Judges 20:46

46 So that day the tribe of Benjamin lost 25,000 strong warriors armed 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 That day 18,000 of Benjamin’s strongest warriors died in battle.

45 The survivors fled into the wilderness toward the rock of Rimmon, but Israel killed 5,000 of them along the road. They continued the chase until they had killed another 2,000 near Gidom.

46 So that day the tribe of Benjamin lost 25,000 strong warriors armed with swords,

47 leaving only 600 men who escaped to the rock of Rimmon, where they lived for four months.

48 And the Israelites returned and slaughtered every living thing in all the towns—the people, the livestock, and everything they found. They also burned down all the towns they came to.