Benjamins stamme reddes fra udslettelse
1De israelitiske ledere havde under mødet i Mitzpa svoret på, at de aldrig ville lade deres døtre gifte sig med mænd fra Benjamins stamme. 2Men efter slaget holdt de endnu et møde—denne gang i Betel—hvor de sørgede og græd for Herrens ansigt indtil aften. 3„Herre, Israels Gud,” klagede de, „hvorfor skulle denne ulykke ramme os? Nu må vi savne en stamme i Israel!”
4Næste morgen stod de tidligt op, byggede et alter og ofrede brænd- og takofre på alteret. 5Da spurgte de hinanden: „Var nogen af Israels folk ikke repræsenteret under mødet i Mitzpa?” De havde nemlig svoret på, at hvis nogen nægtede at møde op, skulle de straffes med døden. 6Men samtidig følte Israel medlidenhed med benjaminitterne og sagde: „Ak, en hel stamme er næsten totalt udryddet af Israel! 7Hvordan skal vi skaffe koner til de få mænd, der er tilbage, når vi for Herrens ansigt har svoret på, at vi ikke vil lade vores døtre gifte sig med dem?”
8-9Da de nu undersøgte, om nogen var udeblevet fra det omtalte møde i Mitzpa, opdagede man, at ingen fra Jabesh i Gilead havde været til stede. 10-11Så sendte de en hær på 12.000 af de bedste soldater af sted med følgende besked: „Udryd alle indbyggerne i Jabesh med undtagelse af unge piger, som er jomfruer.” 12Det gjorde de så, og de fandt 400 unge jomfruer. Disse piger blev ført til den israelitiske lejr i Shilo i Kana’ans land.
13Derefter sendte man en delegation af sted for at fortælle de 600 overlevende benjaminitter ved Rimmons klippe i ørkenen, at de nu kunne tage hjem i fred. 14Det gjorde de så, og de fik overdraget de 400 piger fra Jabesh, men der var ikke koner nok til dem alle. 15-16Israelitterne var meget kede af, at Gud således næsten havde udryddet en af deres stammer. De følte medlidenhed med de sidste benjaminitter og lederne spurgte hinanden: „Hvordan skal vi skaffe koner til de sidste 200 mænd? Alle kvinder i Benjamins stamme er jo udryddet. 17Der må findes en udvej, så de overlevende kan få efterkommere og stammen kan komme på fode igen, 18selv om vi ved vores ed har udelukket muligheden af at bortgifte vores egne døtre til dem.” 19Pludselig var der en, som fik en lys idé! „Hør,” sagde han, „måske kan vi løse problemet under den kommende religiøse byfest i Shilo.” (Shilo ligger øst for vejen mellem Betel og Sikem, syd for Lebona og nord for Betel.)
20-21Så blev de enige om at sige til de benjaminitter, som stadig manglede koner: „Hold jer skjult i vinmarkerne uden for Shilo og se godt på de piger, der tager derhen for at danse. Under dansen kommer I frem fra jeres skjulested, og finder jer hver især en pige, som I tager med hjem til Benjamins land. 22Når deres fædre og brødre så kommer og nedlægger protest over for os, skal vi nok berolige dem og overtale dem til at lade jer beholde deres døtre, for der var ikke koner nok til jer i Jabesh. Vi skal også nok forklare dem, at de ikke har brudt deres ed, for de har ikke bortgiftet deres døtre frivilligt. I har jo selv taget dem!”
23Så gjorde benjaminitterne, som de fik besked på. De fik hver fat i en pige under festen, hvorefter de hjemførte dem som deres koner til deres eget land. Her genopbyggede de byerne og bosatte sig igen i deres eget stammeområde.
24Derpå opløstes den israelitiske hær, og de forskellige stammer vendte hver for sig tilbage til deres land og deres familier. 25Men der var stadig ingen konge i Israel, så alle gjorde, som de havde lyst til.
Wives for the Men of Benjamin
1The men of Israel had made a promise at Mizpah. They had said, “Not one of us will give his daughter to be married to a man from Benjamin.”
2The people went to Bethel. They sat there until evening in front of God. They wept loudly and bitterly. 3“Lord, you are the God of Israel,” they cried. “Why has this happened to Israel? Why is one tribe missing from Israel today?”
4Early the next day the people built an altar. They brought burnt offerings and friendship offerings.
5Then the Israelites asked, “Has anyone failed to come here in front of the Lord? Is anyone missing from all the tribes of Israel?” The people had made a promise. They had said that anyone who failed to come to Mizpah in front of the Lord must be put to death.
6The Israelites were very sad because of what had happened to the tribe of Benjamin. After all, they were their fellow Israelites. “Today one tribe has been cut off from Israel,” they said. 7“How can we provide wives for the men who are left? We’ve made a promise in front of the Lord. We’ve promised not to give any of our daughters to be married to them.” 8Then they asked, “Has any tribe of Israel failed to come here to Mizpah in front of the Lord?” They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come. No one from there had gathered together with the others in the camp. 9They counted the people. They found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead had come to Mizpah.
10So the community sent 12,000 fighting men to Jabesh Gilead. They directed them to take their swords and kill those living there. That included the women and children. 11“Here is what you must do,” they said. “Kill every male. Also kill every woman who is not a virgin.” 12They found 400 young women in Jabesh Gilead who had never slept with a man. So they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.
13Then the whole community sent an offer of peace to the men of Benjamin. The men were at the rock of Rimmon. 14So the men of Benjamin returned at that time. They were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there weren’t enough women for all of them.
15The people were very sad because of what had happened to the tribe of Benjamin. The Lord had left a gap in the tribes of Israel. They weren’t complete without Benjamin. 16The elders of the community spoke up. They said, “All the women of Benjamin have been wiped out. So how will we find wives for the men who are left? 17The men of Benjamin who are still alive need to have children,” they said. “If they don’t, a tribe of Israel will be wiped out. 18But we can’t give them our daughters to be their wives. We Israelites have made a promise. We’ve said, ‘May anyone who gives a wife to a man from Benjamin be under the Lord’s curse.’ 19Look, a feast is celebrated every year in Shiloh to honor the Lord. Shiloh is north of Bethel. It’s east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem. It’s south of Lebonah.”
20So they told the men of Benjamin what to do. They said, “Go. Hide in the vineyards 21and watch. The young women of Shiloh will come out. They’ll join in the dancing. When they do, run out of the vineyards. Each of you grab a young woman from Shiloh to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin. 22Their fathers or brothers might not be happy with what we’re doing. If they aren’t, we’ll say to them, ‘Do us a favor. Help the men of Benjamin. We didn’t get wives for them during the battle. You aren’t guilty of doing anything wrong. After all, you didn’t give your daughters to them. Your daughters were stolen from you.’ ”
23So that’s what the men of Benjamin did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one. He carried her away to be his wife. Then the men returned to their own share of land. They built the towns again. They made their homes in them.
24At that time the Israelites also left. They went home to their tribes and family groups. Each one went to his own share of land.
25In those days Israel didn’t have a king. The people did anything they thought was right.
