Context No. 2385 of 4322 · Judges

Judges 21:1-12: in context

1Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” 2The people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept severely. 3They said, “The LORD, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be one tribe lacking in Israel today?” 4On the next day, the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5The children of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up in the assembly to the LORD?” For they had made a great oath concerning him who didn’t come up to the LORD to Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” 6The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “There is one tribe cut off from Israel today. 7How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?” 8They said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up to the LORD to Mizpah?” Behold, no one came from Jabesh Gilead to the camp to the assembly. 9For when the people were counted, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there. 10The congregation sent twelve thousand of the most valiant men there, and commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones. 11This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has lain with a man.” 12They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known man by lying with him; and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

The book of Judges ends in a moral tangle of Israel's own making. Having nearly wiped out the tribe of Benjamin in a civil war, and having sworn an oath never to give their daughters to Benjamin, the people now weep that a whole tribe will vanish. Their solution is more violence: they find that Jabesh Gilead sent no one to the assembly, so they destroy the town and take its young women as wives for the survivors of Benjamin.

This is not a model to follow; it is a warning laid bare. A rash oath boxed them in, and rather than repent of the vow, they committed fresh slaughter to work around it. One sin breeds the next, and each is dressed up as necessity. The book keeps repeating that everyone did what was right in his own eyes, and here is where that leads: grief and piety and bloodshed all mixed together, a people solving self-made problems by making more victims.

Have I made a rash commitment that now seems to justify a worse choice, when repenting of the vow would be the honest path?

Sources

Judges 21:1: Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.
Judges 21:7: How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters?
Judges 21:25: In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.