Wives for the Benjamites
Israel recalls the oath against giving daughters to Benjamin, comes weeping before God at Bethel, and laments that one tribe has been cut off from Israel. Their grief is coupled with anxiety over how to preserve the remnant without violating their own sworn word.
N1ow the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.” 2So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, lifting up their voices and weeping bitterly. 3“Why, O LORD God of Israel,” they cried out, “has this happened in Israel? Today in Israel one tribe is missing!” 4The next day the people got up early, built an altar there, and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5The Israelites asked, “Who among all the tribes of Israel did not come to the assembly before the LORD?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah would surely be put to death. 6And the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites, and said, “Today a tribe is cut off from Israel. 7What should we do about wives for the survivors, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them our daughters in marriage?”
The assembly discovers that Jabesh-gilead did not join the war, sends warriors against it, destroys its inhabitants under the ban except for virgins, and brings four hundred young women to the camp at Shiloh. The missing tribe is to be supplied through another act of communal violence.
8So they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah?” And, in fact, no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. 9For when the people were counted, none of the residents of Jabesh-gilead were there. 10So the congregation sent 12,000 of their most valiant men and commanded them: “Go and put to the sword those living in Jabesh-gilead, including women and children. 11This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.” 12So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young women who had not had relations with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
The congregation proclaims peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon and gives them the women from Jabesh-gilead, but there are still not enough wives for all. Israel continues to pity Benjamin because the LORD has made a breach among the tribes.
13Then the whole congregation sent a message of peace to the Benjamites who were at the rock of Rimmon. 14And at that time the Benjamites returned and were given the women who were spared from Jabesh-gilead. But there were not enough women for all of them. 15The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel.
The elders acknowledge that Benjamin still lacks wives because the women of Benjamin have been destroyed and because the oath forbids the tribes from giving their own daughters. The tribe's survival remains necessary, but lawful means of restoring it have been squandered.
16Then the elders of the congregation said, “What should we do about wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” 17They added, “There must be heirs for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. 18But we cannot give them our daughters as wives.”
The elders point to the feast of the LORD at Shiloh and instruct the Benjamites to lie in wait and carry off wives from the dancing daughters of Shiloh. If the women's families protest, the elders will argue that the tribes have not technically broken their oath because they did not directly give the daughters away, and Benjamin follows the plan.
19“But look,” they said, “there is a yearly feast to the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel east of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” 20So they commanded the Benjamites: “Go, hide in the vineyards 21and watch. When you see the daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their dances, each of you is to come out of the vineyards, catch for himself a wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we will tell them, ‘Do us a favor by helping them, since we did not get wives for each of them in the war. Since you did not actually give them your daughters, you have no guilt.’” 23The Benjamites did as instructed and carried away the number of women they needed from the dancers they caught. They went back to their own inheritance, rebuilt their cities, and settled in them.
The Israelites depart to their tribal territories, Benjamin rebuilds its cities and settles them, and the narrator closes the book by stating that in those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
24And at that time, each of the Israelites returned from there to his own tribe and clan, each to his own inheritance. 25In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.