Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh. Ver. 1. _Unto the Lord in Mizpeh._] Where was, they say, an oratory or synagogue; _1Ma 3:46_ and that here was the first beg... [ Continue Reading ]
And the chief of all the people, [even] of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. Ver. 2. _And the chief of all the people._] Heb., The corners of all the people: for the chieftains and rulers bear up the p... [ Continue Reading ]
__ Judges 20:3 _(Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell [us], how was this wickedness?_ Ver. 3. _Then said the children of Israel, Tell us._] This they said to the Levite, to his servant, and to the old man his... [ Continue Reading ]
And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that [belongeth] to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. Ver. 4. _The husband of the woman._] She was not then his harlot, but a secondary wife, as is before noted.... [ Continue Reading ]
And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, [and] thought to have slain me: and my concubine have they forced, that she is dead. Ver. 5. _And the men of Gibeah._] Some certain varlets there; not all the city, as once at Sodom. Gen 19:4-5 But because thes... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel._ Ver. 6. _For they have committed lewdness._] Wickedness with a witness: such as may not go unpunished.... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, ye [are] all children of Israel; give here your advice and counsel. Ver. 7. _Behold, ye are all children of Israel._] This injury reacheth not to me alone, but to the whole community.... [ Continue Reading ]
And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any [of us] go to his tent, neither will we any [of us] turn into his house. Ver. 8. _And all the people arose as one man, saying._] For the punishment of foul offences _serio et sedulo ineumbendnm est,_ men must do their utmost; and not as P... [ Continue Reading ]
But now this [shall be] the thing which we will do to Gibeah; [we will go up] by lot against it; Ver. 9. _We will go up by lot against it._] They do not shake off the plaintiff, or send him to Gibeah for satisfaction, or defer the further hearing and determining of the cause, as the Areopagites dea... [ Continue Reading ]
And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. Ver. 10... [ Continue Reading ]
So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. Ver. 11. _Knit together as one man._] Heb., Fellows: resolved to live and die together. The strength of an army is in unity: as the strength of a whale consisteth much in the close knitting of his joints together; on... [ Continue Reading ]
And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness [is] this that is done among you? Ver. 12. _And the tribes of Israel sent men._] They would treat before they would fight, and hear both parties ere they would determine for either, though it were a clear c... [ Continue Reading ]
Now therefore deliver [us] the men, the children of Belial, which [are] in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel: Ver. 13. _And put away evil from Irsael._] Both the... [ Continue Reading ]
But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel. Ver. 14. _But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves, &c._] In the defence of those sons of Belial, and out of self-confidence, they venture their lives... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men._ Ver. 15. _Twenty and six thousand men that drew sword._] But were all shortly after devoured by th... [ Continue Reading ]
Among all this people [there were] seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair [breadth], and not miss. Ver. 16. _Lefthanded; every one could sling stones, &c._] See Judges 3:15. David had an excellency in slinging: so had Domitian and Commodus the Emperors. The Ind... [ Continue Reading ]
And the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these [were] men of war. Ver. 17. _Four hundred thousand men._] Besides those that supplied the camp when they came out of Egypt, they were six hundred thousand: but then Benjamin also was reckoned... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah [shall go up] first. Ver. 18. _Which of us shall go up?_] They asked not, Shall we go up? and... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. Ver. 19. _And the men of Israel went out to battle._] They went forth as men do to a lottery, with their heads full of hopes, but they came back with their hearts full of blanks. The Lord had rejected their confidences;... [ Continue Reading ]
And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah. Ver. 20. _See Trapp on "_ Jdg 20:19 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men. Ver. 21. And destroyed down to the ground … twenty and two thousand men.] They slew so many upon the turf, as we phrase it, and that with a great deal of e... [ Continue Reading ]
And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day. Ver. 22. _Encouraged themselves._] Not in the Lord their God, as David in a distress did, 1Sa 30:6 but in the goodness of their cause, and in th... [ Continue Reading ]
Judges 20:23 (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.) Ver. 23. _Wept before the Lord until even._] Yet more for th... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. Ver. 24. _And the children of Israel came near._] But because vice came to correct sin, and there were yet many gross offenders in their army, therefore they could not proceed with any good success; as Joshua coul... [ Continue Reading ]
