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, and built the cities and dwelt in them. And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance."

Assured of the nation's approval, Benjamin quickly consented to the proposed strategy.

THE WIVES OF THE BENJAMITES

Matthew Henry has this perceptive paragraph about the two groups of maidens who became the wives of the survivors of Benjamin:

"The virgins of Jabesh-Gilead were taken out of blood and slaughter, but the maidens of Shiloh were taken out of the midst of mirth and joy. The former had reason to be thankful that their lives had been spared, and it is to be hoped that the maidens of Shiloh found no reason of complaint, for they soon found themselves the wives, not of broken and defeated men, but of men, who but recently in a cave, were actually the richest in all Israel. This wealth came about by reason of their having inherited all of the land and the estates of the entire tribe of Benjamin."[16]

We conclude this episode with a quotation from the inimitable Dr. George DeHoff who stated that, "It is not known whether or not some of those Shiloh maidens made themselves easy to catch."[17]