Judges 20:14

14 Instead, they came from their towns and gathered at Gibeah to fight the Israelites.

Judges 20:14 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:14

But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out
of the cities unto Gibeah
To protect and defend it against the other tribes, being a city of theirs and where the persons charged with the crime lived; these got together thither out of the several cities of the tribe of Benjamin, as many as could bear arms:

to go out to battle against the children of Israel;
they neither denied the fact, nor attempted to palliate and excuse it, nor sought for peace but at once betook themselves to arms; which showed not only want of prudence but pride, passion and self-confidence, and that they were sadly depraved in their morals to rise up in defence of such wicked men; and a strange infatuation to expect success against such vastly superior numbers, and in so bad a cause.

Judges 20:14 In-Context

12 The Israelites sent messengers to the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What a terrible thing has been done among you!

13 Give up those evil men, those troublemakers from Gibeah, so we can execute them and purge Israel of this evil.” But the people of Benjamin would not listen.

14 Instead, they came from their towns and gathered at Gibeah to fight the Israelites.

15 In all, 26,000 of their warriors armed with swords arrived in Gibeah to join the 700 elite troops who lived there.

16 Among Benjamin’s elite troops, 700 were left-handed, and each of them could sling a rock and hit a target within a hairsbreadth without missing.