Judges 20:46

46 On that day 25,000 Benjaminites were killed, all of whom had fought bravely with swords.

Judges 20:46 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:46

So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and
thousand men
It is before said 25,100 ( Judges 20:35 ) here the one hundred are omitted, and the round number of thousands given, which is no unusual way of speaking and writing; the whole army of Benjamin consisted of 26,700 of which 18,000 were slain in the field of battle, 5000 in the highways, and 2000 at Gidom, in all 25,000; and we may suppose one hundred as they were straggling in the road, or found in by places, or are not mentioned with either of the thousands for the sake of a round number, and six hundred fled to the rock Rimmon; as for the other 1000, it is highly probable, they fell in the two first battles, as Ben Gersom and Abarbinel rightly suppose; for it is not credible, that though they got such amazing victories, it was without the loss of men, and these are as few as well can be imagined. Jarchi thinks these thousand fled to the cities of Benjamin, and were slain when the Israelites entered them, as after related, ( Judges 20:48 ) which is much more probable than a tradition they have, that they went into the land of Romania, and dwelt there. Now all those that were slain were men

that drew the sword;
soldiers, not husbandmen, artificers but armed men:

all these were men of valour;
even those that fled, who chose rather to lose their lives than ask for quarter.

Judges 20:46 In-Context

44 So 18,000 brave Benjaminite fighters were killed.
45 The Benjaminites ran toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon, but the Israelites killed 5,000 Benjaminites along the roads. They chased them as far as Gidom and killed 2,000 more Benjaminites there.
46 On that day 25,000 Benjaminites were killed, all of whom had fought bravely with swords.
47 But 600 Benjaminites ran to the rock of Rimmon in the desert, where they stayed for four months.
48 Then the Israelites went back to the land of Benjamin and killed the people in every city and also the animals and everything they could find. And they burned every city they found.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.