Judges 20:47

47 But 600 men turned back. They ran into the desert to the rock of Rimmon. They stayed there for four months.

Judges 20:47 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:47

But six hundred men
Who were all that were left of 26,700

turned and fled to the wilderness;
turned out of the highway or common road, and being swift of foot, got to a wilderness; what wilderness is not certain:

unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months;
very probably in a cave of that rock, which might be large enough to hold such a number; Saul is said to have just the same number under it, and David had also a like number in a cave at Engedi, ( 1 Samuel 14:2 ) ( 23:13 ) ( 24:3 ) , and from hence these men might send out of their number to fetch in provision for them from parts adjacent, after the heat of the action was over, and the rage and fury of the Israelites subsided.

Judges 20:47 In-Context

45 Some men of Benjamin turned back. They ran toward the desert to the rock of Rimmon. As they did, the men of Israel struck down 5,000 of them along the roads. They kept chasing the men of Benjamin all the way to Gidom. Along the way they struck down 2,000 more.

46 On that day 25,000 men of Benjamin fell in battle. They had been carrying swords. All of them were brave fighters.

47 But 600 men turned back. They ran into the desert to the rock of Rimmon. They stayed there for four months.

48 The men of Israel went back to Benjamin. They killed the people in all of the towns with their swords. They even killed the animals. So they killed everything they found. They set on fire all of the towns they came to.