Bible Commentaries
Judges 21

Introduction

Overview

Judges 21:1, The people bewail the desolation of Benjamin; Judges 21:8, By the destruction of Jabesh-gilead they provide them four hundred wives; Judges 21:16, They advise the remainder to surprise the virgins that danced at Shiloh.

Verse 1

had sworn: Judges 20:1, Judges 20:8, Judges 20:10, Jeremiah 4:2

There: Judges 21:5, Judges 11:30, Judges 11:31, 1 Samuel 14:24, 1 Samuel 14:28, 1 Samuel 14:29, Ecclesiastes 5:2, Mark 6:23, Acts 23:12, Romans 10:2

his daughter: Exodus 34:12-16, Deuteronomy 7:2, Deuteronomy 7:3

Reciprocal: Judges 11:35 - I cannot Judges 21:7 - sworn Judges 21:18 - sworn Judges 21:22 - give unto Jeremiah 40:6 - Mizpah Matthew 14:9 - the oath's

Verse 2

the house: Judges 21:12, Judges 20:18, Judges 20:23, Judges 20:26, Joshua 18:1

lifted: Judges 2:4, Genesis 27:38, 1 Samuel 30:4

Reciprocal: Numbers 11:18 - ye have wept Joshua 7:6 - until the eventide 1 Samuel 1:10 - wept sore 1 Samuel 11:4 - lifted up

Verse 3

why is: Deuteronomy 29:24, Joshua 7:7-9, Psalms 74:1, Psalms 80:12, Proverbs 19:3, Isaiah 63:17, Jeremiah 12:1

Reciprocal: Judges 17:6 - no king

Verse 4

rose early: Psalms 78:34, Psalms 78:35, Hosea 5:15

built there: Judges 6:26, Exodus 20:24, Exodus 20:25, 2 Samuel 24:18, 2 Samuel 24:25, 1 Kings 8:64, Hebrews 13:10

Reciprocal: Leviticus 3:1 - a sacrifice Judges 6:24 - built 1 Samuel 6:14 - offered 1 Samuel 14:35 - built 1 Kings 18:32 - And with

Verse 5

a great oath: Judges 21:1, Judges 21:18, Judges 5:23, Leviticus 27:28, Leviticus 27:29, 1 Samuel 11:7, Jeremiah 48:10

Reciprocal: Joshua 11:3 - land Joshua 15:38 - Mizpeh Judges 20:1 - Then all Judges 20:8 - We will not Judges 21:10 - Go and smite 1 Samuel 7:17 - he built Ezra 10:8 - And that whosoever

Verse 6

repented them: Judges 21:15, Judges 11:35, Judges 20:23, 2 Samuel 2:26, Hosea 11:8, Luke 19:41, Luke 19:42

Reciprocal: Psalms 68:27 - little

Verse 7

sworn: Judges 21:1, Judges 21:18, 1 Samuel 14:28, 1 Samuel 14:29, 1 Samuel 14:45

Reciprocal: Leviticus 5:4 - to do evil Judges 21:22 - give unto Matthew 14:9 - the oath's

Verse 8

Jabeshgilead: This place, as its name imports, was situated in Gilead, east of Jordan. Eusebius and Jerome say it was a great town in their time, standing upon a hill, six miles south from Pella, in the way to Geresa, now Djerash. The Wady Yabes, mentioned by Burckhardt, which empties itself into the Jordan, in the neighbourhood of Bisan or Beth-shan - see note on 1 Samuel 31:11, and upon which Pella was situated - celebrated by Pliny, 1. v. c. 18, for its fine waters seems to have taken its name from Jabesh. Near this spot, we must therefore look for its site; and the place called Kalaat Rabbad seems to correspond, very nearly, to the spot; though it probably still retains among the Arabs its ancient name. 1 Samuel 11:1-3, 1 Samuel 31:11-13, 2 Samuel 2:5, 2 Samuel 2:6

Reciprocal: Numbers 21:24 - Israel Joshua 11:3 - land

Verse 9

Reciprocal: Judges 5:23 - they came

Verse 10

Go and smite: As they had sworn to destroy those who would not assist in the war - Judges 21:5, they determined to destroy the men of Jabesh, and to leave none except the virgins; and to give these to the 600; Benjamites who had escaped to the rock of Rimmon. The whole account is dreadful. The crime of the men of Gibeah was of the deepest dye; the punishment involving both the guilty and innocent, was extended to the most criminal excess, and their mode of remedying the evil they had occasioned was equally abominable. Judges 21:5, Judges 5:23, Deuteronomy 13:15, Joshua 7:24, 1 Samuel 11:7, 1 Samuel 15:3

