History · Chapter 21 of 21

Judges 21

With Benjamin nearly extinct and bound by an oath never to give them wives, Israel weeps that a tribe is being lost. To repair the damage, they slaughter Jabeshgilead for its four hundred virgins, then let Benjamin seize dancing girls at Shiloh. The tribe survives, but the book ends where it began, with no king and every man doing what is right in his own eyes.

What happens in Judges 21

Israel had sworn at Mizpeh that no one would give a daughter to Benjamin, and now they grieve that their oath is helping to erase a whole tribe. Weeping before God, they build an altar and search for a solution that keeps their vow yet provides wives for the six hundred survivors at the rock Rimmon. They discover that Jabeshgilead sent no one to the assembly, so they destroy the city and spare four hundred young virgins for Benjamin.

It is not enough. So the elders devise a second scheme, telling the Benjamites to hide in the vineyards of Shiloh and seize wives from the girls who come out to dance at the yearly feast. If the fathers complain, Israel will smooth it over. Benjamin does exactly this, takes wives, rebuilds its cities, and returns to its inheritance. The people scatter home, and the narrator closes with the book's haunting refrain.

Judges 21 in context

This is the final chapter of Judges, the aftermath of the civil war of chapter twenty. Israel's rash oaths, made in the heat of outrage, now trap them. Determined to keep their vows technically, they resort to fresh violence and abduction to solve the crisis they created.

The recurring line, that there was no king and every man did what was right in his own eyes, frames the whole tragic account and sets the stage for the rise of kingship in Samuel.

Main themes of Judges 21

Judges 21 (KJV)

1Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. 2And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; 3And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel? 4And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death. 6And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. 7How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives? 8And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly. 9For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there. 10And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. 11And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. 12And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them. 14And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead: and yet so they sufficed them not. 15And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. 16Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? 17And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. 18Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. 19Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. 20Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; 21And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty. 23And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them. 24And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance. 25In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Verses to carry from Judges 21

“And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel?”Judges 21:3

“Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?”Judges 21:16

“In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”Judges 21:25

Reflection

It is tempting to keep a foolish promise or defend a bad decision rather than admit we were wrong before God. This chapter shows where that stubbornness leads. When you realize a vow or plan was made without God, humble repentance is better than doubling down. Bring your tangled decisions to the King who sets things right.

A prayer from Judges 21