Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 21:22
And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favorable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, [that] ye should be guilty.
22. The verse is difficult to understand owing to corruptions in the text.
to complain unto us ] Follow marg., and read to strive with you (so LXX, Vulgate); the angry parents would naturally go to the captors with their grievance, rather than to the Israelites. When that happens, say the Israelites, we will put in a plea for you.
Grant them graciously unto us etc.] To make sense the text may be emended as follows: Be gracious to them, because they received not each his wife in the war; for if ye (emphatic) had given them unto them, ye would surely now be guilty (of violating your oath). The correction they (for we) received not is supported by some mss. of the LXX The war will be that against Jabesh-gilead; but since the verse as a whole seems to belong to the older narrative, which knows nothing of the expedition against Jabesh, the sentence because they received not each his wife in the war must be regarded as a harmonizing attempt to work in the narrative of B with that of A (cf. Jdg 21:14 b, 16 a).
Some scholars emend the text differently, reading Be gracious to them because they took each his wife in the war; the omission of the negative is found in some mss. of the LXX, but the evidence is not weighty enough for treating this as the true text of the LXX; moreover the war is too strong a term to apply to the rape of the Shilonites.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye did not give … – i. e., they had not broken the oath mentioned in Jdg 21:1, so as to be guilty of taking the Lords name in vain. They did not give their daughters to Benjamin: the Benjamites had taken them by force. Such casuistry as this condemns the system of oaths, and illustrates the wisdom of our Lords precept Mat 5:33-37.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. Be favourable unto them] They promise to use their influence with the men of Shiloh to induce them to consent to a connection thus fraudulently obtained, and which the necessity of the case appeared to them to justify.
We reserved not to each man his wife in the war] The reading of the Vulgate is very remarkable: Miseremini eorum, non enim rapuerunt eas jure bellantium atque victorum, sed rogantibus ut acciperent non dedistis, et a vestra parte peccatum est. – “Pardon them, for they have not taken them as victors take captives in war; but when they requested you to give them you did not; therefore the fault is your own.” Here it is intimated that application had been made to the people of Shiloh to furnish these two hundred Benjamites with wives, and that they had refused; and it was this refusal that induced the Benjamites to seize and carry them off. Does not St. Jerome, the translator, refer to the history of the rape of the Sabine virgins? See below. Houbigant translates the Hebrew thus: Veniam quaeso illis date; non enim ad bellum duxerant suam quisque uxorem; et nisi eas illis nunc concedetis, delicti rei eritis. – “Pardon them, I beseech you, for they have not each taken his wife to the war; and unless you now give these to them, you will sin.” This intimates that, as the Benjamites had not taken their wives with them to the war, 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 two hundred young 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 considered 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 different versions and commentators. The Vulgate gives a good sense to the passage; but probably Houbigant comes nearest to the meaning.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Be favourable unto them; pass by their offence, if not for their sakes, whom necessity forced to this course; yet for our sakes, and indeed for your own sakes; for both you and we have done them a great injury in prosecuting them with so much fury, as to endanger the utter extinction of the whole tribe; and therefore this is the least we can do by way of reparation.
In the war; either, first, In the war with Jabesh-gilead, wherein they should have taken care to reserve a sufficient number, which they might have done, by sparing either so many of the married women as were necessary, who, their former husbands being slain, might have been married to those Benjamites; or as many of the younger virgins, who, within a little time, might have been married to them, whom many suppose that they slew. Or, secondly, In the war with the Benjamites, in which they acknowledge their cruelty in destroying the women with such fury, as not to leave a competent number for the men which were left. See Jdg 20:48. Ye
did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty.
Quest. Whether this did really discharge them from their oath?
