6 And the children of Israel repented them for[ Benjamin their brother, and said. There is one tribe, cut off from Israel this day.
Verse 1. Noa the men of Israel had sworn] Of this oath ■we had not heard before: but it appears they had commenced this war with a determination to destroy the Benjamites utterly; and that if any of them escaped the sword, no man should be permitted to give him his daughter to wife. By these means the remnant of the tribe must soon have been annihilated.
Verse 2. The people came to the house of God] Literally the people came '7«-n'3 to Beth-el: this is considered as the name of a place by the Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and Septuagint.
And zeept sore] Their revenge was satisfied; and now reflection brings them to contrition for what they had done.
Verse 3. PVht/ is this come to pass] This was a very impertinent question. They knew well enough how it came to pass. It was right that the men of Gibeah should be punished; and it was right that they who vindicated them should share in that punishment: but they carried their rerenge too far; they endeavoured to exterminate both man and beast, ch. XX. 48.
Verse 4. Built there an altar] This afTords some evidence that this was not a regular place of worship, else an altar would hav-' been found in the place: and their act was not according to Ike law, as may be seen in several places of!
7 How shall we do for wives for n.c:im^- them that remain, seeing we have ^n. exoii. ur. sworn by the Lord that we will not Anno ante i. give them of our daughters to wives? ^'"''"
8 ^ And they said. What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the Lord? And, behold, there came none to the camp from ' Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.
9 For the people were numbered, and, behold, there loere none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there.
10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, '^Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gdead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the chi'dren.
1 1 And this is the thing that ye shall do, ^ Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath ""lain by man.
12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred ' young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and
the Pentateuch. But there was neither king nor law among them, and they did whatever appeared right in their own eyes.
Verse 7. How shall we do for wives for them] From this it appears that they had destroyed all the Benjamitish women and children! They had set out with the purpose of exterminating the whole tribe; and, therefore, they massacred the women, that if any of the men escaped, they might neither find wife nor daughter; and they bound themselves under an oath, not to give any of their females to any of the remnant of thi tribe; that thus the whole tribe might utterly perish.
Verse 8. There came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead] As they had sworn to destroy those who would not assist in this war, ver. 5. they determined to destroy the men of Jabesh, and to leave none alive except the virgins; and to give these to the six hundred Binjamites that had escaped to the rock Rinimon. So twelve thousand men went, smote the city, and killed all the males, and all the married women. The whole account is dreadful; and none could have been guilty of all these enormities, but those who were abandoned of God. The crime of the men of Gibeah was of the deepest dye; the punishment involving both the guilty and innocent, was extended to the most ciiminal excess: and their mode of redressing the evil which they had occasioned, was equally abominable.
14 And ncnjainin (ainc aj^ain at that time; and they pave (hem wixes uindi they Iiad saved alive of the wnnien of Jabcsh-gilead: and yet so they.snlVieed them not.
15 And the people " repented them for Benjamin, because that the Lokd had mudc a breach in the tribes of Israel.
16 H Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them (hat remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of nenjamiii?
17 And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Henjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
18 llowbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: 'for the children of Israel have
Verse 13. And to call pcaccuhly unto them.'] To proclaim peace to them; to assure them that the enmity was all over; and that they might, with safety, leave their strong hold.
Verse 1-1. Yet so llicij sufficed them not.] There were six hundred men at llimmon, and all the young women they saved from Jabcsh were only four hundred; therefore, there were two hundred still wanting.
Verse 19. There is a feast of the Lord] What this feast was, is not known: it might be either the pass-over, pentecost, or the feast of tabernacles; or indeed some other, peculiar to this place. All the above feosts were celebrated at that time of the year when the vines were in full leaf; therefore, the Benjamites might easily conceal themselves in the vineyards; and the circumstances will answer to any of those feasts.
On the east side of the highteaj/, tSc-] I ^^'^ see no reason for this minute description; unless it intimates that this feast was to be held this year in rather a different place to that which was usual: and, as the Benjainitt's had been bhul up in their strong hold in liimmoii, they might not have heard of this alteration; and it was necessary, in such a case, to give them the most circumstantial information, that they might succeed in their enterprise wilhout being discovered.
