Judges 20:16

_AMONG ALL THIS PEOPLE THERE WERE SEVEN HUNDRED CHOSEN MEN LEFTHANDED; EVERY ONE COULD SLING STONES AT AN HAIR BREADTH, AND NOT MISS._ Left-handed; every one could sling. The sling was one of the earliest weapons used in war. The Hebrew sling was probably similar to that of the Egyptian, consisting of a leather thong, broad in the middle, with a loop at one end, by which it was firmly held with the hand; the. other end terminated in a lash, which was let slip, when the stone was thrown. Those skilled in the use of it, as the Benjamites were, could hit the mark with unerring certainty. A good sling could carry its full force to the distance of 200 yards....

Verse Judges 20:16. _LEFT-HANDED_] They were _ambidexters _- could use the right hand and the left with equal ease and effect. Judges 1:3, :15. _COULD SLING STONES AT A HAIR - AND NOT MISS_] ולא יחטא _velo_ _yachati, and not sin_: και ουκ εξαμαρτανοντες; _Sept_. Here we have the true import of the term _sin_; it signifies simply to _miss the_ _mark_, and is well translated in the New Testament by αμαρτανω, from α, _negative_, and μαρπτω, _to hit the mark_. Men miss the mark of true _happiness_ in aiming at sensual gratifications; which happiness is to be found only in the possession and enjoyment of the favour of God, _from_ whom their _passions_ continuall

Comparing the numbers here with those in Numbers 1; Numbers 26, it is seen that in the case both of the Benjamites and the Israelites the numbers are diminished by about one-third, i. e., they appear as about two-thirds only of what they were at the last numbering in the plains of Moab. This diminution seems to indicate disturbed and harassing times. With this agrees the mention of the cities, as containing the whole Benjamite population. The inference is that the open country and unwalled villages were not safe, but that the Benjamites kept the Canaanites in subjection only by dwelling in fortified towns. Judges 20:16 See...

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;...

AMONG ALL THIS PEOPLE THERE WERE SEVEN HUNDRED CHOSEN MEN LEFTHANDED,.... According to Ben Gersom, these were the seven hundred men of Gibeah; but this does not appear from the text, but, on the contrary, that these were among all the people; or there were so many to be selected out of them all, who were lefthanded men; nor is it likely that all the inhabitants of one place should be such. Benjamin signifies a son of the right hand, yet this tribe had a great number of lefthanded men in it, see Judges 3:15. Josephus h wrongly reduces the number to five hundred: EVERYONE COULD SLING STONES AT AN HAIR'S BREADTH, AND NOT MISS: the mark they slung the stone at, so very expert were they at it; and perhaps their having such a number of skilful men in this art made them more confident of success, and emboldened them in this daring undertaking, to point to which this circumstance see

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

LEFTHANDED. Hebrew lame, or bound, in his right hand. HAIR BREADTH. a hair. No _Ellipsis,_ omit "breadth". MISS. Hebrew. _chata'._ See App-44....

Then, keeping the text of this _v._as it stands, we are told that the Benjamite host included a company of 700 left-handed and exceptionally skilful warriors, just as David's army was strengthened by a similar band, 1 Chronicles 12:2. Josephus understood the narrative in this way, _Ant._Judges 20:2; Judges 20:10. The alternative is to omit the first half of this verse, and make the 700 chosen men refer to the inhabitants of Gibeah, and _every one_(rather, _all this_army) _could sling … and not miss_refer to the entire host. But this does not seem natural, and to cut out _left-handed_as merely borrowed from Judges 3:15

_Seven Hundred Left-handed Men Chosen Judges 20:15-16_ 15 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. 16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. _8._ Did all the men of Benjamin go to battle? Judges 20:15 When the men of Israel were counted before they crossed Jordan into Canaan, there were 45,600 men twenty years of age and over in Benjamin. Earlier there were 35,400 men able to go to war (Numbers, chapter one). Since these men had been subject to attacks from the nations to the east, it is quite possible that their ranks were