Wives for the Survivors
1 Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” 2 The people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept severely. 3 They said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be one tribe lacking in Israel today?” 4 On the next day, the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5 The children of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up in the assembly to Yahweh?” For they had made a great oath concerning him who didn’t come up to Yahweh to Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” 6 The children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “There is one tribe cut off from Israel today. 7 How shall we provide wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by Yahweh that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?” 8 They said, “What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn’t come up to Yahweh to Mizpah?” Behold, no one came from Jabesh Gilead to the camp to the assembly. 9 For when the people were counted, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there. 10 The 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. 11 This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has lain with a man.” 12 They 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. 13 The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. 14 Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead. There still weren’t enough for them. 15 The people grieved for Benjamin, because Yahweh had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
Two rash oaths collide, and Israel repairs the first atrocity with a second — Jabesh Gilead destroyed to stock Benjamin with brides.
Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, “None of us will give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.”
The chapter's machinery is two oaths sworn in hot blood at Mizpah — no daughters to Benjamin, and death for any town that failed to muster Judges 21:5 — now colliding with grief the assembly did not foresee: Yahweh, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be one tribe lacking? Judges 21:3. The question is addressed to God about a disaster Israel itself inflicted Judges 20:48; the answer sits in their own mouths. Six hundred men without wives are now a tribe four months from extinction Judges 20:47, and the oath forbids the obvious remedy.
What the assembly never considers is repentance of the oath itself — Jephthah's shadow lies over the whole chapter Judges 11:35. Scripture knows that a rash vow is its own sin, with a lawful way back Leviticus 5:4–6; Israel instead treats the oath as more sacred than the lives it costs, and goes looking for loopholes.
10 The 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. 11 This is the thing that you shall do: you shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has lain with a man.”
The first loophole is an atrocity. Jabesh Gilead sent no men to Mizpah, so the second oath condemns it — and its execution is shaped to harvest brides: every male and every married woman killed, four hundred virgins carried to the camp Judges 21:12. A town of Israel is destroyed by twelve thousand of the most valiant men to solve a problem created by an oath, in order to evade another oath. The women are then handed to the men of Rimmon with peace proclaimed Judges 21:13–14 — captives given as wives by the nation that just butchered their families.
The people grieved for Benjamin, because Yahweh had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
The sentence reports how it felt from inside — even their grief assigns the breach to God rather than to the two oaths and the burned cities. The narrator adds nothing; by now the method is trusted. There still weren't enough for them Judges 21:14 — two hundred men remain wifeless, and the assembly turns to its second scheme, at a feast of Yahweh.
held with reason What this mark means