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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 21:22

And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain ,.... Of this rape of their daughters or sisters, or to bring an action against them, and desire they might be summoned before them, the elders of the people, and be tried and judged according to law for what they had done; or to put them upon going to war with them again for such treatment of them: that we will say unto them, be favourable unto them for our sakes ; for the sake of the elders, who advised them... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 21:22

Be favorable unto them - They promise to use their influence with the men of Shiloh to induce them to consent to a connection thus fraudulently obtained, and which the necessity of the case appeared to them to justify. We reserved not to each man his wife in the war - The reading of the Vulgate is very remarkable: Miseremini eorum, non enim rapuerunt eas jure bellantium atque victorum, sed rogantibus ut acciperent non dedistis, et a vestra parte peccatum est .... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Judges 21:22

Ye did not give ... - i. e., they had not broken the oath mentioned in Judges 21:1, so as to be guilty of taking the Lord’s name in vain. They did not give their daughters to Benjamin: the Benjamites had taken them by force. Such casuistry as this condemns the system of oaths, and illustrates the wisdom of our Lord’s precept Matthew 5:33-37. 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

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Judges 21:22

at this time, &c.: i.e. "at the time when ye would have incurred guilt [by so doing]". read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Judges 21:22

THE BENJAMITES TAKE THEIR WIVES (Judges 21:22-24)"And it shall be that, when their fathers or their brethren come to complain unto us, that we will say unto them, Grant them graciously unto us; because we took not for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did ye give them unto them, else would ye now be guilty. And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives according to their number, of them that danced, whom they carried off; and they went and returned unto their inheritance,... 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

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 21:1-25

Wives are given to the Benjamite Survivors1-6. The lamentation for Benjamin.1. Had sworn] see on Judges 17:2. All the women and children in Benjamin have been massacred: cp. Judges 21:16. 2. House of God] RV ’Bethel,’ as in Judges 20:26, Judges 20:31. 4. Burnt offerings and peace offerings] see on Judges 20:26. 5. Lit. ’the great curse had been pronounced upon,’ etc. 6. Repented them] see on Judges 2:18.7-25. The Benjamites provided with wives.8. Jabesh-gilead] i.e. Jabesh in Gilead; cp. 1... read more

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