- 1. Nowe the men of Israel had sworne in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of vs giue his daughter vnto Beniamin to wife.
- 2. And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till euen before God, and lift vp their voices, and wept sore:
- 3. And said, O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to passe in Israel, that there should bee to day one tribe lacking in Israel?
- 4. And it came to passe on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an Altar, and offered burnt offerings, and peace offerings.
- 5. And the children of Israel sayd, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel, that came not vp with the congregation vnto the Lord ? for they had made a great oath concerning him that came not vp to the Lord to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.
- 6. And the children of Israel repented them for Beniamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day:
- 7. How shall wee doe for wiues for them that remaine, seeing wee haue sworne by the Lord, that wee will not giue them of our daughters to wiues?
- 8. And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel, that came not vp to Mizpeh to the Lord ? And beholde, there came none to the campe from Iabesh Gilead to the assembly.
- 9. For the people were numbred, and behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead there.
- 10. And the congregation sent thither twelue thousand men of the valiantest, and commaunded them, saying, Goe, and smite the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.
- 11. And this is the thing that yee shall doe, Yee shall vtterly destroy euery male, and euery woman that hath lien by man.
- 12. And they found among the inhabitants of Iabesh Gilead, foure hundred yong virgins that had knowen no man, by lying with any male: and they brought them vnto the campe to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.
- 13. And the whole Congregation sent some to speake to the children of Beniamin that were in the rocke Rimmon, and to call peaceably vnto them.
- 14. And Beniamin came againe at that time, and they gaue them wiues which they had saued aliue of the women of Iabesh Gilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.
- 15. And the people repented them for Beniamin, because that the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
- 16. Then the Elders of the Congregation said, How shall we doe for wiues for them that remaine? seeing the women are destroyed out of Beniamin.
- 17. And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that bee escaped of Beniamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.
- 18. Howbeit wee may not giue them wiues of our daughters. For the children of Israel haue sworne, saying, Cursed be he that giueth a wife to Beniamin.
- 19. Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yerely, in a place which is on the Northside of Bethel on the East side of the hie way that goeth vp from Bethel to Shechem, and on the South of Lebanon.
- 20. Therefore they commanded the children of Beniamin, saying, Goe and lie in wait in the vineyards.
- 21. And see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to daunce in daunces, then come yee out of the vineyards, and catch you euery man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and goe to the land of Beniamin.
- 22. And it shall bee when their fathers or their brethren come vnto vs to complaine, that we will say vnto them, Bee fauourable vnto them for our sakes: because we reserued not to each man his wife in the warre: for yee did not giue vnto them at this time, that you should be guiltie.
- 23. And the children of Beniamin did so, and tooke them wiues according to their number, of them that daunced, whome they caught: and they went and returned vnto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.
- 24. And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, euery man to his tribe, and to his family, and they went out from thence euery man to his inheritance.
- 25. In those dayes there was no King in Israel: euery man did that which was right in his owne eyes.
1-7.- Под влиянием сильного гнева против вениаминитян израильтяне остальных 11-ти колен, до начала войны с ними, в Массифе дали клятву не выдавать за них в замужество своих дочерей. Вследствие исполнения этой клятвы израильтянами, колену Вениаминову, ввиду того, что израильтяне не могли жениться на хананеянках (Исх 34:16); (Втор 7:3), угрожало полное искоренение. Сознавая это, израильтяне сожалели о таком печальном будущем одного из славных колен всего народа Израилева (Быт 49:27); (Втор 33:12) и, собравшись в г. Вефиле, где тогда находился ковчег Завета, совершили по поводу сего жертвы Господу и в то же время спрашивали о тех израильтянах, которые не явились в собрание общества Израилева в Массифе и таким образом были как бы свободны от данной обществом клятвы.8-14.- После того как произведенное исследование, что в собрание общества Израилева в Массифе не явился никто из жителей Иависа галаадского, лежавшего по левую сторону Иордана, где ныне Вади Иабис, впадающий в Иордан ниже Скифополя, общество израилево отправило отряд воинов для поголовного истребления жителей Иависа, за исключением девиц, не познавших мужского ложа. Оставшиеся таким образом в живых 400 девиц были отданы в жены спасшимся в количестве 600 вениаминитян.15-24.- Для предоставления жен остальным 200 вениаминитянам им было дозволено старейшинами общества совершить похищение девиц израильских во время праздника кущей, когда девицы будут водить хороводы близ Силома (ныне Сейлунь), у дороги, ведущей из Вефиля в Сихем (Наплус) и с юга - по направлению к Левону (ныне Эль-Левон, близ Сейлуна). С фактом похищения вениаминитянами себе жен имеет сходство факт подобного же похищения римлянами себе в жены сабинянок. После приобретения жен оставшиеся вениаминитяне вновь обзавелись семьями, соорудили города и стали жить в них. Таким образом, колено Вениаминово вновь приобрело возможность своего продолжения в роде.25.В заключение книги Судей писатель вновь делает замечание о бывшем тогда безначалии в народе (ср. Суд 17.6; Суд 18.1; Суд 19.1), печальным последствием чего были, между прочим, описанные им в конце книги факты - культ Михи (данитян) и история гивитян (гл. XVII-XXI).
Профессор С-Петербургской Духовной Академии, доктор богословия И. Г. Троицкий
