Shoftim 21: Love in the Age of Judges

YINR 929: Tanach Yomi · Jul 20, 2026 · 3m

If one looks at chapter 21 with one eye closed, it seems like a very uplifting chapter. The tribe of Benjamin is nearly wiped out, and the other tribes are crestfallen that their fellow tribe may become extinct. But there is an added roadblock: the tribes had vowed that no daughter would be given over to Benjamin as a wife. So the tribes find the one city that did not participate in the vow and give its young maidens over to the last surviving Benjaminites. But these young maidens are not enough to help repopulate the tribe. The rest of the tribes then turn to a local custom in the town near…