639 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
How shall we do for wives for them that remain,.... By which it seems, as well as by what is after related, that they knew of the six hundred men hid in the rock Rimmon: seeing we have sworn by the Lord; by the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; and such an oath with them was a sacred thing, and to be kept inviolable, even to their own hurt: that we...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they said, what one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the Lord?.... This is asked not only to bring them to justice, and put them to death, according to their oath, who should be found guilty, Judges 21:5 but as an expedient to find wives for the surviving Benjaminites; since these, as they came not to Mizpeh, so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the people were numbered,.... To know who did come up, and who did not, and particularly to know whether the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead did or not, against whom an information was brought: and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there; for as yet none that came had returned home; all came to Shiloh first, to pay their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest,.... That were in their army; in the Vulgate Latin version it is only 10,000; but the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and Josephus (c), agree with the Hebrew text. This place, according to Bunting, to which this army was sent, was fifty two miles from Shiloh...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And this is the thing that ye shall do,.... Which they gave them in charge to execute: ye shall utterly destroy every male; without any reserve, young or old, married or unmarried: and every woman that hath lain by man; whether lawfully or unlawfully, in a married or unmarried state.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins,.... Or damsel virgins (e); damsels that were virgins: that had known no man by lying with any male: which was judged of by their age, and by their unmarried state, and by common report, unless it can be thought they were examined by matrons; but how it was that they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin,.... Sent some messengers to them, to call them, and desire them to come to them: that were in the rock Rimmon; the six hundred men who had hid themselves in a cave in it, of which the people of Israel were informed: and to call peaceably unto them; to proclaim peace to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Benjamin came again at that time,.... The six hundred Benjaminites returned with the messengers at the same time to the people of Israel, putting confidence in the assurances they had given them of peace and safety: and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead; in doing which they supposed they had not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the people repented them for Benjamin,.... That they had destroyed all their women, and that they had saved no more of the daughters of Jabeshgilead, not a sufficient number to be wives to the Benjaminites: because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel; by almost destroying one of them; for though this was done by the Israelites,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Howbeit, we may not give them wives of our daughters,.... Though their case was so very necessitous and desperate: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin, Judges 21:1 and therefore without the violation of their oath could not give any of their daughters in marriage to them: wherefore some other...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then they said,.... Some of the elders that sat in council debating this matter, and considering of ways and means to assist their brethren the Benjaminites, and preserve their tribe from being lost: behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly; where the tabernacle then was, and before which the males of Israel were obliged to appear...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin,.... The two hundred men of the tribe that wanted wives; they ordered them as follows, and which they spake with authority, being the elders of the congregation, Judges 21:16 saying, go and lie in wait in the vineyards; which might belong to Shiloh, or it may be to Lebonah, which perhaps is the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances,.... As they used to do at this festival, not along with men, but by themselves; and so might the more easily be taken and carried off; and though only males were obliged to appear from all parts at this feast, yet females might come if they would; and, no doubt, from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Benjamin did so,.... Went and laid wait in the vineyards, and when the daughters of Shiloh came out to dance, they rushed upon them: and took them wives according to their number; two hundred of them, each man a wife, and no more; for though polygamy was in use in those times, and if at any time necessary, and could be excused,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family,.... The war being ended, and things settled as well as circumstances would admit of, for the preservation of the tribe of Benjamin, who were the cause of it, and had suffered so much in it; the Israelites that had met at Mizpeh, and who had not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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,...