Judges 20:43

43 And crushing Benjamin down, they went after them, driving them from Nohah as far as the east side of Gibeah.

Judges 20:43 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:43

Thus they enclosed the Benjaminites round about
Surrounded them on all sides, the army of Israel being posted in different places, and people coming out of all the cities to their assistance. Josephus F1 says, they were forced into, and cooped up, in a hollow place in a valley, so that they could not escape:

and chased them;
or "caused to pursue" F2; calling after them a pursuit, crying to one another as they went along, saying, pursue them, pursue them; so Jarchi and Kimchi; which cry, as it inspired the pursuers with zeal, so they pursued with terror:

and trod them down with ease;
they making no resistance, being quite dispirited; the Targrim is,

``from the house of their rest,''

where they took up their rest, and designed to rest that night, but could not, being so closely pursued, and diligently sought after. Some take "menuchah", rendered "ease", to be the name of a place, from or unto which they were pursued and trodden down, see ( 1 Chronicles 2:52 ) and so the Septuagint seems to take it for the name of a place, rendering it, "from Noua":

over against Gibeah, towards the sunrising;
that is, as Jarchi interprets it, to the east of Gibeah, there was this overthrow and slaughter made.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 10.)
F2 (whpydrh) "persequi fecerunt eum", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "vel eos", Vatablus.

Judges 20:43 In-Context

41 And the men of Israel had made a turn about, and the men of Benjamin were overcome with fear, for they saw that evil had overtaken them.
42 So turning their backs on the men of Israel, they went in the direction of the waste land; but the fight overtook them; and those who came out of the town were heading them off and putting them to the sword.
43 And crushing Benjamin down, they went after them, driving them from Nohah as far as the east side of Gibeah.
44 Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin came to their death, all strong men of war.
45 And turning, they went in flight to the rock of Rimmon in the waste land: and on the highways five thousand of them were cut off by the men of Israel, who, pushing on hard after them to Geba, put to death two thousand more.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.