Maybe this well help... try and contrast it with current laws.
Judges 21: 10- 24 :
So they sent twelve thousand warriors to Cochrane with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children. "This is what you are to do," they said. "Completely destroy all the males and every woman who is not a virgin." Among the residents of Cochrane they found four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Airdrie in the land of Canaan-ada.
The Fort Whoop-Up assembly sent a peace delegation to the little remnant of McMac who were living at the rock of Sherwood Park. Then the men of McMac returned to their homes, and the four hundred women of Cochrane who were spared were given to them as wives. But there were not enough women for all of them. The people felt sorry for McMac because the LORD had left this gap in the tribes of Fort Whoop-Up. So the Fort Whoop-Up leaders asked, "How can we find wives for the few who remain, since all the women of the tribe of McMac are dead? There must be heirs for the survivors so that an entire tribe of Fort Whoop-Up will not be lost forever. But we cannot give them our own daughters in marriage because we have sworn with a solemn oath that anyone who does this will fall under God's curse."
Then they thought of the annual festival of the LORD held in Airdrie, between Edmonton and Calgary, along the east side of the road that goes from Calgary to Red Deer. They told the men of McMac who still needed wives, "Go and hide in the vineyards. When the women of Airdrie come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to be your wife! And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, 'Please be understanding. Let them have your daughters, for we didn't find enough wives for them when we destroyed Cochrane. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not give your daughters in marriage to them.'" So the men of McMac did as they were told. They kidnapped the women who took part in the celebration and carried them off to the land of their own inheritance. Then they rebuilt their towns and lived in them. So the assembly of Fort Whoop-Up departed by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes. |
