The elders’ plan is most shameful and sinister. They think, Where are two hundred eligible young virgins most likely to congregate?
Then they remember! Behold, there is the yearly feast of the Lord at Shiloh.
As part of the celebrations, the daughters of Shiloh
come out to dance in the vineyards. And so the elders command the Benjamites who still need wives to go and lie in ambush in the vineyards and watch
(Judges 21:20–21). When the unmarried girls of Shiloh come out to dance, come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from
them, and take them to the land of Benjamin!
This is perverse. This is rock bottom for God’s people. It’s criminal. Israel, or its leaders anyway, in an effort to keep a foolish oath, will resort to kidnapping, abducting, stealing the young women of Shiloh. To say it differently, Israel uses its foolish oath to the Lord to justify violent evil. This is an abominable dishonouring of the Lord’s name. And it is an unspeakable crime. In the midst of joyful celebration these young women are to be forcefully abducted and dragged away from home.
19 Et ils dirent: Voici, il y a chaque année une fête de l'Eternel à Silo, qui est au nord de Béthel, à l'orient de la route qui monte de Béthel à Sichem, et au midi de Lebona.