Judges 21 Study Notes

21:15-18 Daniel Block points out that they blame the Lord for the situation, this gap in the tribes of Israel.

21:19-25 The Israelites proposed a second strategy to provide wives for the Benjaminites, involving the annual festival to the Lord in Shiloh. It is not specified which of the three annual festivals is in view here, though the reference to vineyards suggests the Festival of Shelters. The fact that the Israelites needed detailed directions to find Shiloh suggests that for some time they had not been fulfilling their obligation to appear before the Lord at the tabernacle there three times per year. When the young women came out to dance, as would have been typical of such festivals, the Benjaminites would catch wives for themselves. This strategy, which resulted in women being taken against their will or the will of their parents, technically absolved the Israelites of breaking their vow not to give their daughters to the Benjaminites. Obviously this came at the cost of still more violence against women. In effect, the elders (Hb zaqenim) of Israel proposed a solution similar to that suggested by the old man (Hb zaqen) in Gibeah in 19:24, sacrificing virgin daughters for the benefit of the men.

Then the Benjaminites went home and rebuilt their cities, a further deviation from the laws of holy war, which specified that the cities that were destroyed should remain in ruins forever (Dt 13:16). These final chapters of the book give graphic demonstration of the depravity that resulted in Israel from the refusal of the people to recognize the Lord as King.