Judges 21: 1 – 25
Sadie Hawkins’s Day
Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.” 2 Then the people came to the house of God, and remained there before God till evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly, 3 and said, “O LORD God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?” 4 So it was, on the next morning, that the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5 The children of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up with the assembly to the LORD?” For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who had not come up to the LORD at Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.” 6 And the children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel today. 7 What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them our daughters as wives?” 8 And they said, “What one is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Mizpah to the LORD?” And, in fact, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly. 9 For when the people were counted, indeed, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead was there. 10 So the congregation sent out there twelve thousand of their most valiant men, and commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and children. 11 And this is the thing that you shall do: You shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has known a man intimately.” 12 So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man intimately; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13 Then the whole congregation sent word to the children of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and announced peace to them. 14 So Benjamin came back at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead; and yet they had not found enough for them. 15 And the people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel. 16 Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?” 17 And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel. 18 However, we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.’” 19 Then they said, “In fact, there is a yearly feast of the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” 20 Therefore they instructed the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in wait in the vineyards, 21 and watch; and just when the daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their dances, then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh; then go to the land of Benjamin. 22 Then it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we will say to them, ‘Be kind to them for our sakes, because we did not take a wife for any of them in the war; for it is not as though you have given the women to them at this time, making yourselves guilty of your oath.’” 23 And the children of Benjamin did so; they took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they caught. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them. 24 So the children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family; they went out from there, every man to his inheritance. 25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Today’s bible story reminds me of a comic strip that I enjoyed when I was a kid. It was called ‘Li’l Abner. There was a portion of the comic that was focused on the bringing together of men and women. Now I know that the comic strip focused on women catching men but the idea is similar.
I think a lot of single people would agree with me in that the church does not provide enough opportunity for single people to meet. Some cynics argue that doing something where singles can meet other Christian singles is nothing but a meat market. To this point of view I say, ‘so what!’. What is the other alternative – the bars and nightclubs? I am really thankful for the new web site ‘Christian Singles’. You can see the need of this ministry by the amount of people who are signing up. Anyway, back to my comments on my comics.
In the comic strip ‘Li'l Abner, Sadie Hawkins was the daughter of one of Dogpatch's earliest settlers, Hekzebiah Hawkins. The "homeliest gal in all them hills", she grew frantic waiting for suitors to come a-courtin'. When she reached the age of 35, still a spinster, her father was even more frantic—about Sadie living at home for the rest of her life. In desperation, he called together all the unmarried men of Dogpatch and declared it "Sadie Hawkins Day". Specifically, a foot race was decreed, with Sadie in hot pursuit of the town's eligible bachelors—and matrimony as the consequence.
In a quote from the comic stip Sadie’s father said, "When ah fires [my gun], all o' yo' kin start a-runnin! When ah fires agin—after givin' yo' a fair start—Sadie starts a runnin'. Th' one she ketches'll be her husbin." The town spinsters decided that this was such a good idea, they made Sadie Hawkins Day a mandatory yearly event, much to the chagrin of Dogpatch bachelors. In the satirical spirit that drove the strip, many sequences revolved around the dreaded Sadie Hawkins Day race. If a woman caught a bachelor and dragged him, kicking and screaming, across the finish line before sundown—by law he had to marry her.
Let’s take a look at our Precious Holy Spirit’s version of boy gets girls.
Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah, saying, “None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin as a wife.”
Once you get blood on your hands from war then death is very much on the minds of the Israelites. A serious covenant had been made at Mizpah once action had been determined. Any who did not respond to the call to arms would be put to death. Any who married their daughter to a Benjaminite would be punished, probably again by death. But in the present situation they regretted it. They had realized the importance of 12 tribes. Now the tribe of Benjamin is almost eliminated.
2 Then the people came to the house of God, and remained there before God till evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly, 3 and said, “O LORD God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?”
