Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. Jump to: Barnes • Benson • BI • Cambridge • Clarke • Darby • Ellicott • Expositor's • Exp Dct • Gaebelein • GSB • Gill • Gray • Guzik • Haydock • Hastings • Homiletics • JFB • KD • King • Lange • MacLaren • MHC • MHCW • Parker • Poole • Pulpit • Sermon • SCO • TTB • WES • TSK EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE) (1) Had sworn.—The circumstance has not been mentioned in the account of the proceedings at Mizpeh. It is clear from the sequel (Judges 21:18) that the oath was not only an oath but “a vow under a curse,” as in Acts 23:14.Jdg 21:1. The men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh — When they first assembled there in the beginning of this war, after the whole tribe had espoused the quarrel of the men of Gibeah. Saying — They do not here swear the utter extirpation of the tribe, which fell out beyond their expectation, but only not to give their daughters to those men who should survive; justly esteeming them for their villany to be as bad as heathen, with whom they were forbidden to marry.17:7-13 Micah thought it was a sign of God's favour to him and his images, that a Levite should come to his door. Thus those who please themselves with their own delusions, if Providence unexpectedly bring any thing to their hands that further them in their evil way, are apt from thence to think that God is pleased with them.They treated Benjamin as devoted to utter destruction, as Jericho had been Joshua 6:17, Joshua 6:21, and the whole tribe was all but actually extirpated. We see in the punishment inflicted the same ferocity which marked both the crime and the Levite's mode of requiring vengeance. CHAPTER 21 Jud 21:1-15. The People Bewail The Desolation of Israel.The people bewail the desolation of Benjamin, Judges 21:1-7. The inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, for not coming up to this battle, are all destroyed, excepting four hundred damsels, whom the Israelites bestow for wives on the remaining Benjamites, Judges 21:8-15. They advise the rest to seize on the dancing maidens at the feast in Shiloh; and to carry away as many as they had need of Judges 21:16-21. The answer wherewith they should pacify their relations, Judges 21:22. saying, there shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife; seeing those that used the wife of the Levite in such a base manner, and those that protected and defended them, deserved to have no wives. Now the men of Israel had {a} sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.(a) This was a rash oath, and not from judgment: for they later broke it, showing secretly the means to marry certain of their daughters. EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES) 1. had sworn in Mizpah] Probably, like Jephthah’s vow (Jdg 11:30 n.), a religious oath made at the sanctuary (Jdg 20:1). This solemn oath, which could neither be broken nor withdrawn, is an essential feature of both narratives (Jdg 21:18; Jdg 21:22 A; 7 B); it created the problem for which some solution had to be found.Verse 1. - Now the men of Israel, etc. A circumstance not mentioned before is now brought forward, as is another in ver. 5, on which the events about to be narrated in this chapter depend, viz, that the men of Israel had taken two solemn oaths at Mizpeh (Judges 20:1) - the one that no Israelite would give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite; the other that whosoever did not come up to the national assembly there should be put to death. Judges 21:1The proposal to find wives for the six hundred Benjaminites who remained was exposed to this difficulty, that the congregation had sworn at Mizpeh (as is supplemented in Judges 21:1 to the account in Judges 20:1-9) that no one should give his daughter to a Benjaminite as a wife. Links Judges 21:1 InterlinearJudges 21:1 Parallel Texts Judges 21:1 NIV Judges 21:1 NLT Judges 21:1 ESV Judges 21:1 NASB Judges 21:1 KJV Judges 21:1 Bible Apps Judges 21:1 Parallel Judges 21:1 Biblia Paralela Judges 21:1 Chinese Bible Judges 21:1 French Bible Judges 21:1 German Bible Bible Hub |