Judges 20:34

34 And there came over against Gabaa ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel; and the fight severe; and they knew not that evil was coming upon them.

Judges 20:34 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:34

And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of
all Israel
Which, according to Ben Gersom, were the liers in wait; and came from the south, as the Targum says:

and the battle was sore;
not between those liers in wait, and the Benjaminites, but between those at Baaltamar, and them who set themselves in battle array against them, and they fought stoutly on both sides:

but they knew not that evil was near them;
that there was an ambush laid, by which they were in great danger; they knew nothing of the 10,000 men that were now come out against Gibeah, and were between them and that.

Judges 20:34 In-Context

32 And the children of Benjamin said, They fall before us as at the first: but the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them out from the city into the roads; and they did so.

33 And all the men rose up out of their places, and engaged in Baal Thamar; and the liers in wait of Israel advanced from their place from Maraagabe.

34 And there came over against Gabaa ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel; and the fight severe; and they knew not that evil was coming upon them.

35 And the Lord smote Benjamin before the children of Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin in that day a hundred and twenty-five thousand men: all these drew sword.

36 And the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten; and the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin, because they trusted in the ambuscade which they had prepared against Gabaa.

Footnotes

• [a]. is coming upon them.