Verse 11

every male: Numbers 31:17, Numbers 31:18, Deuteronomy 2:34

hath lain by man: Heb. knoweth the lying with man

Reciprocal: Leviticus 27:28 - no devoted Numbers 31:7 - all Jeremiah 44:7 - to cut

Verse 12

virgins: Heb. women

virgins: Shiloh, Judges 20:18, Judges 20:23, Joshua 18:1, Psalms 78:60, Jeremiah 7:12

Reciprocal: Numbers 31:17 - kill every male Judges 21:2 - the house Judges 21:14 - sufficed them not Jeremiah 7:5 - if ye thoroughly

Verse 13

to speak: Heb. and spake and called

the rock Rimmon: Judges 20:47, Joshua 15:32

call peaceably: or, proclaim peace, Deuteronomy 20:10, Isaiah 57:19, Luke 10:5, Ephesians 2:17

Reciprocal: Zechariah 14:10 - Rimmon

Verse 14

sufficed them not: Judges 21:12, Judges 20:47, 1 Corinthians 7:2

Reciprocal: Judges 21:22 - each man

Verse 15

repented: Judges 21:6, Judges 21:17

a breach: 1 Chronicles 13:11, 1 Chronicles 15:13, Isaiah 30:13, Isaiah 58:12

Verse 17

an inheritance: Numbers 26:55, Numbers 36:7

Reciprocal: Judges 21:15 - repented

Verse 18

sworn: Judges 21:1, Judges 11:35

Reciprocal: Leviticus 5:4 - to do evil Leviticus 27:28 - no devoted Judges 21:5 - a great oath Judges 21:7 - sworn Judges 21:22 - give unto Matthew 26:74 - began

Verse 19

a feast: Exodus 23:14-16, Leviticus 23:2, Leviticus 23:4, Leviticus 23:6, Leviticus 23:10, Leviticus 23:34, Numbers 10:10, Numbers 28:16, Numbers 28:26, Numbers 29:12, Deuteronomy 16:1, Deuteronomy 16:10, Deuteronomy 16:13, Psalms 81:3, John 5:1, John 7:2

yearly: Heb. from year to year

on the east side: or, toward the sun rising

of the highway: or, on

Lebonah: Maundrell supposes, that either Khan Leban, which is situated on the eastern side of a "delicious vale," four leagues south from Shechem, and two leagues north from Bethel, or the village of Leban, which is on the opposite side, occupies the site of the ancient Lebonah. It is eight hours, or about 24 miles, from Jerusalem, according to Dr. Richardson.

Reciprocal: Joshua 18:1 - Shiloh Joshua 19:51 - in Shiloh 2 Samuel 20:13 - the highway

Verse 21

dance: Judges 11:34, Exodus 15:20, 1 Samuel 18:6, 2 Samuel 6:14, 2 Samuel 6:21, Psalms 149:3, Psalms 150:4, Ecclesiastes 3:4, Jeremiah 31:13, Matthew 10:17, Luke 17:25

Reciprocal: Joshua 19:51 - in Shiloh Judges 18:31 - all the time

Verse 22

Be favourable unto them: or, Gratify us in them, Philemon 1:9-12

each man: Judges 21:14, Genesis 1:27, Genesis 7:13, Mark 10:6-8, 1 Corinthians 7:2

give unto: Judges 21:1, Judges 21:7, Judges 21:18, Proverbs 20:25

Verse 23

and they went: It appears that the Benjamites acted in the most honourable way to the women they had thus violently carried off, and we may rest assured, that they took them to an inheritance more than equal to their own. But this transaction, as well as the indiscriminate massacre of the people of Jabesh-gilead, as Dr. Gray observes, was certainly stamped with injustice and cruelty; and must be condemned on those principles which the Scriptures elsewhere furnish.

repaired: Judges 20:48

Verse 24

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 22:36 - Every man

Verse 25

no: Judges 17:6, Judges 18:1, Judges 19:1

right: Judges 18:7, Deuteronomy 12:8, Psalms 12:4, Proverbs 3:5, Proverbs 14:12, Ecclesiastes 11:9, Micah 2:1, Micah 2:2

Reciprocal: Hosea 9:9 - Gibeah