Answ. First, It seems to excuse those parents of these virgins who were not acquainted with the plot, and did neither directly nor indirectly give their daughters to them, but they were taken away by force, without their knowledge and consent. If it be said those parents might and should have retaken their daughters from them; it may be replied, that they could not do so before they were corrupted, and the rulers of Israel would not assist them with their power to recover them. And it is a maxim, That many things which ought not to be done, when once they are done, should not be undone. And for those parents who were conscious of the design, it is probable they kept their daughters at home to avoid this. Secondly, Either the oath was made with an exception of the case of the total extirpation of a tribe, or it was a rash oath to do what was out of their power, or what they could not lawfully do, to wit, utterly to destroy a tribe out of Israel, which therefore they here speak of with horror, Jdg 21:3,6; and if so, as they sinned in making it, so they were not obliged to keep it; it being an acknowledged truth, that rash and sinful oaths are better broken than kept. Thirdly. Yet they cannot be wholly excused from sin in this matter; for as it was folly to take such an oath as it is expressed, so the manner of freeing themselves from their own snare is fraudulent and injurious to the parents, in disposing of their children without their consent.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain,…. Of this rape of their daughters or sisters, or to bring an action against them, and desire they might be summoned before them, the elders of the people, and be tried and judged according to law for what they had done; or to put them upon going to war with them again for such treatment of them:
that we will say unto them, be favourable unto them for our sakes; for the sake of the elders, who advised them to do what they did; or for the sake of us Israelites, your sake and ours, who were too severe upon them, and prosecuted the war with too much vigour, which made what they have done necessary, or otherwise a tribe must have been lost in Israel:
because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war; either in the war with Benjamin, which they carried on with such wrath and fury as to destroy all the women, so that there were no wives left for the men that remained, which they now repented of; or in the war with Jabeshgilead, they did not reserve enough of the women taken, only four hundred virgins, whereas there were six hundred men: but the first seems best:
for ye did not give unto them at this time, that you should be guilty; the meaning is, that if they had any uneasiness upon their minds about the oath which they had taken, not to give any of their daughters in marriage to Benjamin, they need not be disturbed at that, since they did not “give” them to them, but these “took” them by force; which was the scheme these elders contrived to secure from the violation of the oath. This they proposed to say to quiet them, and make them easy, to which other things might have been added as that these were their brethren, and not strangers they were married to, and not to mean men, but to men of large estates, having the whole inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin devolved upon them; and their daughters would be the original mothers of the posterity of that tribe in succeeding ages.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“ And when the fathers or brethren of the virgins carried off, come to us to chide with us, we (the elders) will say to them (in your name), Present them to us ( as in Jdg 21:12); for we did not receive every one his wife through the war (with Jabesh); for ye have not given them to them; how would ye be guilty.” The words “Present them to us,” etc., are to be understood as spoken in the name of the Benjaminites, who were accused of the raid, to the relatives of the virgins who brought the complaint. This explains the use of the pronoun in the first person in and , which must not be altered therefore into the third person.
(Note: One circumstance which is decisive against this alteration of the text, is, that the Seventy had the Masoretic text before them, and founded their translation upon it ( , ). The different rendering of Jerome given in the Vulgate – miseremini eorum! non enim rapuerunt eas jure bellantium atque victorum – is nothing but an unfortunate and unsuccessful attempt to get rid of the difficulties connected with the readings in the text.)
The two clauses commencing with are co-ordinate, and contain two points serving to enforce the request, “Present them,” etc. The first is pleaded in the name of the Benjaminites; the second is adduced, as a general ground on the part of the elders of the congregation, to pacify the fathers and brothers making the complaint, on account of the oath which the Israelites had taken, that none of them would give their daughters as wives to the Benjaminites. The meaning is the following: Ye may have your daughters with the Benjaminites who have taken them by force, for ye have not given them voluntarily, so as to have broken your oath by so doing. In the last clause has an unusual meaning: “at the time” (or now), i.e., in that case, ye would have been guilty, viz., if ye had given them voluntarily.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(22) Be favourable unto them for our sakes.Rather, Present them (otham, masc., as in Jdg. 21:12) to us; or (as in the margin), Gratify us in them. The verse is somewhat obscure, but its general drift is a promise to pacify the parents of the damsels, by showing them that thus they did not violate the cherem, and that the cause was pressing. Perhaps they would be more readily consoled, because the land of these six hundred Benjamites must now have been far more than was necessary for their wants. They had become possessors of the lot of the whole tribe. Perhaps the reading should be, Gratify us as regards these damsels, for they (the Benjamites) have not received every man his wife through the war.
