The people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.

 Judges 21:1-25

The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly.  “Lord, God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?”

Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.

The people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel.

They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. 

They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.

Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon. So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.

So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us the favor of helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war. You will not be guilty of breaking your oath because you did not give your daughters to them.’”

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

The lengths to which the tribes go to circumvent the rash oath made at Mizpah. 

The writer has no need to point a moral. The simple statement of verse 25 is sufficient. The whole ook makes plain the disastrous consequences of the breakdown of authority, when people become a law unto themselves, setting their own standards of permissiveness.

Why?

The consequence of the civil war left the Benjamites missing from the tribes of Israelite. But Israelite has made an oath before the Lord,  so they have to find a way to help them.

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit, it the problem of Israelite.

Even they build an altar for the Lord, but their heart has no God, no king, no law.

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以色列人在士羅抓人的女子為妻，等於眾人凌辱眾人，當初是眾人凌辱一名女子，一樣殘忍。

減掉一族，結果發現傷到自己。教會中也是把不該是敵人的當做敵人，造成自己的傷害。

自己被自己的誓言套住無法解套，反而還要殺更多人。21節起的誓言是合神心意的，本身就有問題。因為自己的錯誤要別人去施恩給別人，強迫第三方來彌補損失。不打破誓言卻強迫別人付代價。自己造成的破口，卻要挖別人的牆，補自己牆的破口。唯一辦法是認罪、悔改。

一方面與便雅閔人說和諧的話即要合一，卻又不願意將自己的孩子和便雅閔人結婚，這不是真心要合一。自己犯錯誤，還要別人來補償錯誤。

士師記停下來，在沒有王，各人任意行，人沒有盼望，沒有秩序的，好像需要一個王。接下來的路得記讓人看到了亮光。

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How?

God's way is my way and God's word is my foundation. May God guides my way forward.