Judges 20:10

_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._ We will take ten men ... The soldiers in the Jewish army seem to have we been divided into tens, who should lodge under the same tent, and mess together, as is highly probable, from every tenth man's being appointed to fetch or prepare provision for his fellow-soldiers. Nay, if we are to explain the sacred history of the Jews by modern Eastern arrangements, we must suppose that the appointment of every tenth man in the congregation of Israel was not so much to collect food for the use of their companions in that expedition as to dress it, to serve it up, and to wait upon, them in eating it, (Harmer...

Verse Judges 20:10. _TEN MEN OF A HUNDRED_] Expecting that they might have a long contest, they provide suttlers for the camp; and it is probable that they chose these tenths by lot....

In order to make it possible for the force of Israel to keep the field, and do to the men of Gibeah what their wickedness deserved, every tenth man (40,000 in all) was appointed to find provisions for the whole army....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 20:1 WENT OUT, _i.e._ from their several homes to the place of meeting. THE CONGREGATION. The technical term (not, however, found in Samuel and Kings, except in 1 Kings 12:20) for the whole Israelitish people (Exodus 12:3; Exodus 16:1, Exodus 16:2, Exodus 16:9; Le Exodus 4:15;...

AND WE WILL TAKE TEN MEN OF AN HUNDRED, THROUGHOUT ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL,.... Excepting that of Benjamin which was not with them, not any of them: AND A HUNDRED OUT OF A THOUSAND, AND A THOUSAND OUT OF TEN THOUSAND; in all 40,000, out of the 400,000: TO FETCH VICTUAL FOR THE PEOPLE; ten men were to provide food for ninety, and one hundred men for nine hundred, and 1000 men for 9000, in all 40,000, for 360,000; these were either to go to their own tribes and habitations, or to the towns and cities adjacent, to procure food for this large army; for they came from their homes without any provision, not knowing that the affair would keep them long; but perceiving that it would require time before it could be determined, they judged it the wisest method for some to be appointed to take care of provision for the army, that it might not be scattered about on that account, but pursue the wa...

CHAPTER 20 THE HORRIBLE WAR _ 1. The Levite's story (Judges 20:1)_ 2. The uprising (Judges 20:8) 3. The slaying of the Israelites (Judges 20:12) 4. Benjamin exterminated except six hundred men (Judges 20:26) This and the concluding chapter bring before us the awful harvest of what had been sown. “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). They had sown the wind and now reaped the whirlwind. Violence and lawlessness result in the slaying of 40,000 Israelites and 23,000 of the tribe of Benj

JUDGES 20. THE OUTRAGE AVENGED.The congregation (LXX Synagô gç) is a post-exilic term. The words as one man suggest a unity of action such as was not secured till long after the time of the Judges. The assembly of the people of God was a phrase often heard in the second Temple, but not in the days of the Judges. Judges 20:2. Contrast the army mustered against Sisera, 40,000 men strong (Judges 5:8). Judges 20:10. Each of the three clauses means precisely the same thing. Judges 20:15. The figures are in some confusion, the size of the Benjamite force being indicated three times, and each time differently (15, 35, 4

_ten men … ten thousand_) All this merely amounts to -one man in ten"; 40,000 are to forage for the 360,000. We are reminded of the circumstantial diffuseness of P, e.g. Numbers 1:2; Numbers 1:20; Numbers 1:22 etc.; see Driver, _Introd_, p. 130. The style of the verse is remarkably poor; e.g. the single prep. _lamedh_= _to_is used nine times in a variety of senses; and the text is corrupt. The rendering _that they may do when they come_smooths over the awkwardness of the Hebr. The LXX. cod. A suggests a slight change and transposes the words, reading _for the people that come to do to G._etc. The trouble lies in the expression _for when they come_(or _that come_); Moore and Budde would omit it as a

_The War Against the Benjamites Judges 20:1-14_ Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land _of_ Gilead unto the Lord in Mizpeh. 2 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. 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? 4 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. 5 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

THE SLAUGHTER OF THE BENJAMITES The Levite recounts his wrongs to a full assemblage of the tribes, who decree punishment upon Benjamin. Their first two attacks are unsuccessful, but the third results in the almost total extermination of the Benjamites. 1-11. The Israelites assemble at Gibeah....