to do with their attitude—perhaps an attitude of self confidence or self righteousness. Their weeping and fasting may have reflected their repentance for any sin they may have been guilty of, and the burnt offerings would have provided atonement for their sin (see Leviticus 1:1–4 and comment). With their relationship with God restored, victory was assured.

⁸² Notice that most numbers are rounded off. The Benjamites started with an army of 26,700 (verse 15); 25,000—actually 25,100 (verse 35)—were killed on the third day of fighting. That leaves 1,600—600 of which escaped. That still leaves 1,000 Benjamites unaccounted for. These must have died during the first two days of fighting; the writer simply chose not to mention it.

⁸³ We must keep in mind that the situation facing Christians today is much different from the situation facing Old Testament Israel. Israel was geographically and (in the beginning) ethnically God’s holy nation—an example for other nations to follow. Therefore, it was necessary to keep Israel pure and holy, and God’s means of doing this was to drive out ungodly enemies and to severely punish ungodly Israelites. In Old Testament times, the wars that God sanctioned were indeed “holy wars.”

But Christians are under a new covenant; we are not a geographically and ethnically distinct people. Our true nation is the kingdom of God, and we have been dispersed throughout the world to be witnesses for Christ (Matthew 28:19–20; Acts 1:8). Christians are not called to take part in military “crusades” or “holy wars”; to do so is to seriously misunderstand the call of Christ. Our weapons are not swords and spears but rather love, prayer, and the word of God (see Romans 12:2021; Ephesians 6:17–18). For further discussion of the difference between ancient Israel and the Christian church, see Ezra 10:9–11 and comment.

⁸⁴ There was a precedent for sparing the virgins of a community which otherwise would have been completely destroyed: when Israel overcame the Midianites, Moses commanded that the Midianite virgins be spared (Numbers 31:17).