Verse 23:[1] And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and (see Judg. 20:48) repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.
According to their number, that is, each man his wife, as is said, verse 22. By which we may see they had no very favourable opinion of polygamy, because they did not allow it is this case, when it might seem most necessary for the reparation of a lost tribe. Returned into their inheritance; which being very near the place, they could speedily do before the parents could obtain redress. Repaired the cities, and dwelt in them; not at that instant, which could not be; but by degrees, increasing their buildings as their number increased.
Verse 24:[2] And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.
[They returned by their tribes, etc.] That is, although each Tribe had first arrived at its lot in a flock, afterwards they individually dispersed unto their own possessions (Malvenda out of Junius).
Verse 25:[3] (Judg. 17:6; 18:1; 19:1) In those days there was no king in Israel: (Deut. 12:8; Judg. 17:6) every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
[There was no king, etc.] See above, Judges 17:6; 18:1 (Malvenda).
[1] Hebrew: וַיַּֽעֲשׂוּ־כֵן֙ בְּנֵ֣י בִנְיָמִ֔ן וַיִּשְׂא֤וּ נָשִׁים֙ לְמִסְפָּרָ֔ם מִן־הַמְּחֹלְל֖וֹת אֲשֶׁ֣ר גָּזָ֑לוּ וַיֵּלְכ֗וּ וַיָּשׁ֙וּבוּ֙ אֶל־נַ֣חֲלָתָ֔ם וַיִּבְנוּ֙ אֶת־הֶ֣עָרִ֔ים וַיֵּשְׁב֖וּ בָּהֶֽם׃
[2] Hebrew: וַיִּתְהַלְּכ֙וּ מִשָּׁ֤ם בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ בָּעֵ֣ת הַהִ֔יא אִ֥ישׁ לְשִׁבְט֖וֹ וּלְמִשְׁפַּחְתּ֑וֹ וַיֵּצְא֣וּ מִשָּׁ֔ם אִ֖ישׁ לְנַחֲלָתֽוֹ׃
[3] Hebrew: בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵ֔ם אֵ֥ין מֶ֖לֶךְ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אִ֛ישׁ הַיָּשָׁ֥ר בְּעֵינָ֖יו יַעֲשֶֽׂה׃
Thomas Boston's Man's Fourfold State: 'The understanding, that leading faculty, is despoiled of its primitive glory, and covered over with confusion. We have fallen into the hands of our grand adversary, as Samson into the hands of the Philistines, and are deprived of our two eyes. "There is none that understandeth," Romans 3:11. "Mind and conscience are defiled," Titus 1:15. The natural man's apprehension of divine things is corrupt. Psalm 50:21, "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself." His judgment is corrupt, and cannot be otherwise, seeing his eye is evil: therefore the scriptures, to shew that man does all wrong, says, "every one did that which was right in his own eyes," Judges 17:6, an…
Matthew Henry: 'In the close of all we have, 1. The settling of the tribe of Benjamin again. The few that remained returned to the inheritance of that tribe, Judges 21:23. And soon after from among them sprang Ehud, who was famous in his generation, the second judge of Israel, Judges 3:15. 2. The disbanding and dispersing of the army of Israel, Judges 21:24. They did not set up for a standing army, nor pretend to make any alterations or establishments in the government; but when the affair was over for which they were called together, they quietly departed in God's peace, every man to his family. Public services must not make us think ourselves above our own private affair…