And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword. Ver. 25. Destroyed down to the ground … eighteen thousand men.] Here a Pompey would have denied a providence; Brutus w... [ Continue Reading ]
Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. Ver. 26. And wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted, … and... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God [was] there in those days, Ver. 27. _And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord._] Now they could find the way to do everything well, as having paid for their learning. Affliction exciteth devotion; but “ _Ra... [ Continue Reading ]
And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand. Ver. 28. _Go up; for tomorrow I... [ Continue Reading ]
And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah. Ver. 29. _And Israel set liers in wait._] See the like strategem used at Ai. Jos 8:4-5... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. Ver. 30. _And the children of Israel went up._] Though they had a promise, yet they neglected not to use the best means. God, they knew, was to be tru... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, [and] were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, [and] kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel. Ver. 31.... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of Benjamin said, They [are] smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways. Ver. 32. _They are smitten down before us._] This was their επινικιον, which they sang too soon; for their destruction... [ Continue Reading ]
And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, [even] out of the meadows of Gibeah. Ver. 33. _Out of the meadows._] Or, Dens, as Pagnine and others render it.... [ Continue Reading ]
And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil [was] near them. Ver. 34. _They knew not that evil, &c._] See Judges 20:31. As they say of the metal they make glass of, it is nearest melting when it shineth brightest, so... [ Continue Reading ]
And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword. Ver. 35. _And the Lord smote Benjamin._] Not the Israelites by their stratagem, but the Lord smote them. Victory is his g... [ Continue Reading ]
So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah. Ver. 36. _Because they trusted unto the liers in wait._] As the instruments; but they trusted in God as the chief... [ Continue Reading ]
And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait drew [themselves] along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword. Ver. 37. _And the liers in wait hasted._] Here the business is more particularly related by the parts and circumstances, that God may be the more a... [ Continue Reading ]
Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city. Ver. 38. _Between the men of Israel._] That they should turn head, and renew the battle. “ _Obruet hostiles ista ruina domos._ ” - _Ovid. Fast._... [ Continue Reading ]
And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite [and] kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as [in] the first _battle._ Ver. 39. _Benjamin began to smite._] See Judges 20:31 .... [ Continue Reading ]
But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven. Ver. 40. _The flame of the city._] To be an example of that rule, that great sins bring great punishments from God, as Herodotus... [ Continue Reading ]
Evll was come upon them.] Heb., Touched them; that they were lost. Ver. 41. _Evll was come upon them._] Heb., Touched them; that they were lost.... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore they turned [their backs] before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them which [came] out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them. Ver. 42. In flying from death, they fled to it. _Una salus victis, &c._... [ Continue Reading ]
Judges 20:43 [Thus] they inclosed the Benjamites round about, [and] chased them, [and] trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sunrising. Ver. 43. _And chased them, and trode them._] These things are recorded, that people may see the woe of war, and take heed of sin, the cause of i... [ Continue Reading ]
And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these [were] men of valour. Ver. 44. _And there fell of Benjamin._] To wit, In the battle.... [ Continue Reading ]
And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them. Ver. 45. _Unto Gidom._] Or, Unto their occasion, destruction.... [ Continue Reading ]
So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these [were] men of valour. Ver. 46. _Twenty and five thousand._] Besides a thousand slain in the two former battles; for war is _utrinque triste,_ sad on both sides.... [ Continue Reading ]
But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months. Ver. 47. _Unto the rock Rimmon._] Wherein there was a sweet providence, that these might be as a seminary, for recruit of that tribe.... [ Continue Reading ]
And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of [every] city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to. Ver. 48. _And smote them with the edge._] If this were done... [ Continue Reading ]