Verse '21. And catch iiou e-cry man his icife] That is, let each man of the two hundred Uenjamites seize and carry
!'.) Tlien they said, IJciiold, ihtre Annonoiri. in a feast of the Loiti, in.Shiloh "''"^l!*- " yearly /« a place vvbic h i,'* on (he north side of IJtih-el, '■ on the east-side ' of the highway (hat gMcih up from Fkth-cl to Shcchem, and on the south of Lelionah.
yO Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go, and lie in wait in the vineyards;
2\ And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out ■■ to dance in dances, then come yc out of the vineyards, and (a(ch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
22 And it shall be, wiien their fathers or their bretliren come unto us to complain, that I we will say unto them, 'Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for yc did not give unto them at this lime, that yc should be guilty.
Verse 22. Be favourable unto them] The promise to use their inlluence with the men of Shiloh to induce tiiem to consent to a connection, thus fraudulently obtained; and which the necessity of the case appeared to tliem to justify.
Il'e reserved not to each man his zcifc in the tr«r] The reading of the I'ul^ate is very rcmaikable; — Miseremini coram, non enim rapuerunt c as jure bellantium alque vietorwn, sed roganlibus ut accijierent, non dcdislit, et a vestra parte peccalum est; " Pardon them, for they bare not taken them as victors take captives in war; but when they reiiuested you to eive them.)ou did not; therefore the fault is your own." Here it is intimated that application had been made to the people of Shiloh to furni-h the*e lao hundred Benjamites with wives, and that they had refused • and it was this refusal that induced the Benjaraites to seire and carry them off. Does not St. Jerom, the translator refer to the I'istory of the rape of the Sabine sirgint f See below. Ilitubigant translates the Hfbrpw thus: f'eniojn quwso illis dale; non cnim ad bellum duxeraitt suam qui.-oue uxorcm; el nisi eas iliis nunc conceaelis, deliai rei erilu • " I'ardon them I beseech you, for they have m-t each taken his wife to the war; and, unless yon now give these to them, you will sin." This intimates that, as th«
■b.c:S' 23 And the children of Benjamin An. E^xod. isr. jj(j go, and took them wives, accord- Annoantei. ing to thcif nunibcr, of them that
they went and returned unto their inheritance, and ' repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.
24 And the children of Israel departed thence
Beiijaraites had not taken thoir wives with them to the Vfzr, where some, if not all of them, might have escaped, and the Israelites found them in the cities, and put them all to the sword; therefore the people of Shiloh should give up those tjso hundred y oung women to them for wives; and if they did not, it would be a sin, the circumstances of the case being considered.
Our translation seems to give, as a reason to the men of Shiloh why they should pardon this rape, that, as they had not permitted the women to live in their war with Benjamin; therefore these men are now destitute: and the concession which they wish them to make may be consldeied as more of an obligation to the Israelites than to the Benjamites. It is an obscure sentence; and the Reader, if not pleased with what is laid down, may endeavour to satisfy himself with others, which he may find in diflerent versions and commentators. The Vulgate gives a giod sense to the passage; but probably Iloubigant comes nearest to the meaning.
Verse 23. They tsent and returned unto their inheritance'] It appears that the Benjamites acted in the most honourable way by the women whom they had thus violently carried off; and we may rest assured they took them to an inheritance at least equal to their own; for it does not appear that any part of the lands of the Benjamites was alienated from them: and the six hundred men in question shared, for the present, the inheritance of many thousands.
Verse 24. Every man to his tribe] Though this must have been four months after the war with Benjamin, chap. XX. 47., yet it apjiears the armies did not disband till they had got the remnant of Benjamin settled, as is here related.
Verse 25. In those days there was no king in Israeli JjCt no man suppose that ihe sacred writer, by relatin" the atrocities in this a:i(l the preceding cha|)ters, justifies the actions themselves: by no mean-. Indeed thev 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 as was highly to the discredit of his country.
I have already referred to the rape of the Sabine virgins. The story is told by Livy, Hist. lib. i cap 9. the substance of which is as follows: — Roinulu-^, having opened an asylum at his new built city of Rome for all kinds of persons, the number of m.'n who ll(>c,kc<l to his standard was soon very considerable: but, as they had few znomen, or, as Livy says, at that time, every man to his tribe '^ti.c.'wT' and to his family, and tliey went '•"• ^l"""- ^^r. out from thence every man to his Anno ante i.
