Judges 20:37

_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._ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THESE VERSES....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 20:18 THE HOUSE OF GOD. In this rendering the A.V. follows the Vulgate, which has _in domum Dei, hoc est, in Silo. _But the Septuagint has Βαιθὴλ, and all the ancient authorities, as well as modern commentators, generally agree in rendering it _Bethel. _The reason, which seems a conclusive one, for so doing is that the Hebrew בית אל invariably means Bethel, and that _the house of God _is always expressed in Hebrew by בית האלהים (_beth-ha-elohim_)_. _The conclusion is that at this time the ark of God, with the tabernacle, was at Bethel, which was only seven or eight miles from Shiloh. Bethel would be eight or ten miles from Gibeah, _i.e._ about half way between Shiloh and Gibeah. ASKED COUNSEL. The same phrase as...

AND THE LIERS IN WAIT HASTED,.... When the time was come agreed upon for them to rise out of their ambush: AND RUSHED UPON GIBEAH; at unawares, with great force and violence entered the city, and took possession of it; or "extended" x, or spread themselves unto it; before they lay close in a narrow compass, but now they put themselves in a regular order, and marched rank and file, and reached from the meadows in which they were, Judges 20:33, to the city: AND THE LIERS IN WAIT DREW THEMSELVES ALONG; along the city, in every part of it, spread themselves all over it, and made themselves masters of every corner of it; or "made a long sound" y with a trumpet, protracted that to a great length, which was done to terrify the inhabitants, or to let the Israelites know they were possessed of the city: and smote all the city with the edge of the

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

DREW THEMSELVES ALONG. marched forward....

_hasted and rushed_ as did the ambush at Ai, Joshua 8:19; but the words are different. See Judges 9:33 _n._ drew themselves along Cf. Judges 4:6. But the massacre of the inhabitants anticipates the signal; the destruction of the city does not begin till the smoke is seen to rise. This half of the verse appears to be a gloss on cl. a, added by some reader who wanted to make _rushed upon Gibeah_more explicit....

_The Defeat of the Benjamites Judges 20:24-48_ 24 And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day, 25 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. 26 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. 27 And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 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,

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....

LIFE WITHOUT LAW JUDGES _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 20 V1 Then all the *Israelites from Dan to Beersheba came to meet together. They also came from the area called Gilead. They all met at Mizpah, where the *Lord was. V2 This meeting of God’s people included the leaders of all *Israel’s *tribes. There were 400 000 people with swords. V3 (The people in Benjamin’s *tribe heard that *Israel’s people had gathered at Mizpah.) The *Israelites said, ‘Tell us how this awful crime happened.’ V4 The husband of the woman that the wicked men had murdered spoke. (He was the man from Levi’s *tribe.) He said, ‘I and my *concubine came to spend the night in Gibeah. It is in the area where Benjamin’s *tribe lives. V5 During the night, the men that lived in Gibeah came. And they surrounded the hou