The men of Benjamin had done wicked things. They represented all that had gone wrong with the people of God during the days of the Judges. However; they paid for their crime.
All but 600 of their men were wiped out. They were killed by their own people with the sword. The 600 that were left (they ran and hid in Rimmon) had no wives. Their wives, children and neighbors had all been burned when the cities they had inhabited were burned. These men were left with absolutely nothing but the shirts on their backs.
They probably deserved less. After all they had been going from town to town forcing themselves sexually on anyone and everyone in their pathway. A band of drunks who had no morals at all. Things had been so bad that the other tribes had vowed that none of their daughters would ever marry a Benjamite.
RASH VOWS TAKEN IN HASTE
That wasn't the only vow the other tribes made public. They also said that anyone who did not come up with them to fight the Benjamites would die.
The men from the other tribes of Israel seemed set on a path to find out who was loyal to the nation and who was not. They seem to have decided that those who were against their ways and their culture could not be a part of them anymore. They would be cut off.
Being "cut off" was the punishment for breaking a covenant. Because the covenant with God had been disobeyed and disrespected, Israel realized they were losing ground as a people. God had always defended them before; but they had always obeyed.
The current culture had strayed far from being obedient.
THEY FORGOT TO CONSULT GOD ABOUT THEIR ACTIONS
However; the rulers were still making mistakes despite their sudden good intentions. They shouldn't have been making impulsive vows for this and that and the other. The idea that was acceptable was to seek God's will; not create their own new paths.
This seemed to be a lesson still to be learned in the land who had no king.
As they kept doing what was right in their own eyes; they became a nation with one almost distinct tribe of wifeless men. Regardless of what Benjamin had done in the past; it had always been God's intention for Israel to stay together.
All twelve of the tribes had been formed from Israel's founder's sons. God had promised Abraham that he would bless them. God ALWAYS keeps His promises. Now, because of Israel's hasty and impulsive vows it appeared that one tribe might be in danger of disappearing. This wasn't what God wanted to happen.
FAMILIES GROW NATIONS
These 600 Benjamites who were left could change and reform all they wanted; but without wives, they would eventually be no more. God had set the pattern way back in the beginning. Men and women were meant to be fruitful and multiply.
How was this to happen now?
This situation began to trouble the whole nation. They sought God and mourned before him. Sacrifices were offered as they sought a solution for obtaining wives for the Benjamites. God seemed to be silent on this subject. After all; they had made these vows that caused these circumstances. They knew God did not want them to intermarry with the pagans in Canaan. That would have only made the problem worse; but what were they to do now?
FORGETTING TO WAIT ON GOD
They became impatient and did not wait for God to bring an answer.
Instead; one rash, violent and bloody decision led to another.
As they began to take inventory of what was left of Israel as a whole it occurred to the eleven tribes who had fought the Benjamites that the men from Jabesh Gilead in Mannasseh had not come to the battle to fight with them.
Remembering their vow, Israel sent soldiers to kill every man, woman and child in the clan that had not fought with them.
These Israelites used what we today consider to be a modern political technique. They did not let their current crisis go to waste. It was decided to use this situation to their own advantage.
WIVES FOR THE BENJAMITES
Citing the problem at hand, they concocted a solution to the problem of obtaining wives for the men of Benjamin. They saved alive all of the unmarried virgin women from those families who were slaughtered in the civil war.
These young women were brought to the Benjamites to become their wives. It seemed these men of Benjamin were now forgiven and encouraged to go back to their lands and begin again, only in a more godly way.
There were only 400 young virgins taken captive though.
200 Benjamite men were left still without the hope of marriage.
ANOTHER PLAN OF THEIR OWN MAKING
So the men of Israel devised another plan. Once again they wound up twisting their words and making a new type of word game that would allow them a loophole which would provide wives for the Benjamites. They noted: if the women were "taken" that would mean that they were not "given."
Just like the politics we endure in modern times today; those old Israelites were becoming very crafty with how they used their words and their definitions of what was legal and what was not. All vows suddenly became very blurred and obtained new meanings for the public.
USING GOD'S FEAST FOR THEIR OWN PURPOSES
One of the annual feasts of Israel was coming up. There would be celebrating and dancing in the vineyards of the lands. The men of Benjamin were instructed to hide in these areas of celebration. When the young girls of Israel came out to dance in the vineyards the men of Benjamin were told to swoop down, capture them and take them away.
Explanations of these events were announced to their fathers and brothers. They were told there should be no protests since the girls were being "taken" instead of "given." That would mean that the father's who had vowed not to let them marry a Benjamite would technically be off the hook. Legally, they would not be giving their permission; but once the girls had been with the Benjamite men; they would legally be considered married. The fathers and brothers cooperated and agreed to this.
And that is how the men of Benjamin began to multiply in the next generation of Israel. They rebuilt their towns and continued to thrive the same as all of the other men of Israel.
LOOKING FURTHER INTO THE FUTURE OF THE DAYS OF THE JUDGES
Yet as times continued, we know that Israel continued living lawless lives; with no central government. They should have looked to God as their King; but instead they complained that they had no king.
The people were not following God at all. The consequences of this will become even more clear as we continue to study through the next books of the bible.
SUMMARY RESULTS OF JUDGES
All of the wars, violence, death and destruction did not produce anything good for Israel. They only continued through more troubles and misery in the land.
What should be our main take-away from The Book of Judges? Possibly that Israel should have repented before God for making so many foolish vows on their own. They should have prayed for God to give them the right answers before they moved forward in their own will instead of God's.
Hindsight is 20/20 though. That is NOT what happened.
It was the time of the Judges and every man was doing what seemed right in their own eyes. If we have seen any constant thread through these stories of The Book of Judges it is that Israel was making their own ways instead of following God's ways.
This is also true of our current generation.
WE MUST LOOK FOR THE KING OF KINGS
When will we wake up and learn that Jesus is King of Kings and that only the ways of God will ever bring us happiness and peace?
Since we have reached the end of Judges, we will take a two-week break from our Thursday studies. (There will be other blog articles published for seasonal reading, but not bible study articles.)
THE BOOK OF RUTH IS NEXT ON THE AGENDA
In March we will take up our next study of The Book of Ruth. Every Thursday we will post another lesson; same as we have done for years.
We are so excited to be moving toward The Book of Ruth. We are about to encounter one amazing story after another. In the interim, I would hope that you all would pray for God to show us all that He wishes for us to know, remember and use in our daily lives from this complicated Book of Judges we have just finished.
Thank you for continuing to join in with us every week. God is surely going to bless us as we continue to review His word together with the hearts of children who wish to know more of their Father's ways.
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