Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, by R.A. Torrey, [ca. 1880], at sacred-texts.com
Judges Chapter 21
Overview
Jdg 21:1, The people bewail the desolation of Benjamin; Jdg 21:8, By the destruction of Jabesh-gilead they provide them four hundred wives; Jdg 21:16, They advise the remainder to surprise the virgins that danced at Shiloh.
had sworn: Jdg 20:1, Jdg 20:8, Jdg 20:10; Jer 4:2
There: Jdg 21:5, Jdg 11:30, Jdg 11:31; Sa1 14:24, Sa1 14:28, Sa1 14:29; Ecc 5:2; Mar 6:23; Act 23:12; Rom 10:2
his daughter: Exo 34:12-16; Deu 7:2, Deu 7:3
the house: Jdg 21:12, Jdg 20:18, Jdg 20:23, Jdg 20:26; Jos 18:1
lifted: Jdg 2:4; Gen 27:38; Sa1 30:4
why is: Deu 29:24; Jos 7:7-9; Psa 74:1, Psa 80:12; Pro 19:3; Isa 63:17; Jer 12:1
rose early: Psa 78:34, Psa 78:35; Hos 5:15
built there: Jdg 6:26; Exo 20:24, Exo 20:25; Sa2 24:18, Sa2 24:25; Kg1 8:64; Heb 13:10
a great oath: Jdg 21:1, Jdg 21:18, Jdg 5:23; Lev 27:28, Lev 27:29; Sa1 11:7; Jer 48:10
repented them: Jdg 21:15, Jdg 11:35, Jdg 20:23; Sa2 2:26; Hos 11:8; Luk 19:41, Luk 19:42
sworn: Jdg 21:1, Jdg 21:18; Sa1 14:28, Sa1 14:29, Sa1 14:45
Jabeshgilead: This place, as its name imports, was situated in Gilead, east of Jordan. Eusebius and Jerome say it was a great town in their time, standing upon a hill, six miles south from Pella, in the way to Geresa, now Djerash. The Wady Yabes, mentioned by Burckhardt, which empties itself into the Jordan, in the neighbourhood of Bisan or Beth-shan (see note on Sa1 31:11), and upon which Pella was situated (celebrated by Pliny, 1. v. c. 18, for its fine waters), seems to have taken its name from Jabesh. Near this spot, we must therefore look for its site; and the place called Kalaat Rabbad seems to correspond, very nearly, to the spot; though it probably still retains among the Arabs its ancient name. Sa1 11:1-3, Sa1 31:11-13; Sa2 2:5, Sa2 2:6
Go and smite: As they had sworn to destroy those who would not assist in the war (Jdg 21:5), they determined to destroy the men of Jabesh, and to leave none except the virgins; and to give these to the 600; Benjamites who had escaped to the rock of Rimmon. The whole account is dreadful. The crime of the men of Gibeah was of the deepest dye; the punishment involving both the guilty and innocent, was extended to the most criminal excess, and their mode of remedying the evil they had occasioned was equally abominable. Jdg 21:5, Jdg 5:23; Deu 13:15; Jos 7:24; Sa1 11:7, Sa1 15:3
every male: Num 31:17, Num 31:18; Deu 2:34
hath lain by man: Heb. knoweth the lying with man
virgins: Heb. women
virgins: Shiloh, Jdg 20:18, Jdg 20:23; Jos 18:1; Psa 78:60; Jer 7:12
to speak: Heb. and spake and called
the rock Rimmon: Jdg 20:47; Jos 15:32
call peaceably: or, proclaim peace, Deu 20:10; Isa 57:19; Luk 10:5; Eph 2:17
sufficed them not: Jdg 21:12, Jdg 20:47; Co1 7:2
a breach: Ch1 13:11, Ch1 15:13; Isa 30:13, Isa 58:12
an inheritance: Num 26:55, Num 36:7
a feast: Exo 23:14-16; Lev 23:2, Lev 23:4, Lev 23:6, Lev 23:10, Lev 23:34; Num 10:10, Num 28:16, Num 28:26, Num 29:12; Deu 16:1, Deu 16:10, Deu 16:13; Psa 81:3; Joh 5:1, Joh 7:2
yearly: Heb. from year to year
on the east side: or, toward the sun rising
of the highway: or, on
Lebonah: Maundrell supposes, that either Khan Leban, which is situated on the eastern side of a "delicious vale," four leagues south from Shechem, and two leagues north from Bethel, or the village of Leban, which is on the opposite side, occupies the site of the ancient Lebonah. It is eight hours, or about 24 miles, from Jerusalem, according to Dr. Richardson.
dance: Jdg 11:34; Exo 15:20; Sa1 18:6; Sa2 6:14, Sa2 6:21; Psa 149:3, Psa 150:4; Ecc 3:4; Jer 31:13; Mat 10:17; Luk 17:25
Be favourable unto them: or, Gratify us in them, Plm 1:9-12
each man: Jdg 21:14; Gen 1:27, Gen 7:13; Mar 10:6-8; Co1 7:2
give unto: Jdg 21:1, Jdg 21:7, Jdg 21:18; Pro 20:25
and they went: It appears that the Benjamites acted in the most honourable way to the women they had thus violently carried off, and we may rest assured, that they took them to an inheritance more than equal to their own. But this transaction, as well as the indiscriminate massacre of the people of Jabesh-gilead, as Dr. Gray observes, was certainly stamped with injustice and cruelty; and must be condemned on those principles which the Scriptures elsewhere furnish.
repaired: Jdg 20:48
no: Jdg 17:6, Jdg 18:1, Jdg 19:1
right: Jdg 18:7; Deu 12:8; Psa 12:4; Pro 3:5, Pro 14:12; Ecc 11:9; Mic 2:1, Mic 2:2