At this time.Rather, perhaps, in that case (i.e., if you had given them your daughters in marriage, ye would be guilty). We are left to assume that the appeal of the elders to the parents whose two hundred daughters were thus seized was sufficient to pacify them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. Come unto us to complain Unto us, the elders and warriors of the nation. It seems that for four months or more (compare Jdg 20:47) the elders and the larger part of the army of Israel remained encamped at Beth-el and at Shiloh in order to settle the affairs of Benjamin, and provide against the utter ruin of that tribe. While thus encamped the fathers and brothers of the captured maidens would naturally appeal to them, especially as the children of Benjamin did this act by their command. Jdg 21:20.
Be favourable unto them for our sakes That is, for the sake of our common nation and kindred do not seek to recover the captive maidens, or injure their captors, but be favourable unto them. Literally the Hebrew is, Favour us as regards them. Keil thinks that the elders proposed to speak these words in the name of Benjamin, in which case us refers to the Benjamites, and them to the maidens. But this is less natural than to understand that the elders speak in behalf of the common interests of Israel, and with special allusion, perhaps, to the fact that they themselves were personally involved in the seizure of the maidens, having counselled and commanded it.
Because we reserved not Rather, because we did not take each man his wife in the war. That is, in the war with Jabesh-gilead we did not succeed in capturing virgins enough to supply each man of the six hundred Benjamites with a wife.
For ye did not give unto them They were taken stealthily and by force; ye did not give your daughters and sisters unto them, so ye have not broken the oath which we all took that we would not give our daughters unto Benjamin to wife. Jdg 21:1.
At this time ye should be guilty Thus these words should be construed, and not according to the punctuation of our common version. The words might be better rendered, as at the time ye would have been guilty. More is implied than is said. The sense is, If ye had given these maidens freely, ye would have been guilty of violating your oath by which at the time ye were bound. This decision probably satisfied the people of Shiloh.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And it shall be, when their fathers and their brothers come to complain angrily to us, that we will say to them, ‘Grant them to us as a gift. For we did not take for each man his wife in battle, nor did you give them to them. Or else you would now be guilty’.’
Clearly once news of the kidnappings got out the fathers and brothers of the girls would come to the elders for them to deal with the situation. Then the elders would put in their plea, speaking on behalf of the Benjaminites. They would point out that the girls had not been taken in battle (that would have rendered the Benjaminites guilty again of fighting the confederacy). Nor had they been given freely (that would have put the blame on the fathers who gave their daughters.) Thus no covenant had been broken. And they would ask that the relatives give their daughters, as a gift to them, the elders, for the sake of preserving the tribe of Benjamin in the tribal confederacy. (The language may be typical Eastern understating. The ‘gift’ might have included some form of recompense).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 21:22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that 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 ye did not give unto them at this time, [that] ye should be guilty.
Ver. 22. Come unto us to complain. ] As they had just cause to do for such a plagium. Children are a chief part of their parents’ goods; and Jacob took it very heavily to be robbed of his Dinah. The civil law punisheth it with death.
Be favourable unto them for our sakes.
For ye did not give unto them at this time. at this time, &c.: i.e. “at the time when ye would have incurred guilt [by so doing]”.
Be favourable unto them: or, Gratify us in them, Phm 1:9-12
each man: Jdg 21:14, Gen 1:27, Gen 7:13, Mar 10:6-8, 1Co 7:2
give unto: Jdg 21:1, Jdg 21:7, Jdg 21:18, Pro 20:25
21:22 And it shall be, {i} when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that 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 ye did not give unto them at this time, [that] ye should be guilty.
(i) Though they attempted to convince man that they had kept their oath, before God it was broken.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes