Chapter 21. Preservation of the Remnant of Benjamin.
‘ Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, ‘There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin to wife.'
This interesting snippet reminds us that a serious covenant had been made at Mizpah once action had been determined. Any who did not respond to the call to arms would be put to death. Any who married their daughter to a Benjaminite would be punished, probably again by death. Death was very much on their minds.
In the circumstances this latter provision about marriage was sensible. Benjamin had become sexually depraved through their contact with the Canaanites and they did not want their daughters to be caught up in such a situation (compare Deuteronomy 7:3-4). But in the present situation they regretted it. On the other hand it was part of their oath of allegiance to the tribal confederacy so that they had to observe it.