Judges 20:38

38 Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was ¹that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise from the city.

Judges 20:38 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:38

Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and
the liers in wait
Or an appointed time ^F26 as the Targum; so Kimchi and Abarbinel. There was a time fixed, at which the men of Israel proposed to be at Baaltamar, exactly when the Benjaminites would be drawn at a proper distance from the city, and then the liers in wait were to break forth, and rush upon it, and enter it:

and that they should make a great flame with smoke to rise up out of
the city;
set it on fire, and cause the fire to burn fiercely, that there might be a large ascent of flame and smoke to be seen afar off; which, when the men of Israel saw, they would know the city was taken.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F26 (dewmh) "tempus constitutum", Panginus, Montanus, Junius et Tremellius, Piscator.

Judges 20:38 In-Context

36 So the sons of Benjamin saw that they were defeated. When the men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin because they relied on the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah,

37 the men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah; the men in ambush also deployed and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

38 Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of smoke rise from the city.

39 Then the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill about thirty men of Israel, for they said, "Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle."

40 But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, Benjamin looked behind them; and behold, the whole city was going up in smoke to heaven.

Cross References

• 1. Joshua 8:20