Having carried out their dreadful massacre the people suddenly realized the consequences of what they had done, they had destroyed a tribe in Israel. This struck them so vividly that they went to Bethel to seek God’s guidance on the matter. This fact would again confirm that the Tabernacle had been moved temporarily to Bethel. To lose a tribe was like losing a near relative, indeed a brother. The use of ‘God’ indicates how dreadfully they felt this hole in the Confederacy. A tribe was missing from the covenant.
What they were asking was what had been the causes that had brought this about. What had led Benjamin to become caught up in the Canaanite religion and ways? So do men behave when they are unaware of their own weaknesses. Some of them were in danger of the same thing. The answer, of course, was that they had fraternized with the Canaanites in spite of God’s prohibition. They had disobeyed God.
4 So it was, on the next morning, that the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
Bethel was one of the places where God had revealed His name in the past, and He had done so again in chapter 20 verse 28. The people offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. The burnt offerings were offered wholly to God. The peace offerings they could partake of themselves. The one represented total dedication, the other their fellowship with God through the shedding of blood.
After you repent of your sins you know that you have to make amends and deal with the damages that have resulted from your sin. We see this proper action now by the Israelites. The leaders reviewed everything that had occurred. They began the serious business of dealing with those of their own who had failed to observe the covenant.
5 The children of Israel said, “Who is there among all the tribes of Israel who did not come up with the assembly to the LORD?” For they had made a great oath concerning anyone who had not come up to the LORD at Mizpah, saying, “He shall surely be put to death.”
As mentioned, Included in the oath made at Mizpah was that any who did not respond to the call of the tribal confederacy would be put to death, Now was the time for giving account.
6 And the children of Israel grieved for Benjamin their brother, and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel today.
In the circumstances in which they found themselves they were convinced that they had destroyed all of Benjamin apart from the six hundred holed up in the Rock of Rimmon which we read about in our last study of chapter 20 verse 47. Benjamin’ had nearly been destroyed and they were now thinking how they could restore them.
7 What shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them our daughters as wives?”
They had decided on mercy for the six hundred holed up in the Rock, but the problem now was how to find wives for them without breaking their solemn oath to Yahweh. It is a reminder that we do well to consider carefully before we make promises and take oaths. They are not easily undone. But as such men will they had a solution. Men are always good at wriggling out of inconvenient promises.
8 And they said, “What one is there from the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Mizpah to the LORD?” And, in fact, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly. 9 For when the people were counted, indeed, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead was there.
A check was made of the tribes and sub-tribes and it was discovered that the people of Jabesh-gilead had failed to respond. If you turn back to chapter 5 verse 17 you will note that Gilead had a reputation for failing to respond to the call to arms. And it was not a failure involving only the confederacy. They were seen as having directly refused to obey Yahweh. Such a failure rendered them liable to The Ban in accordance with the oath taken at the assembly. Their penalty is death.
10 So the congregation sent out there twelve thousand of their most valiant men, and commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, including the women and children. 11 And this is the thing that you shall do: You shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman who has known a man intimately.”
Twelve picked units of fighting men were dispatched to Jabesh-gilead with a view to carrying out The Judgment. All there were to be slain except for young virgins. The hypocrisy of the situation is clear. Why should the children die and the virgins be spared? Simply for man’s convenience to get him out of a tight corner. Please take note that they did not seek our Great Holy Adoni Yahweh’s guidance on this. They knew He would not approve.
The carrying out of the same procedure on Jabesh-gilead as on the Benjaminites demonstrates how seriously this campaign and the stain of the actions of the men of Gibeah were taken. It was seen as a sacred crusade to eradicate deep sin in the tribal confederacy. And those who would not partake were considered to be tainted with the sin of the men of Gibeah. They were traitors to the covenant, and the penalty for that was death, for they had failed to recognize and bow down to the holiness of Yahweh. This was in this case their view, not God’s. But it was genuine nonetheless.
12 So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man intimately; and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
The order was carried out and four hundred virgins were spared who ‘had not lain with a man’. And these were brought to the camp at Shiloh where The Tabernacle usually was. The Ark would now also have returned there, for Shiloh was the regular central sanctuary.
