Juízes 21

Juízes 21

Constable - The anarchy of God’s people complicated the problems that her apostasy had initiated. The moral degeneracy of chapter 19 proceeded from political disorganization in chapter 20 to social disintegration in chapter 21. (Judges: Such Great Salvation) Dale Ralph Davis on Judges 21 - “Interpreting biblical narrative can be like trying to figure out someone who has a dry sense of humor. The person may give no visible indication that he intends humor, so that you have to divine it as best you can. Judges 21 is noncommittal like that. The writer reports but hardly critiques, so that we are left asking how we are to take the story.” Now the men of Israel had sworn (shaba) in Mizpah, saying, "None of us shall give his daughter to Benjamin in marriage - The men presumably refers to all the men of Israel (Jdg 20:1, 8 = "all") who had entered into this vow, but this was not wise! (Note distinguish this oath form the "great oath" in Jdg 21:5+) This vow probably taken in the name of the Lord, was not an ordinary vow but invoked a curse on oneself if the vow was broken. Once again a hasty vow leads to trouble. In his zeal to assure victory, Jephthah vowed to offer a human sacrifice to the Lord (Jdg. 11:30). In the same way, the Israelites' hasty vow here leads to atrocities being committed against Israelite women on a mass scale. Just as Jephthah's daughter's dance of celebration was turned into tragedy and mourning (Jdg 11:34), so the Shilonite girls' dancing (in Jdg 11:20) was interrupted as they were abducted from their families (Jdg 11:23). This theme of the hasty, foolish oath reappears in 1Sa 14:24-45, where Saul's vow jeopardizes the life of his heroic son Jonathan. The Bible emphasizes the importance of keeping one's vow. A vow unfulfilled is worse than a vow never made. While vows do not appear often in the New Testament, Paul made one that involved shaving his head (Acts 18:18). The apostle Paul came from the tribe of Benjamin. No doubt he was grateful for those four hundred women from Jabesh Gilead (Jdg 21:12) and the two hundred women who were kidnapped at Shiloh, for they kept the tribe alive. THOUGHT - There is a lesson for all of us. While we may not make an official vow before God, how often in the heat of the moment have we been tempted to say (or actually do say) something that we will later regret? Been there, done that! In that moment we would do well to cry out to God and ask Him to "Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips." (Ps 141:3)