Without the absolute standard of God and without the fear of God, the powerful of the Israelite society wielded its force to justify its irrational decision based on hypocritical oaths to exploit the weak. 

There is no righteous person, not even one (Romans 3:10). This chapter gives more reason for me to place my hope in Christ.

Summary of Judges 21

After almost annihilating the Benjamin tribe down to only 600 men, the Israelites started to feel sorry for them, becoming afraid of missing one entire tribe of Israel. Because they had sworn to the LORD not to give their daughters to Benjamin, they needed to find a solution for the remaining Benjamin. 

First, they decided to punish the men of Jabesh-gilead (probably part of either the Gad tribe or the Manasseh tribe), who did not participate in this war, by killing their men and giving their women, 400 in total, to the remaining Benjamin men as their wives. Because they still needed at least 200 more women, the Israelites came up with another “brilliant” solution. Second, the Israelites schemed to use the annual feast of the LORD at Shiloh where many young women would  participate. The Israelites covertly told the remaining Benjamintes to hide in wait in the vineyards to catch them (in fact, abduct them) as their wives. In this way, the Israelites do not violate their oath not to give their daughters to Benjamin, but still fulfill their solution to prolong the Benjamin tribe. 

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Incorrect Self-Reflection

After unleashing their anger by indiscriminately killing almost all the Benjamites, the Israelites came to feel sorry for themselves. Then, they began to blame God, by saying “Why, O Lord, God of Israel, has this come about in Israel, so that one tribe should be missing today in Israel?” (Judges 21:3).

This response by the Israelite reflects their utter inability to correctly self-reflect. The indiscriminate killing of the Benjamin tribe was done by the united Israelite force. The LORD never commanded them to do this. The Israelites were proving themselves to be a fool by raging against the LORD over the result that they caused (Proverbs 19:3 The foolishness of a person ruins his way, And his heart rages against the Lord). They could have stopped after convincingly defeating the armed soldiers of Benjamin of 26,000. They certainly did not have to kill almost all the inhabitants, including unarmed elders, women, children and other people. 

Then, they arose early the next day and built an altar to give burnt and peace offerings (Judges 21:4). They displayed an action of “piety,” but with a distorted heart condition. We call this hypocrisy. 

Extremely Legalistic about Oaths

To the Israelites, keeping oath was extraordinarily important. It must never be broken – even if it seemed to contradict the laws and character of God. Let’s call this the “idolization” of oaths. 

They had sworn not to give their daughters to Benjamin (Judges 21:1). They also desired to restore the Benjamin tribe (whom they destroyed almost completely). The Israelites needed to find at least 600 wives without violating their oath. In order to fulfill these two desires, they came up with two “brilliant” solutions, which were evil and absurd. 

The First Scapegoat: People of Jabesh-gilead

The Isrealites took an oath to punish the people who did not come up to participate in the war. The first scapegoat was the people of Jabesh-gilead. The Israelites sent 12,000 men to kill all the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead except for women eligible for marriage. 

This decision is very difficult to understand. The Israelites felt sorry for the annihilating Benjamin tribe, then they sent 12,000 men to kill additional Israelites. They were able to acquire 400 young women. Imagine the traumatic scar that will remain forever with these 400 young women, who suddenly lost their loved ones and would be given to men whom they have never met before! 

The Israelites proclaimed peace to Benajmin (Judges 21:13). This verse caused me to chuckle cynically because they proclaimed “peace” after killing 99% of the entire Benjamin people. They then handed over 400 captured women to 600 remaining men of Benjamin. 

They still needed to find 200 more. 

The Second Scapegoat: Women of Shiloh Festival

The Israelites came  up with the second evil, brilliant idea. They told the remaining Benjamites that there would be an annual feast in Shiloh where young women would come out to dance. The Israelites told the Benjamintes to use that opportunity to take them as their wives. In fact, the Israelites were telling the Benjamites to abduct (in a benign term) them. I don’t see how this differs from human trafficking. 

The men of Benjamin did as suggested by the Israelites. And this action did not violate their oath – technically. Those Israelite families whose daughters were abducted by the Benjamites did not “give” their daughters to them. They were only abducted. This was their rationale. 

Where was the fear of God in Israel? 

Victims were… the Weak

Jabesh-gilead was a small town. They became the first scapegoat of the Israelites’ plan to restore Benjamin. They were a small, weak town. 

Women at the Shiloh festival were abducted by the Benjamites against their will. What do you think their family backgrounds were? The influential and powerful families would have known about this secret scheme agreed between the Israelites and Benjamin to abduct young women. Therefore, those young women from powerful families would not have participated in the Shiloh that year. However, those families that did not belong to the “powerful” group of society would probably just have sent their daughters to the annual festivals. It was very likely that their daughters were captured by Benjamin. Again, the victim of this whole scheme was the weak families. 

Absence of Spiritual Leadership 

This happened during the time when Phinehas stood before the LORD (Judges 20:28). What was he doing when all these absurd actions and decisions were made by the Israelites? 

Note that Phinehas was a zealous person who did not take any sin lightly. He took a spear in his hand and pierced Zimri, the leader of Simeon tribe, and the Midianite woman through their body to kill them because of their indecent act in the presence of the assembly (Numbers 25). It is hard to imagine a person with this much zeal stood by when the Israelites were killing each other and made up a plan to abduct young women against their will. 

Perhaps, he was too old to do anything. Or, at the very worst scenario, he allowed himself to succumb to be complacent with a rising tide of the idol worship. He no longer was a person once he had been in the earlier days of Joshua. 

Conclusion

The book of Judges depicts the Israelites who became worse than the surrounding nations of Canaan. They showed no fear of God. They oppressed the weak. They took their oaths seriously while neglecting all the things that reflect the heart and the character of the LORD their God. 

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25)” is indeed a fitting conclusion statement.

Let me add a few phrases on this verse based on what I saw in the final chapter. 

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone (the powerful of the society) did what was right in his own eyes (at the expense of the weak, marginalized of the society).