13 Then the whole congregation sent word to the children of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon, and announced peace to them. 14 So Benjamin came back at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead; and yet they had not found enough for them.
Please notice the statement, ‘Proclaimed peace to them.’ The war was over. No further reparation would be required. They could come out safely and rejoin the tribal confederacy. The survivors of Benjamin became once more a brother. And the four hundred virgins were supplied to them for the producing of children to rebuild the tribe. But four hundred was not enough for there were six hundred men.
15 And the people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a void in the tribes of Israel.
All that was done was in the end thought of as done by Yahweh, for He was the God of the covenant and of the tribal confederacy. Thus He was seen as over all that they did, even when He might not have approved of it. It was His law and His holiness that had caused the actions that had brought the breach. But it was the people who had to repent and change their minds so as to allow Benjamin back into the confederacy. It was not God Who had banned them.
16 Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?”
You have to stop and think about how bad the slaughter was. For the six hundred men fled and left their wives and kids behind to get slaughtered. Some nice guys these were. These were the guys that are going to be used to re-populate the tribe of Benjamin. Can you see something wrong here? These cowards ran for their own skin and now they are going to be rewarded. Some guys might be thinking right now of who to pick a fight with so they can get out of their marriages.
17 And they said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be destroyed from Israel.
The feeling was strong. To lose a tribe would be like losing a limb. The inheritance here was children not land. There was plenty of free land in Benjaminite territory.
18 However, we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the children of Israel have sworn an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the one who gives a wife to Benjamin.’” 19 Then they said, “In fact, there is a yearly feast of the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”
The latter phrase was probably literally part of the wording of the covenant made at Mizpah. Blessings and coursings regularly accompanied covenants.
They expressed their awareness of a coming feast of Yahweh. The connection with vineyards suggests that this was the feast of Tabernacles. All Israel would gather to the central sanctuary for the feast to celebrate the harvest and it would provide opportunity for their plan to work. The position of Shiloh was carefully described. It was an important site to Israel, and it would seem that the Tabernacle had again returned there.
20 Therefore they instructed the children of Benjamin, saying, “Go, lie in wait in the vineyards, 21 and watch; and just when the daughters of Shiloh come out to perform their dances, then come out from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of Shiloh; then 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.
22 Then it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to us to complain, that we will say to them, ‘Be kind to them for our sakes, because we did not take a wife for any of them in the war; for it is not as though you have given the women to them at this time, making yourselves guilty of your oath.’”
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.
23 And the children of Benjamin did so; they took enough wives for their number from those who danced, whom they caught. Then they went and returned to their inheritance, and they rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them.
The plan was carried out and worked successfully. The girls were legally kidnapped, each man choosing a wife for himself out of those available. Then they escaped into the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.
24 So the children of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family; they went out from there, every man to his inheritance.
Having fulfilled God’s work in their own way they were able to proceed with life in a covenant relationship with God, satisfied that the stain of the folly had been removed from them.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Even in this matter of Benjamin the people had stooped to subterfuge and hypocrisy, not seeking Yahweh’s voice when they had the final difficult decisions to make. They went away satisfied that they were again in good standings with El Shaddai – God Almighty. They had done what was right in their own eyes without looking to Yahweh as King. What they had done as a confederacy had been on His behalf, and yet when it came to the crunch they had ignored Him. Once again it was apparent that there was no King in Israel, neither divine nor human.
This was the continual problem. They just would not give our Holy Adoni Yahweh His true place. Central government was loose, the central sanctuary was marginalized, justice was left to the clan, who tended to favor their own, God’s law was only applied as seemed fit to them. And individuals went their own way in matters of religion. That was not how God had intended it to be.
Does this remind you of any country today? This folks is why we need to pray. You know that we just came through an election and the outcome was startling. The same evil people were voted in again. You will note that I am not listing any particular names.
In all this in the months preceding the election, I did not read or hear any preacher come out with the desire for us all to follow 2nd Chronicles 7 verse 14 , “14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Adoni Yeshua, please have mercy on us.
