Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 21:20

Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;

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, Jud 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 same with Bethlaban, famous for its wine with the Misnic writers; who say g the second places for wine are Bethrimah and Bethlaban; and I suspect that Bethrimah is the same with Bethrimmon, near which was the rock Rimmon these men were in; now this being the time of year when the vintage was just over, the vines were full of branches and leaves, under which the men might the better hide themselves; and the grapes being gathered, there were no men in the vineyards, and so might lie in wait safely, and under cover.

g Misn. Menachot, c. 8. sect. 6.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Kethibh in the singular may be explained on the ground that one of the elders spoke and gave the advice in the name of the others. in Jdg 21:21 and Psa 10:9, to seize hold of, or carry off as prey = .

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(20) They commanded.Rather, they gave notice. This is the keri or marginal reading of the Hebrew; the kethib, or written text, has the verb in the singular, in which case we must take it impersonally, It was bidden, and suppose that some leading personageprobably Phinehas, the impress of whose character and reminiscences is observable throughoutis the speaker.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

‘ And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, ‘Go and lie in wait in the vineyards. And watch, and behold if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then you come out of the vineyards and you catch every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin.’

There is no mention of God’s approval to this plan which would no doubt have been sadly lacking. It demonstrates that leaders of peoples do not change over millenniums. They consider that in times of emergency they can behave in ways that decent men would decry. It is difficult to think of words to describe leaders who recommend abduction by force of innocent girls. But they had forced themselves into a corner and now they were trying to find a way out of it.

The problem was that it had to be done in such a way as to be evident that no one had given his daughter to the Benjaminites. But if the elders were not doing that, what were they doing? They were fathers of their tribes. It was a legal fiddle.

The plan was simple. The Benjaminites were now present at the feast having been restored to the covenant and the tribal confederacy. And every year at the feast of Tabernacles the girls of Shiloh would go out for the celebrations in the vineyards where they would dance in the dances. There they would be only partially protected. What could happen with all the tribes of Israel gathered there at a feast of Yahweh? And no one would take much notice of ‘lovers’ seizing their girlfriends and carrying them off. But once the Benjaminites had succeeded they had to immediately leave the feast and make for Benjaminite territory just over the border. It was abduction by force without any regard for the girls or their families.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jdg 21:20 Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;

Ver. 20. Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin. ] Who should first have examined the commands of their superiors, before they had obeyed them. Obediemus Artridis honesta mandantibus, saith the tragedian a

a Eurip., in Iphig.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)