Judges 20:42

_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....

THE WAY OF THE WILDERNESS - i. e., the wilderness which extended from Jericho to the hills of Bethel. THEM WHICH CAME OUT OF THE CITIES - These must be the Benjamites Judges 20:15. Hence, “in the midst of them” must mean “in their own cities”, where they severally fled for refuge, but failed to find shelter Judges 20:48. Anathoth, Alemath, Ramah, Ataroth, Geba, Michmash, Ai, Bethel, Migron, etc., would probably be the cities meant, all lying east and north of Gibeah....

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...

THEREFORE THEY TURNED THEIR BACKS BEFORE THE MEN OF ISRAEL,.... And fled from them: UNTO THE WAY OF THE WILDERNESS; what wilderness is not certain, perhaps the wilderness of Judah; they did not turn directly back towards Gibeah, perceiving that was taken, and in the hands of a body of men that would meet them, and therefore they turned on one side towards the wilderness, if happily they could make their escape thither, and shelter themselves: BUT THE BATTLE OVERTOOK THEM; that is, they that made war, as the Targum, the Israelites that were engaged in battle with them pursued them, and overtook them: AND THEM WHICH CAME OUT OF THE CITIES THEY DESTROYED IN THE MIDST OF THEM; either the Israelites that came out of their cities to assist their brethren destroyed the Benjaminites as they fled, or the Benjaminites who came out of other cities to Gibeah, these were destroyed in the midst of...

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

_unto the way of the wilderness_ IN THE DIRECTION OF the barren hilly region, E. of Gibeah, which descends from the Central Highlands to the Jordan valley. _out of the cities_ i.e. the Benjamite cities on the line of the flight. But all the male Benjamites had been out with the army, and most of them killed: so read _out of the city_, i.e. Gibeah; the reference will then be to the men who formed the ambush. For _in the midst thereof_(lit. _of him_) read _in the midst_, as Joshua 8:22. The Benjamites suddenly found themselves caught between Israelites in front and rear. The men of Ai were intercepted in the same way. The verse comes from the B narrative: cf. Judges 20:21; Judges 20:25

BUT THE BATTLE OVERTOOK THEM, &C.— Houbigant renders this, but the battle overtook them, from the liers in wait, who came, surrounded them, and destroyed them on every side; moreover they pursued them, and trod them under foot, from Noah, even to the east side of Gibeah. See his note. REFLECTIONS.—Confounded at their repeated losses, the whole congregation assemble before the Lord at Shiloh. 1. In deep affliction they compass God's altar, humbling their souls under a sense of conscious guilt, and crying for pardon and help from him who alone can save either body or soul from ruin. They offer sacrifices of atonement, and peace-offerings; and having now rejected every vain confidence, and inquired of God, not only whether they should go up, but whether they should succeed, God gives them assurance of victory, and bids them draw near to the battle. _Note;_ (1.) When in true humiliation the...

_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....