Bible Strands
Judges 21:19
“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.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Israelite assembly addresses the remaining Benjamite men during their deliberation over finding wives without breaking their oath. They identify a specific location and recurring time to solve the shortage while preserving their sworn boundary.
The words — חַג (chag) means festival, and יְהוָה (Yahweh) names the deity. The text states a yearly festival to Yahweh occurs in Shiloh.
The thread — The narrative references a recurring appointed feast, paralleling Exodus 23:14, Leviticus 23:2, and Psalms 81:3. These citations frame the event as a mandated religious observance rather than a local custom.
Why it lands — The text offers a strategic workaround that uses sacred timing to resolve a legal crisis, requiring readers to track how the narrative treats religious calendars as practical mechanisms. It asks the reader to observe how desperate circumstances reshape the application of established boundaries.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Beth–el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth–el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
Cross-references
- Exodus 23:14 Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.
- Psalms 81:3 Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.
- Leviticus 23:2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘These are My appointed feasts, the feasts of the LORD that you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.
- Leviticus 23:4 These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times.
- Leviticus 23:6 On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
- Leviticus 23:10 “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest.
- Leviticus 23:34 “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles to the LORD begins, and it continues for seven days.
- Numbers 10:10 And on your joyous occasions, your appointed feasts, and the beginning of each month, you are to blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and peace offerings to serve as a reminder for you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”
- Numbers 28:16 The fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover.
- Numbers 28:26 On the day of firstfruits, when you present an offering of new grain to the LORD during the Feast of Weeks, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.