Judges 22:1 says, Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. The men of Israel had sworn while they were at Mizpeh that they would not allow the man of of the tribe of Benjamin to marry their daughters. Again, we are not told that this was something that they had consulted God about, though they may have and we just aren't told. Either way, we need to consider all the implications of any vow that we make as Christians before we make it. Verse two adds, And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; Since they now gathered at the house of God and stayed all day lifting up their voices to him and weeping, we can assume that they had not considered all the implications of their vow, because I believe that if they had they wouldn't have been so regretful. If we have made a vow to God in accordance with His will and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, we should never later regret it. Verse three continues, And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel? The people asked God in their distress why it had come to pass that there was one tribe, the tribe of Benjamin, lacking in Israel. Of course, they were not totally lacking, because there was a remnant of six hundred men. At least they were appealing to God at this point. We should realize that God will always have a remnant of His people as long as this world stands. Verse four states, And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. The next day, the people of Israel rose early and built an altar to God and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings there. If we as Christians have concerns about something that we believe is wrong today, we should get up early and go to God in prayer with our concerns. Of course, Jesus Christ is the only acceptable sacrifice for our sins, so we must go to the heavenly Father through our faith in Him. Verse five adds, And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death. They next asked who had not come up to the congregation when they were seeking God's will about whether or not to go to war with the tribe of Benjamin. They added that anyone who had not done so was to be put to death. Being an active part of doing what God directed them to do was an important part of being a part of His people, and it still is today. Verse six continues, And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. The people repented for the tribe of Benjamin, saying that there was one tribe cut off from Israel that day. I believe that their repenting was not for going to war against Benjamin, which God ordained, but for their vow to not give any of their daughters as wives to the remnant of the men of Benjamin, of which there were still a few men. We need to be careful that we do not promise something to God without first praying about it.
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