Judges 21

[MEST] Judges
Judges 21
“Finding the loopholes”
[Read Judges 21]
Why did the men of Israel make an oath not to give their daughters to the Benjaminites?

Verses 2 and 3 show us a change in the Israelites. How and why?

In verse 5, again we see that the Israelites had acted in the heat of the moment and made another oath. This continued to complicate things. How?

Why the change of mind in verses 6 -9?

And how do they remedy this?... By killing everyone in the town of Jabesh Gilead except any young virgin girls, who they would then give to the Benjaminites! What do we think of this?


Next we discover that there is only 400 virgins, but 600 men of Benjamin. That means 200 men are still without wives. Surely more must be found?! ... Why do we see this weird idea of justice for the Benjaminites and reconciliation between the tribes?


Verses 20 – 23 shows us this strange ‘loophole-finding’ and ‘responsibility-dodging’ by the Israelites. What do we think about this?


The last sentence sums up the craziness that’s been going on in the last few chapters. What can we gather from this?