Judges 20:36

36 So the children of Binyamin saw that they were struck; for the men of Yisra'el gave place to Binyamin, because they trusted to the liers-in-wait whom they had set against Gevah.

Judges 20:36 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:36

So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten
Their forces broken and worsted, many being killed:

for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjaminites;
at first, and made as if they were afraid of them, and so fled before them, which was only to decoy them to a greater distance from the city Gibeah:

because they trusted unto the liers in wait, which they had set beside
Gibeah;
that these would not only enter the city, and burn it, but meet the Benjaminites fleeing back to it, when they should turn upon them and smite them, and so cut off all that remained of them.

Judges 20:36 In-Context

34 There came over against Gevah ten thousand chosen men out of all Yisra'el, and the battle was sore; but they didn't know that evil was close on them.

35 The LORD struck Binyamin before Yisra'el; and the children of Yisra'el destroyed of Binyamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men: all these drew the sword.

36 So the children of Binyamin saw that they were struck; for the men of Yisra'el gave place to Binyamin, because they trusted to the liers-in-wait whom they had set against Gevah.

37 The liers-in-wait hurried, and rushed on Gevah; and the liers-in-wait drew themselves along, and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

38 Now the appointed sign between the men of Yisra'el and the liers-in-wait was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.