25 '' In those days there inas no king in Israel: " every man did thai iviiich icas right in his own eyes.
penuria mulierum, a dearth of women; he sent to all the neighbouring states to invite them to make intermarriages with his people. Not one of the tribes around him received the proposal; and some of them insulted his ambassadors, and said, Ecquod feminis quoque asylum aperuissent? Id cnim demum compar cennubium fore: " Why have you not also opened an asylum for women, which would have afforded you suitable matches:" This exasperated Romulus, but he concealed his resentment; and, having published that he intended a great _/ef«< to Neptune Equestor, invited all the neighbouring tribes to come to it: they did so, and were received by the Romans with the greatest cordiality and friendship. The Sabines, with their wives and children, came in great numbers; and each Roman citizen entertained a stranger. When the games began, and each was intent on the spectacles before them, at a signal given, the young Romans rushed in among the Sabine women, and each carried off one; whom, however, they used in the kindest manner, marrying them according to their own rites, with due solemnity; and admitting them to all the rights and privileges of the new commonwealth. The number carried off on this occasion amounted to near seven hundred: but this act of violence produced disastrous wars between the Romans and the Sabines, which were at last happily terminated by the mediation of the very women whose rape had been the cause of their commencement. The story may be seen at large in Livy, Plutarch, and others.
Thus ends the Book of Judges; a work which, while it introduces the history of Samuel, and that of the kings of Judah and Israel, forms, in some sort, a supplement to the Book of Joshua; and furnishes the only account we have of those times of anarchy and confusion, which e.\tended nearly from the times of the elders, who survived Joshua, to the establishment of the Jewish monarxhy, under Saul, David, and their successors. For other uses of this Book see the Preface.
And its middle verse is ver. 8. of chap. x. And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel, Sfc.
rr [I EJ^^ and by ichom the Booh of Ruth was written, are points not agreed on among critics and commentators.
As to tlie transaclions recorded in it, tlicy arc variously placed. In tlie Book itself there is no other notation of time tlian merely this, that the things came to pass in the days ichen the Judges ruled: therefore, some have placed thc.«e transactions under Ehud, others under CiV/con, others under Barak, others under Abimelech, and others under Shamgar. This last is the opinion of archbishop Ussher; and most chronologers adopt it. The Book is evidently an Appendix to the Book of Judges, and contains a perfect history in itself; and, therefore, should not be inserted in any part of that Book. It also seems as an Introduction to the Books of Samuel, in which the history of David is contained, as it gives the genealogy of this prince. It is also not without its use in matters which respect the gospel, as it ascertains the line by which Jesns Christ came.
As to the author, he is as uncertain as the time. It has been attributed to Hezelciah, to Ezra, and to Samuel; and it is most likely that the author of the two Books of Samuel was also the writer of this little Book, as it seems necessary to complete his plan of the history of David. — See the Preface to the First Book of Samuel.
The sum of the history contained in this Book is the following: — A man of Bethlehem, named Elimelech, with his wife Naomi, and his two sons Malilon and Ciiilion. left his own country in the time of a famine, and went to sojourn in the land of Moab. There he died; and Naomi married her two sons to two Moabitish women: ^lahlon married Ruth, who is the chief subject of this Book; and Ciiilion married one named Orpah. In about ten years both these brethren died; and Naomi, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law. set out to return to the land of Judali, she having heard that plenty was again restored to iicr country. On the way, she besought her daughters to return to their own country and kindred. Orpah took her advice; and, after an atlcctionate parting, returned: but Ruth insisted on accom- panying her mother-in-law. They arrived in Bethlehem about the time of harvest; and Ruth went into the fields to glean for their support. The ground on Avhich she was accidentally employed belonged to Boaz^ one of the relatives of Elimelech, her father-in-law; who, finding who she wasj ordered her to be kindly treated, and appointed her both meat and drink with his own servants. Finding that she was by marriage his kinswoman, he purposed to take her to wife, if a nearer kinsman, who was then living, should refuse. He was accordingly applied to, refused to take Ruth, and surrendered his right to her, according to the custom of those times, at the gate of Bethlehem, before the elders of the city. Boaz then took her to wife, by whom she had Obed, who was father to Jesse, the father of David.