Legalism Always Involves Manipulation....

Legalism always involves manipulation, usually at the expense of someone else. Here in Judges chapter 21 we find the Israelites figuring out a way to provide wives for the remaining tribe of Benjamin (who they just destroyed in battle) because they felt sorry for them. It was their legalistic way of getting around the vow they took, as to never allow their own daughters to marry a man from the tribe of Benjamin. Who got the wrong end of the stick in this one? The women coming out to dance at the annual festival held at Shiloh. It’s as if to say, “you can’t have our daughters with our permission, but you can kidnap them and take them as your wives.” This will allow the marriage to take place without having the fathers of these woman break the vow of never giving consent for them to be married to a member of the tribe of Benjamin. Legalism at its finest.

15 The people felt sorry for Benjamin because the Lord had made this gap among the tribes of Israel. 16 So the elders of the assembly asked, “How can we find wives for the few who remain, since the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead? 17 There must be heirs for the survivors so that an entire tribe of Israel is not wiped out. 18 But we cannot give them our own daughters in marriage because we have sworn with a solemn oath that anyone who does this will fall under God’s curse.”19 Then they thought of the annual festival of the Lord held in Shiloh, south of Lebonah and north of Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem. 20 They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, “Go and hide in the vineyards. 21 When you see the young women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to the land of Benjamin to be your wife! 22 And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be sympathetic. Let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find wives for all of them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not actually give your daughters to them in marriage.’ ”23 So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. Each man caught one of the women as she danced in the celebration and carried her off to be his wife. They returned to their own land, and they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.24 Then the people of Israel departed by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes.25 In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. Judges 21:15-25