Judges 20:43

43 ¹They surrounded Benjamin, pursued them without rest and trod them down opposite Gibeah toward the east *.

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.

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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 Then the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified; for they saw that disaster was close to them.

42 Therefore, they turned their backs before the men of Israel toward the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them while those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of them.

43 They surrounded Benjamin, pursued them without rest and trod them down opposite Gibeah toward the east .

44 Thus 18,000 men of Benjamin fell; all these were valiant warriors.

45 The rest turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, but they caught 5,000 of them on the highways and overtook them at Gidom and killed 2,000 of them.

Cross References

• 1. Hosea 9:9; Hosea 10:9

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "sunrise"