He describeth the place where the maids used yearly to dance as the manner then was, and to sing Psalms and songs of God’s works among them.
Historical and theological verse study from Book of Judges, Chapter 21.
Apply the spiritual lesson of Judges 21:19 through prayerful reflection and faithful obedience.
“Gracious Father, write the truth of Judges 21:19 upon my heart by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.”
“Ceperuntque consilium, atque dixerunt : Ecce solemnitas Domini est in Silo anniversaria, quæ sita est ad septentrionem urbis Bethel, et ad orientalem plagam viæ, quæ de Bethel tendit ad Sichimam, et ad meridiem oppidi Lebona.”
“Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. yearly: Heb. from year to year on the east: or, toward the sunrising of the highway: or, on the highway”
““But look,” they said, “there is a yearly feast to the LORD in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel east of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.””
“They said, “Behold, there is a feast of Yahweh from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.””
“And they said, Behold, there is a feast of Jehovah from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.”
He describeth the place where the maids used yearly to dance as the manner then was, and to sing Psalms and songs of God’s works among them.
Counsel, among themselves. (Haydock) — Solemnity. It is not known which is meant, as all the three great festivals occurred during the time that the vines were covered with leaves; (ver. 20) or this feast might be one peculiar to the city of Silo, in memory of the ark being transported thither. Vatable thinks that the description here given, regards the place where the dance was to be, as all must have known the situation of the city. Silo rather lies to the west than to the east, (Calmet) if we draw a line from Bethel to Sichem, but the road might be circuitous. (Haydock) — St. Jerome places Silo ten miles west of Sichem. — Lebona may be Chan Lebna, four miles to the south of it. (Calmet)
I. That which gave an opportunity for the doing of this was a public ball at Shiloh, in the fields, at which all the young ladies of that city and the parts adjacent that were so disposed met to dance, in honour of a feast of the Lord then observed, probably the feast of tabernacles (v. 19), for that feast (bishop Patrick says) was the only season wherein the Jewish virgins were allowed to dance, and that not so much for their own recreation as to express their holy joy, as David when he danced before the ark, otherwise the present melancholy posture of public affairs would have made dancing unseasonable, as Isa 22 12, 13. The dancing was very modest and chaste. It was not mixed dancing; no men danced with these daughters of Shiloh, nor did any married women so far forget their gravity as to join with them. However their dancing thus in public made them an easy prey to those that had a design upon them, whence bishop Hall observes that the ambushes of evil spirits carry away many souls from dancing to a fearful desolation.