The elders knew that these men would, of necessity, marry wives of the Canaanites. To avoid this calamity, they employed devious means to get around the letter of their oath even though they violated its spirit. Instead of courageously repudiating their vow in the first place and allowing the Benjamites to marry from the other tribes, they were led by their mistaken belief that an oath is always inviolable, to perpetrate the butchery of innocent men, women, and children.