The people bewail the desolation of Benjamin, 1-7. The inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, for not coming up to this battle, are all destroyed, excepting four hundred damsels, whom the Israelites bestow for wives on the remaining Benjamites, 8-15. They advise the rest to seize on the dancing maidens at the feast in Shiloh; and to carry away as many as they had need of, 16-21. The answer wherewith they should pacify their relations, 22.
It would be good for the Church to revive the Biblical teaching on oaths and vows.
The Westminster Confession of Faith provides a summary of the Biblical material
WCF 22: Of Lawful Oaths and Vows:
1. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship, wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth or promiseth; and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth.
2. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence; therefore, to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at…
Matthew Henry: 'The ruins of the tribe of Benjamin we read of in the foregoing chapter; now here we have, I. The lamentation which Israel made over these ruins, verses 1-4, 6, 15. II. The provision they made for the repair of them out of the 600 men that escaped, for whom they procured wives, 1. Of the virgins of Jabesh-gilead, when they destroyed that city for not sending its forces to the general rendezvous, verses 5, 7-14. 2. Of the daughters of Shiloh, verses 16-25. And so this melancholy story concludes.'