Judges 21:25

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 21:25

In those days there was no king in Israel ,.... No supreme magistrate, Joshua being dead, and as yet no judge in Israel had risen up; for all related in the five last chapters of this book were done between the death of Joshua and the time of the judges: every man did that which was right in his own eyes ; there being none to restrain him from it, or punish him for it; and this accounts for the many evil things related, as the idolatry of Micah and the Danites, the base usage of the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 21:25

In those days there was no king in Israel - Let no one suppose that the sacred writer, by relating the atrocities in this and the preceding chapters, justifies the actions themselves; by no means. Indeed, they cannot be justified; and the writer by relating them gives the strongest proof of the authenticity of the whole, by such an impartial relation of facts that were highly to be discredit of his country. I Have already referred to the rape of the Sabine virgins. The... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Judges 21:25

The repetition of this characteristic phrase (compare Judges 17:6; Judges 18:1; Judges 19:1) is probably intended to impress upon us the idea that these disorders arose from the want of a sufficient authority to suppress them. The preservation of such a story, of which the Israelites must have been ashamed, is a striking evidence of the divine superintendence and direction as regards the Holy Scriptures. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 21:25

Judges 21:25. In those days there was no king in Israel There were elders, (Judges 21:16,) who had some authority, and there was a high-priest, (Judges 20:28,) but there was no supreme governor, such as Moses and Joshua were, and after them the judges, and none that had power sufficient to punish public wrongs, whoredoms, and idolatries, and thereby check the progress of vice and profanenness, and keep the people in order. “The sacred writer,” says Dr. Dodd, “no doubt, repeats this... 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 21:25

no king. Note the structural arrangement of the four occurrences of this expression. See note on Judges 18:1 . did = did continually. This is the Divine summing up of the whole book, by way of Epilogue. All the evil follows as the result of the disobedience in Judges 1:27-36 . read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Judges 21:25

THE FINAL COMMENT (Judges 21:25)"In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes."All commentators agree that this is an editorial comment by the author of the Book of Judges and that the purpose of it, repeated several times, was to establish the theological proposition that Israel should have a king. What many of the commentators seem to overlook is that there is an implied assertion in every one of the uses of this comment that, IF Israel had a... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Judges 21:25

Judges 21:25. In those days there was no king in Israel, &c.— The sacred writer, no doubt, repeats this observation to account for the disorders and enormities mentioned in the four preceding chapters, which, as they exhibit a most depraved state of things, so are they, we apprehend, by no means to be justified. It is a natural inference, that men ought to be extremely thankful for lawful authority: and, if they would preserve their happiness, ought to be zealous to support that authority,... 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

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