사사기 21:1의 인용 해설

This is the story of why Saul had to take her as a wife. A story occurred in the days of the Judges, before there was a king over Israel. There was a Levite who lived in the mountains of Ephraim and he took a wife from Bethlehem in Judah. The wife was angry with her husband and she left her husband and returned to Bethlehem, to her father. She was with her father for four months. The husband went after his wife to Bethlehem. He took a youth with him and a pair of donkeys. The father-in-law was very happy and honored him for three days. He had to leave on the fourth day. On the fifth day, he was going with his wife and his youth. They arrived at the city of Gibeah. They stood in the street and nobody wanted to let them into their house. An old man came along and invited them to come to him to spend the night. They would have enough to eat and drink. They were happy after the evening meal. The whole city of Gibeah gathered before the house and said: give us the man so that we can have homosexual relations with him. The owner of the house went out and said: my dear gentlemen, I ask you very much. Do not do this. It is very vile to do such a thing. I will give you my daughter and the wife of the man and sleep with them. The man took his wife and gave her to the men and they had sexual relations with her the whole night. When the day came, the woman went back to the house and she fell down dead, at the door. The man took his dead wife and put her on a donkey. He brought her home to his city in this way. When he came to his house, he took a large knife and hacked his wife into twelve pieces and sent one piece to each tribe of Israel. All of Israel wondered and said: such a deed has never happened since we left Egypt. All of Israel gathered in the city of Mizpe, four hundred thousand armed men. The man told the story before all of Israel. Immediately, all of Israel said that nobody should go home to his house. They sent to the tribe of Benjamin and said to them: why have you done such an evil thing? Hand over these evildoers in the city of Gibeah and we will kill them. They did not want to hand over the Benjaminites from the city of Gibeah and the whole tribe of Benjamin gathered from all of their cities and came to the city of Gibeah to wage war with the rest of Israel. Twenty-six thousand men from Benjamin gathered and there were seven hundred men from the city of Gibeah. Four hundred thousand men gathered from the other tribes. They went out from the city of Gibeah and killed twenty-two thousand of the Israelites. Israel was crying and mourning and they again asked the Urim ve-Tumim if they should continue the battle against Benjamin. God answered that they should again go to battle with Benjamin. They went into battle against Benjamin and eighteen thousand Israelites were killed. All of Israel gathered and repented and fasted. They brought sacrifices to God. Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest again asked the Urim ve-Tumim: The Holy One said that you should go against Benjamin this day and you will defeat them. They went out against Benjamin and Benjamin quickly killed thirty Israelite men. The Israelites said: let us make ourselves as if we fear them and they will pursue us and they will all run out of the city. Israel killed twenty-five thousand men of Benjamin and they burned the city of Gibeah. Six hundred men ran away. Israel made a ban that one of their daughters should not marry anyone from Benjamin. Israel hated them very much. What benefit do we have? A whole tribe of Israel has been destroyed. The city of Gilead did not come into the war to help Israel. Israel sent twelve thousand men against Gilead and they killed the whole city. Every woman that had slept with a man was killed, and all the males were killed. They found four hundred virgins who had not slept with a man in the city of Gilead and they were left alive.³Judges 19:1–21:12.

To come into the congregation- To marry women. For Israel had sworn not to intermarry with them as it is written in Judges 21.

ומלכים AND KINGS — referring to Saul and Ishbosheth who were of the tribe of Benjamin and these were not yet born. This verse Abner explained in this sense when he made Ishbosheth king, and the tribes of Israel also explained it thus and therefore became friendly again with the tribe of Benjamin. For so it is written (Judges 21:1) “They said there shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife”. Afterwards they retracted this, saying, “If, indeed, he was not to be counted among the tribes), the Holy One, blessed be He would not have said to Jacob in reference to Benjamin and kings shall come out of thy loins” (and since there have not yet been kings of the tribe of Benjamin that tribe must not be exterminated). Genesis Rabbah 82:4