VIII. THE BIBLE SANCTIONS WIFE-CATCHING.
In the Book of Judges (Judges xxi. 20) we learn that the Israelites of the tribe of Benjamin were instructed in the art of wife-catching. "Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man a wife" (Judges xxi. 21). "And they did so." Now it was certainty rather shameful business for God's oracles to be engaged in,—that of advising rude and lustful men to hide in ambush in the vineyards, and, when they saw the young maidens approaching, to pounce upon them while dancing, and carry or drag them off without a moment's warning. It was called catching a wife; but, in this age of a higher moral development, it would not be designated by such respectful language, but would be placed in the list of crimes, and punished as a State-prison offense.