Judges 20:23

Judges 21:23 a

‘And the children of Benjamin did so, and took wives for themselves according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off.’

The plan was carried out and worked successfully. The girls were legally kidnapped, each man choosing a wife for himself out of those available. Then they escaped into the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.

Judges 21:23 b

‘And they went and returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them.’

Benjamin was still their inheritance so that these men had much land to choose between them. They would now be wealthy and leaders of their people.

But some have cavilled at the idea of a strong tribe of Benjamin arising so speedily from so few. However, that is to misunderstand the situation. Refugees who had fled would return in droves, families in which someone had married a Benjaminite women in the past and who lived elsewhere would come to claim their wives’, or mothers’, or grandmothers’ family inheritance, and become Benjaminite in return. Others would see the large tracts of land still available and they too would be willing to be adopted into Benjamin, or claim descent, in return for grants of land, for many records had been destroyed in the destruction that had taken place, and if the men were suitable not too many questions would be asked. Good fighting men would be welcomed and would soon be absorbed into Benjamin. Every man of ambition who had little wealth would see it as a great opportunity. So until the lands and cities were reoccupied people would flood in. And their families would all soon proudly claim their descent from Benjamin.

From the beginning the tribes had always been fluid, especially since the absorption of the mixed multitude under Moses (Exodus 12:38). That process would now go on. Their problem would not be finding sufficient applicants, but deciding between them. An almost ‘empty’ land was a huge attraction.

The weakness of Benjamin for a time might explain why they continually could not expel the Jebusites from Jerusalem, and such a civil war might explain the weakness of Israel in the face of the enemies described in the first part of the book. It may also partially explain why Benjaminites ceased to be so predominantly left-handed (Judges 3:15; Judges 20:16 contrast 1 Chronicles 12:2).