Long before Paul was dragging Christians off to prison, his ancestors were dragging women away to be their wives. This account comes from the end of the book of Judges, which records a civil war, which is ignited after some men of the tribe of Benjamin rape and kill a Levite’s concubine.

The whole account as recorded in chapters 19-21 is pretty wild, just like most stories in the book of Judges. After the murder the tribe of Benjamin refuses to give up the men who did it. This leads to a conflict where the tribe of Benjamin musters 26,000 “men who draw the sword” (not including 700 who could sling a stone at a hair and not miss) to face 400,000 men of Israel. After suffering bad losses the first day, the Israelites inquire of the LORD whether they should fight against Benjamin and God affirms it. The same happens again the second day and God tells them again to fight against them. On the third day Israel ambushes Benjamin, nearly wipes out all their fighting men, and burns their towns.

As Judges 21:1 records, Israel has sworn that they would not give any of their daughters in marriage to a man of the tribe of Benjamin. Since the “women were destroyed out of Benjamin” (Judges 21:16) and “there must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel” (Judges 21:17), what was there to do about it?

Well, have the men of Benjamin hide in the vineyards at the yearly feast at Shiloh and snatch some women while they danced, of course.

And a little over 1,000 years later, we get the apostle Paul, of the tribe of Benjamin.