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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 21:16-25

We have here the method that was taken to provide the 200 Benjamites that remained with wives. And, though the tribe was reduced to a small number, they were only in care to provide each man with one wife, not with more under pretence of multiplying them the faster. They may not bestow their daughters upon them, but to save their oath, and yet marry some of their daughters to them, they put them into a way of taking them by surprise, and marrying them, which should be ratified by their... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 21:16

Then the elders of the congregation said .... This being the case, that there were not wives enough for them, they were obliged to consult again, and consider of another expedient to provide for them; and this motion came from the elders of the people, not only in years, but in office: how shall we do for wives for them that remain : the other two hundred, who had none: seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin ? and so no wives to be had there; and as for the Israelites which... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 21:17

And they said, there must be an inheritance for them that be escaped Benjamin ,.... The escaped are the six hundred men in the rock Rimmon; four hundred of them were supplied with wives, the other two wanted; and as there was an inheritance divided by lot to the tribe of Benjamin, to that tribe and to that only it belonged, and they must have it and no other; it now of right devolved on these six hundred men, and them only, and therefore provision must be made to increase their number, that... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 21:17

Judges 21:17. There must be an inheritance for Benjamin The words, There must be, are not in the Hebrew, which runs thus: The inheritance of them that are escaped is for Benjamin; that is, the six hundred remaining Benjamites must have that part of the country which was given to the whole tribe by the divine lot for their inheritance; or, the inheritance promised by Jacob and Moses, and given by Joshua to the tribe of Benjamin, doth all of it belong to those few who remain of that... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Judges 21:1-25

The war with Benjamin (19:1-21:25)A Levite whose concubine had run away from him came to Judah looking for her. When they were reunited, her father was so pleased he did not want them to leave. They therefore stayed with him a few days, then set out to return to the Levite’s home in Ephraim (19:1-9).The route back to Ephraim took the couple through the tribal territory of Benjamin. Looking for somewhere to sleep the night, they preferred not to stay in Jerusalem, which was inhabited by... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Judges 21:16

THE PLAN FOR GETTING 200 MORE WIVES (Judges 21:16-21)"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? And there must be an inheritance for them that are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not blotted out from Israel. Howbeit, we may not give them wives of our daughters; for the children of Israel had sworn, saying; Cursed be he who giveth a wife to Benjamin. And they said, Behold, there is a feast from... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Judges 21:16

16. the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain—Though the young women of Jabesh-gilead had been carefully spared, the supply was found inadequate, and some other expedient must be resorted to. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Judges 21:17

17. There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin—As they were the only rightful owners of the territory, provision must be made for transmitting it to their legitimate heirs, and a new act of violence was meditated (Judges 21:19); the opportunity for which was afforded by the approaching festival—a feast generally supposed to be the feast of tabernacles. This, like the other annual feasts, was held in Shiloh, and its celebration was attended with more social hilarity and... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Judges 21:1-25

3. The preservation of Benjamin ch. 21In chapter 20 Israel tried desperately to destroy the tribe of Benjamin. In Genesis 42:36 Jacob feared that Joseph’s brothers would do something that would result in Benjamin’s death. What he feared then almost happened now. In chapter 21 Israel tried just as hard to deliver this tribe from the extinction that her own excessive vengeance threatened to accomplish. The anarchy of God’s people complicated the problems that her apostasy had initiated. The moral... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Judges 21:16-24

Israel’s second sufficient solution: a technical loophole 21:16-24The writer constructed this section parallel to the previous one (Judges 21:5-15) to highlight the dilemma Israel continued to face. [Note: Davis, Such a . . ., p. 224.] About 200 Benjamites still needed wives. Judges 21:16-18 repeat the dilemma that the Israelites’ "wife oath" had created (Judges 21:1).The elders of Israel proposed a second plan (Judges 21:19; cf. Judges 21:8-9). It would give the Benjamites wives without... read more

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