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1Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, "No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin." 2And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. 3And they said, "O LORD, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?" 4And the next day the people rose early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5And the people of Israel said, "Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the LORD?" For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah, saying, "He shall surely be put to death." 6And the people of Israel had compassion for Benjamin their brother and said, "One tribe is cut off from Israel this day. 7What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them any of our daughters for wives?"
8And they said, "What one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to the LORD to Mizpah?" And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-gilead, to the assembly. 9For when the people were mustered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there. 10So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, "Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword; also the women and the little ones. 11This is what you shall do: every male and every woman that has lain with a male you shall devote to destruction." 12And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
13Then the whole congregation sent word to the people of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon and proclaimed peace to them. 14And Benjamin returned at that time. And they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead, but they were not enough for them. 15And the people had compassion on Benjamin because the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
16Then the elders of the congregation said, "What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?" 17And they said, "There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel. 18Yet we cannot give them wives from our daughters." For the people of Israel had sworn, "Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin." 19So they said, "Behold, there is the yearly feast of the LORD at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah." 20And they commanded the people of Benjamin, saying, "Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards 21and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, 'Grant them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.'" 23And the people of Benjamin did so and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and lived in them. 24And the people of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance.
25In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Legalism or religious formalism shows in more than one way in this almost comical story about people trying to keep a senseless vow. After all, Israel's nostalgic concern is for an institution: the 12-tribe confederation must be kept alive, whatever the costs. But what or who is it that makes Israel what it is? There is concern for an institution, but not the heart of the covenant of Yahweh. The narrator has devoted an entire chapter to a description of human schemes or plotting to preserve a spiritual entity whose heart has long since been lost. Identity is defined in terms of how things look on the outside, not the inside. May God protect us from this hypocrisy!
Once again, Jesus warns, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside may also be clean" (Matt. 23:25-26). This word is against appearances for appearances' sake; against tradition for tradition's sake; against binding people's consciences where God has left them free. Which is more important? To appear holy before men, or to be holy before God who sees the heart?
Without God in the picture, Israel can only compound sin and so become more and more like the nations around them. The book closes with the refrain of 21:25: "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." "No king" means none who would be acknowledged. There had always been a king, God, except that no one cared to listen to him. May this king be in your life, and may you acknowledge him.
So we have come to the end of the book. In this final episode, as through the book of Judges as a whole, we have witnessed a lot of bizarre things and so much sin. But above all, we witness the amazing grace of God. He does not destroy Israel! Only because of his mercy the nation does indeed emerge more or less intact from the dark days of the judges. We must know that God continues his work here and in us despite rather than because of us. The church exists not because we have given him enough reasons to preserve us. Our families exist not because we are so good and exceptional that we could bank on our merits. As individuals, each and every one of us knows and carries his and her own burden. But we are what we are by God's grace. It is all God's mercy, and it is because of Jesus Christ.
The author of these devotionals, the Rev. Martin Emmrich, is an ordained OPC minister (Westminster OPC, Corvallis, Oregon) as well as the author of Pneumatological Concepts in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book on the teaching of Hebrews on the Holy Spirit. We are happy to make these devotionals on Ecclesiastes and other passages of Scripture available to you.
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