Chapter 21
The tribe of Benjamin has been essentially wiped out. They've killed man, woman and child throughout Israel - except for the 600 men hiding at the rock of Rimmon.
At the assembly, all the people - all non-Benjamites - had promised that their daughters would never be wives to Benjamites. So now, there were a few Benjamite males left, but no wives for them to marry, so the tribe of Benjamin would die out.
But they had also sworn that anyone who didn't show up for the assembly at all would be killed. Israel has suddenly grown very zealous about promises and about keeping them, and about taking action if anyone pooh poohs them. A town called Jabesh-Gilead had sent no one. So they send 12,000 soldiers there and kill all the men, married women, and children. But they keep alive 400 virgins. Presumably after killing their families in front of them.
Israel tells the 600 Benjamite men still hiding at Rimmon that they won't kill them, and they send them the 400 virgins. Still not enough wives. So they decide to have the remaining single Benjamite males lie in wait for the daughters of Shiloh to come out and dance in their annual celebration, and kidnap them, and take them home as wives. Then when their relatives come to complain, the rest of Israel will tell them hey, at least you didn't break your oath not to give your daughters to Benjamin, they just stole them. Your oath is secure. Crazy stuff!
And with this, the book of Judges ends.
2021 - It occurs to me that this "plan" by the rest of Israel sets the stage for what will come by the time of Christ, when the Pharisees and Scribes have found ways to circumvent lots of other promises without actually directly breaking the law. Skirting the truth is a big issue with Israel. Reminds me of Peterson's rule - Tell the truth, or at least don't lie. So many things Peterson says come right back to the Bible.
2024 - Not my favorite Bible story, these last three chapters. But a good example of what happens when there is no standard of moral law being observed. Instead, "each man" makes his own law - which is bad enough and in this case led to the man's concubine being thrown out to be raped so he could save himself - but when they all get together and decide as a group - so that no one person is accountable for what they all do - it is far far worse. Why didn't they get mad at that man for treating his concubine this way? Why was no one angry at him? And did he do it because she'd been unfaithful to him in the first place? Was this his revenge for her running around on him? Is that why he was so callous about things when he went out there the next morning and she lay there dead - because he thought she'd gotten what she deserved? But none of it would have happened if this guy had gotten up early and gone on his way, but he was so wishy washy that he could be talked into a meal over and over again. And Jebus...that was still inhabited by "foreigners" because Israel had not wiped the place out under Joshua and right after, as they should have. This is one of those stories where there is no hero. And perhaps that is the point. When left to himself, man ends up with a culture and a society that is perverse in its every decision. Without that overarching moral standard of the Bible, man can justify any action, regret it, and then make it worse by trying to fix it.
2025 - Yes. Those last few sentences in 2024 are correct. Just look at the stupidity in this country as we try to "undo" our confusion about gender. Just look at what caused the confusion in the first place - trying to apply a man-made morality to situations the Bible has already clearly defined. And the more we try to fix our mistake, the more mistakes we make.