Judges 21:4 Commentary: Building an Altar in Desperate Faith

The scene follows the near-extermination of the tribe of Benjamin. The Israelites had sworn at Mizpah not to give their daughters as wives to Benjamin (v.1). After the war, they grieved the loss of a tribe. They came to Bethel, a site rich in patriarchal history (Jacob’s vision, Genesis 28:10, 22), and sat weeping before God until evening. The next morning, they built an altar.

This action raises the question of the central sanctuary. According to Deuteronomy 12, the Israelites were to worship at the place God chose to put His name. In the judges period, the tabernacle was at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1, Judges 18:31). Yet Bethel had long been a sacred site. Was the bronze altar of the tabernacle present there? Barnes and others are uncertain. Gill suggests the altar may have been in disrepair, or a new one was built to accommodate many offerings. Clarke notes that building a new altar suggests Bethel was not the regular place of worship, and that their act was not according to the law.

The types of sacrifices, burnt offerings (ōlôt) and peace offerings (shĕlāmîm), are significant. Burnt offerings were for atonement, peace offerings for thanksgiving and fellowship. The combination suggests both repentance for their own sins (perhaps the bloodshed or the rash oath) and gratitude for God’s deliverance, as well as a plea for guidance. The context of crisis and confusion, with no king in Israel, frames this as a people trying to do right but uncertain how.

The supplied sources note that the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges suggests this verse may be a gloss added by a later editor, perhaps based on a recollection of 2 Samuel 24:25. The reason is that an altar must have already existed at Bethel when sacrifices were offered earlier (Judges 20:26). No other textual variants are discussed in the consulted commentaries. The vast majority of manuscripts read the verse as it stands.

This verse has often been treated as an illustration of the disorder of the judges period, when ‘everyone did what was right in his own eyes.’ Commentators from the Reformed tradition (Matthew Henry, Gill) focused on the people’s earnest devotion, while Wesley and Clarke highlighted the irregularity of the act. In Christian history, the verse has been used to discuss the balance between proper worship order and urgent spiritual need. It has been read in connection with the freedom to build altars in response to divine visitation (as in Judges 6:26). No major creedal or liturgical use of this specific verse is known, but it appears in devotional studies of the judges narrative as a turning point of repentance.

Three-point outline

1. Timing of devotion, They rose early, after a night of weeping. Their worship was not casual but urgent and intentional.
2. Building an altar, They did not assume God would meet them anywhere. They constructed a place of sacrifice, symbolizing that earnest seeking requires effort and sacrifice.
3. Two kinds of offerings, Burnt offerings for atonement, peace offerings for fellowship. They needed both cleansing and communion with God.

Five-point outline

1. The people came to God with honest pain (v.2 weeping).
2. They rose early the next day, their zeal was fresh.
3. They built an altar, sometimes we need to ‘build’ new habits of worship in a crisis.
4. They offered burnt offerings, acknowledging sin in the battle and the oath.
5. They offered peace offerings, restoring relationship and seeking guidance for the future.

Illustration hooks

• After a family conflict, a parent sets up a weekly “altar” of forgiveness, a dedicated time and place to rebuild trust.
• A sports team, after a painful loss, comes early to practice the next day, determined to refocus. The altar here is their renewed commitment.
• When a church splits or experiences tragedy, the congregation often creates new rituals or spaces to heal together.

Questions your congregation is asking

• Was their oath to not give wives to Benjamin too rash? Should they have broken it?
• Did God accept their sacrifice even though they built an altar outside the official sanctuary?
• How do we know when it is right to step outside normal religious structures to seek God in a crisis?

This verse captures a moment between grief and action. The Israelites had just lost a tribe in civil war, and now they face an impossible situation: they swore an oath that seems to doom Benjamin to extinction. In their distress, they build an altar and offer sacrifices. This passage invites us to consider how we approach God when we have made mistakes and need guidance.

Discussion questions

1. What emotional state do you see in the people before they build the altar? (v.2, 3)
2. Why do you think they rose early to act? What does that suggest about their urgency?
3. The law required worship at the central sanctuary. Did they break that law? Why or why not?
4. What do the burnt offerings and peace offerings represent in this context?
5. Have you ever had to make a new commitment or start a new practice after a failure or grief? What did that look like?
6. How can we tell the difference between a legitimate ‘new altar’ in life and a refusal to follow God’s established order?
7. What does this story teach about God’s willingness to meet us even when our worship is imperfect?