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Israel Provides Wives for Benjamin
The Israelites had vowed at Mizpah, “We will never give our daughters in marriage to a man from the tribe of Benjamin.”
The Israelites had vowed at Mizpah, “We will never give our daughters in marriage to a man from the tribe of Benjamin.”
Mourning the Tribe of Benjamin
Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter to the Benjaminites as wife.
Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter to the Benjaminites as wife.
Now the people went to Bethel and sat in the presence of God until evening, weeping loudly and bitterly.
And the people came to Bethel, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly,
“O LORD, God of Israel,” they cried out, “why has this happened in Israel? Now one of our tribes is missing from Israel!”
and said, Jehovah, God of Israel, why is it come to pass in Israel, that there should be this day one tribe lacking in Israel?
Early the next morning the people built an altar and presented their burnt offerings and peace offerings on it.
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered up burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.
Then they said, “Who among the tribes of Israel did not join us at Mizpah when we held our assembly in the presence of the LORD?” At that time they had taken a solemn oath in the LORD’s presence, vowing that anyone who refused to come would be put to death.
And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation to Jehovah? For they had [made] a great oath concerning him that came not up to Jehovah to Mizpah, saying, He shall certainly be put to death.
The Israelites felt sorry for their brother Benjamin and said, “Today one of the tribes of Israel has been cut off.
And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, To-day is one tribe extirpated from Israel.
How can we find wives for the few who remain, since we have sworn by the LORD not to give them our daughters in marriage?”
What shall we do for wives for them that remain? since we have sworn by Jehovah that we will not give them of our daughters for wives.
So they asked, “Who among the tribes of Israel did not join us at Mizpah when we assembled in the presence of the LORD?” And they discovered that no one from Jabesh-gilead had attended the assembly.
Provision for Benjamin's Survival
And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpah to Jehovah? And behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-Gilead, to the congregation;
And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpah to Jehovah? And behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-Gilead, to the congregation;
For after they counted all the people, no one from Jabesh-gilead was present.
for the people were numbered, and behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead there.
So the assembly sent 12,000 of their best warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children.
And the assembly sent thither twelve thousand men of the most valiant and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead with the edge of the sword, and the women and the children.
And this is the thing which ye shall do: ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain with man.
Among the residents of Jabesh-gilead they found 400 young virgins who had never slept with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead four hundred young women that were virgins, who had known no man by lying with any male, and they brought them to the camp, to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
The Israelite assembly sent a peace delegation to the remaining people of Benjamin who were living at the rock of Rimmon.
And the whole assembly sent to speak to the children of Benjamin that were at the cliff of Rimmon, and to proclaim peace to them.
Then the men of Benjamin returned to their homes, and the 400 women of Jabesh-gilead who had been spared were given to them as wives. But there were not enough women for all of them.
And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them the wives whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-Gilead; but even so they found not enough for them.
The people felt sorry for Benjamin because the LORD had made this gap among the tribes of Israel.
And the people repented them for Benjamin, because Jehovah had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
So the elders of the assembly asked, “How can we find wives for the few who remain, since the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead?
And the elders of the assembly said, What shall we do for wives for them that remain? for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin.
There must be heirs for the survivors so that an entire tribe of Israel is not wiped out.
And they said, There must be a possession for those of Benjamin that have escaped, that a tribe be not blotted out of Israel.
But we cannot give them our own daughters in marriage because we have sworn with a solemn oath that anyone who does this will fall under God’s curse.”
But we cannot give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to the Benjaminites!
Then they thought of the annual festival of the LORD held in Shiloh, south of Lebonah and north of Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem.
And they said, Behold, there is a feast of Jehovah from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north side of Bethel, toward the sun-rising of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, “Go and hide in the vineyards.
And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;
When you see the young women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to the land of Benjamin to be your wife!
and see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be sympathetic. Let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find wives for all of them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not actually give your daughters to them in marriage.’”
And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come to complain to us, that we will say to them, Gratify us with them, because we did not take each man his wife in the war; for ye did not give them to them, that ye should now be guilty.
So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. Each man caught one of the women as she danced in the celebration and carried her off to be his wife. They returned to their own land, and they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.
And the children of Benjamin did so, and took wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught; and they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them.
Then the people of Israel departed by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes.
And 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.