Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 21:8
There came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead - As they had sworn to destroy those who would not assist in this war, Judges 21:5 , they determined to destroy the men of Jabesh, and to leave none alive except the virgins, and to give these to the six hundred Benjamites that had escaped to the rock Rimmon. So twelve thousand men went, smote the city, and killed all the males and all the married women. The whole account is dreadful; and none could have been guilty of all these... read more
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 21:7
How shall we do for wives for them - From this it appears that they had destroyed all the Benjamitish women and children! They had set out with the purpose of exterminating the whole tribe, and therefore they massacred the women, that if any of the men escaped, they might neither find wife nor daughter; and they bound themselves under an oath not to give any of their females to any of the remnant of this tribe, that thus the whole tribe might utterly perish. read more