Глава 21

1. The oath of the Israelites at Mizpah. 2–7. The people's regret regarding the possible death of the tribe of Veniamin. 8–14. The extermination of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead and the presentation of the surviving maidens to the surviving Benjaminites. 15–24. The abduction of the maidens of Shiloh to give them as wives to the Benjaminites. 25. General characteristics of the time of the Israelite Judges. Judges 21:1. And the Israelites swore at Mizpah, saying, “None of us will give his daughter to the sons of Benjamin in marriage.” Judges 21:2. And the people came to the house of God, and they sat there until evening before God, and they raised a loud cry, and wept greatly, Judges 21:3. and they said: Lord God of Israel! Why did this happen in Israel, that now Israel does not have one tribe? Judges 21:4. The next day the people rose up in the morning, and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Judges 21:5. And the children of Israel said, Who hath not come into the assembly before the Lord of all the tribes of Israel? For a great curse was pronounced on those who did not come before the Lord to Mizpah, and it was said that they would be put to death. Judges 21:6. And the children of Israel had compassion on their brother Benjamin, and said, “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel; Judges 21:7. What should we do with the rest of them regarding their wives, when we have sworn by the Lord not to give them wives from among our daughters? Under the influence of strong anger against the Benjaminites, the Israelites of the remaining 11 tribes, before the start of the war with them, in Mizpah took an oath not to give their daughters in marriage to them. As a result of the fulfillment of this oath by the Israelites, the tribe of Benjamin, due to the fact that the Israelites could not marry Canaanite women (Ex. 34:16; Deut. 7:3), was threatened with complete extermination. Realizing this, the Israelites regretted such a sad future for one of the glorious tribes of the entire people of Israel (Gen. 49:27; Deut. 33:12) and, having gathered in the city of Bethel, where the Ark of the Covenant was then located, they made sacrifices to the Lord about this and at the same time asked about those Israelites who did not appear at the meeting of the community of Israel in Mizpah and thus were like would be free from the oath given by society. Judges 21:8. And they said, “Is there any of the tribes of Israel who has not come before the Lord to Mizpah?” And it turned out that no one from Jabez-gilead came to the camp before the Lord to meet. Judges 21:9. And the people were examined, and behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabez-gilead was there. Judges 21:10. And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men, mighty men, and gave them command, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the sword, both the women and the children; Judges 21:11. and do this: consign every man and every woman who has known a man’s bed to the curse, [and leave the maidens alive. And they did so]. Judges 21:12. And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred virgins who had not known a man's bed, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. Judges 21:13. And the whole congregation sent to speak with the sons of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and declared peace to them. Judges 21:14. Then the sons of Benjamin returned [to the Israelites], and the [Israelites] gave them wives whom they had left alive from the women of Jabesh-gilead; but it turned out that this was not enough. After research was made that none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, which lay on the left side of the Jordan, where now Wadi Jabis, flowing into the Jordan below Scythopolis, appeared at the meeting of the community of Israel in Mizpah, the community of Israel sent a detachment of soldiers to completely exterminate the inhabitants of Jabesh, with the exception of girls who had not known a man’s bed. The 400 maidens who remained alive in this way were given as wives to the 600 Benjaminites who escaped. Judges 21:15. The people were sorry for Benjamin, because the Lord did not preserve the integrity of the tribes of Israel. Judges 21:16. And the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do with those who are left behind concerning the wives, for the women of Benjamin are destroyed? Judges 21:17. And they said, Let the inheritance land remain for the surviving sons of Benjamin, so that the tribe does not disappear from Israel; Judges 21:18. but we cannot give them wives from among our daughters; for the children of Israel swore, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. Judges 21:19. And they said, Behold, every year there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel and east of the road that leads from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah. Judges 21:20. And they commanded the children of Benjamin and said, Go and sit in the vineyards, Judges 21:21. and see, when the maidens of Shiloh come out to dance in round dances, then come out of the vineyards and each of you take a wife from the maidens of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin; Judges 21:22. and when their fathers or their brothers come with a complaint to us, we will say to them: forgive us for them, for we did not take a wife for each of them in the war, and you did not give them; now you are guilty. Judges 21:23. The sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who were in the dance, whom they kidnapped, and they went and returned to their inheritance, and built cities and began to live in them. Judges 21:24. At the same time the Israelites dispersed from there, every one to his own tribe and to his own kindred, and each one went from there to his own inheritance. To provide wives for the remaining 200 Benjaminites, they were allowed by the elders of the community to kidnap the maidens of Israel during the Feast of Tabernacles, when the maidens would dance in circles near Shiloh (now Seilun), along the road leading from Bethel to Shechem (Naplus) and from the south towards Levon (now El Levon, near Seilun). Similar to the fact that the Benjaminites abducted their wives is the fact that the Romans abducted Sabine women as wives. After acquiring wives, the remaining Benjaminites again started families, built cities and began to live in them. Thus, the tribe of Benjamin again acquired the possibility of its continuation in the clan. Judges 21:25. In those days Israel had no king; everyone did what seemed fair to him. At the conclusion of the book of Judges, the writer again makes a remark about the anarchy that existed among the people at that time (cf. Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1), the sad consequence of which was, by the way, the facts he described at the end of the book - the cult of Micah (the Danites) and the history of the Gibitites (chap. XVII-XXI). You might be interested in: