GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
JUDGES 21:1-5
In this chapter, Israel grieves over the loss of Benjamin. An oath has bound them from giving any of their daughters to the survivors of Benjamin as wives, and so a drastic solution is suggested, but even that comes up short.
Wives for Benjamin
21 Now the men of Israel had sworn an oath at Mizpah: “None of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.” 2 The people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening. They wept loudly, they wept bitterly, 3 and they prayed, “Why, O LORD, God of Israel, has this happened in Israel, that there is a tribe is missing today? ”
Earlier in the book, but later in the time of the judges, another vow was taken as seriously as this one—Jephthah’s famous vow to sacrifice whoever came out of his house (11:31). Now all of the representative Israelites went to the house of God at Bethel to grieve and weep over what had happened. They were not bitter that God has directed them to destroy Benjamin, but they were sorry that a tribe had all but vanished from Israel. They understood that their role was one of service to God’s command, but they did not relish the killing.
4 The next morning the people rose early and built an altar there. They made burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.
This verse presents a problem. In 20:26-27, we read that just before this battle, the ark of the covenant was located at Bethel, and the tabernacle with its altar was there, where the people made burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Here the text clearly says that at this time, following the battle, the people “built” (wayibanu) an altar there. Had the first one been dismantled? Had the Israelites moved the tabernacle and taken the ark into battle with them against Benjamin? In the early days of the judges, the tabernacle appears to have been more mobile than later on. In any case, the people included worship and offerings as part of their inquiry to God.
5 The people of Israel asked, “Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come when we assembled before the LORD? ” For they had taken a firm oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah would certainly be put to death.
We’re not told who came up with this question, but it was something that everyone grabbed onto. If some clan or family had not assembled to take up arms against Gibeah, then they would fall under the other oath taken before the war on Benjamin.
This question is ominous. It implies that Israel was going to do something violent based on a rash oath. What if Simeon had failed to show up? Would they annihilate another tribe to preserve Benjamin? What if most of the Levite tribe had abstained from the attack on Gibeah? Would Israel continue without its ordained priests? This was not a nation that learned quickly.
The whole business of keeping vows seems foreign to many readers today. We’re not a culture that keeps promises, and when someone goes out of his way to uphold what he has promised to do, he is looked on as odd. But God takes vows very seriously. Solomon said:
“When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, ‘My vow was a mistake.’ Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?” (Ecclesiastes 5:4-6).
Part of the reason that God wants us to take our own words seriously is that he wants us to take his words seriously, too. If we don’t think that we need to keep a promise we’ve made, what comfort do we have from God’s promises? Do we expect that God might forget about his promise to raise us from the dead? Long after we’re buried, might God just forget about us, and leave us in our slumber forever? But God fulfills what he says he will do. “He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations” (1 Chronicles 16:15; Psalm 105:8). For the Lord, every word is like an oath, a word that cannot be broken. When we take him at his word, we honor and worship him. Take your vows seriously. If you’ve sworn to be a husband, then be a husband. Share your life and everything you have with your wife, and don’t withhold anything from her. You have sworn to be one with her, not to remain two. The same thing goes for wives. Or if you’ve taken a vow to be faithful in carrying out some duty—as a policeman, a public servant, a soldier, a doctor, a teacher, or a pastor—carry out your duty. God and his angels will support you and protect you and give you encouragement when you need it. But above all, take God’s word as the absolute truth. That is how God wants us to receive it, and to trust it always. “The word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8), “and this is the word that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:25). His word, the Bible, is the message of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus our Savior. Cherish it always.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota