Judges 21

"Uninstructed zeal, even in the cause of righteousness, often goes beyond its proper limits" (Campbell, 1959). God never instructed Israel to make a vow to not give the Benjamites wives. God never instructed them on how to fix the problem of the vow. Israel came up with their own plan and went so far as to hijack a religious festival to "fix" their vow problem. However, God in the law gave a way for people to repent from a foolish vow. It first involved saying they were foolish, which they possibly weren't willing to do. It is also possible and probable that the nation has forgotten to study the Law to see how they are supposed to react. 

Another issue in this chapter is that they mourned over the loss of a tribe, and not over the sin that was in their midst. Sadly, they are mourning over the consequences and not the problem. 

Finally, Israel's problem wasn't that they didn't have a king, but they had forsaken God, who was supposed to be their king. 

Photo by Peggy Sue Zinn on Unsplash

A note on the pictures: The pictures I post are my own, public domain images, or Creative Commons images. The images catch my attention and directly or indirectly comment on the chapter under discussion. This image reminds us of a vow God made. Thankfully, his are always good.