Judges 21:14

14 So the men of Benjamin came back at that time. These men were given the women from Jabesh Gilead who had been kept alive. However, the congregation had not found enough women for all of them.

Judges 21:14 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 21:14

And Benjamin came again at that time
The six hundred Benjaminites returned with the messengers at the same time to the people of Israel, putting confidence in the assurances they had given them of peace and safety:

and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of
Jabeshgilead;
in doing which they supposed they had not violated their oath, since though they had sworn that they would not give their own daughters, they had not sworn they would not give the daughters of others; and besides, as the men of Jabeshgilead were not at Mizpeh when the oaths were made, they had taken none, and so their daughters might be given in marriage to the Benjaminites, notwithstanding that oath:

and yet so they sufficed them not;
there were not wives enough for them all; for they were six hundred men, whereas the daughters of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead were but four hundred, so that there were two hundred more wanting. Abarbinel interprets the word we render "so" in a different manner, by "right", as in ( Numbers 27:7 ) and gives the sense thus, that it was not a point of justice and judgment to do this to the daughters of Jabeshgilead, namely, to save and give them in marriage; but they did this because the people repented for Benjamin, as follows.

Judges 21:14 In-Context

12 Among the people of Jabesh Gilead they found 400 unmarried women who had never gone to bed with a man. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.

13 Then the whole congregation sent messengers to the men of Benjamin at Rimmon Rock and offered them peace.

14 So the men of Benjamin came back at that time. These men were given the women from Jabesh Gilead who had been kept alive. However, the congregation had not found enough women for all of them.

15 The congregation felt sorry for the people of Benjamin because the LORD had broken the unity of the tribes of Israel.

16 The leaders of the congregation asked, "What should we do to provide wives for the men who are left, since the women in Benjamin have been killed?"