Judges 21
Year 1
[23] And the people of Benjamin did so and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and lived in them.
No one “wins” in a civil war. But the tribe of Benjamin is so defeated that it risks being cut off from Israel—dying out.
The 600 remaining men of Benjamin have been hiding at the rock of Rimmon.
The people of Israel “proclaim peace to them” [13].
They pair them with 600 wives.1
Once again, women bring about a cycle of renewal.
Here it is not by deception or dreaming or sleep. But the symbolism of cycles is similar:
The word for dance (chewl) means also to whirl, to twist.
Thus the image of a cycle or circle is inherent.
The festival is most likely the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), commemorating the wandering in circles in the desert.
They return with their new wives to their home/land/inheritance from their exile, to rebuild, repopulate, reestablish.
“Six” and “seven.” “Time” and “space.”
The symbolism of six as the number of humanity and reproduction can be positive or negative, depending on the context, and especially how the symbol stands in relation to God. Here, Benjamin is being redeemed.