Jueces 20:16

16 De toda aquella gente había setecientos hombres escogidos, que eran cerrados de la mano derecha (zurdos ), todos los cuales tiraban una piedra con la honda a un cabello, y no erraban.

Jueces 20:16 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:16

Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men
lefthanded
According to Ben Gersom, these were the seven hundred men of Gibeah; but this does not appear from the text, but, on the contrary, that these were among all the people; or there were so many to be selected out of them all, who were lefthanded men; nor is it likely that all the inhabitants of one place should be such. Benjamin signifies a son of the right hand, yet this tribe had a great number of lefthanded men in it, see ( Judges 3:15 ) . Josephus ^F8 wrongly reduces the number to five hundred:

everyone could sling stones at an hair's breadth, and not miss:
the mark they slung the stone at, so very expert were they at it; and perhaps their having such a number of skilful men in this art made them more confident of success, and emboldened them in this daring undertaking, to point to which this circumstance seems to be mentioned. There were a people that inhabited the islands, now called Majorca and Minorca, anciently Baleares, from their skilfulness in slinging stones, to which they brought up from their childhood, as it is related various writers, Strabo ^F9, Diodorus Siculus ^F11, Floras ^F12 and others ^F13; that their mothers used to set their breakfast on a beam or post, or some such thing, at a distance, which they were not to have, unless they could strike it off; and the first of these writers says, that they exercised this art from the time that the Phoenicians held these islands; and, according to Pliny ^F14, the Phoenicians, the old inhabitants of Canaan, were the first inventors of slings, and from these the Benjaminites might learn it. The Indians are said ^F15 to be very expert in slinging stones to an hair's breadth.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 10.
F9 Geograph l. 3. p. 116.
F11 Bibliothec. l. 5. p. 298.
F12 Roman Cost. l. 3. c. 8.
F13 Vid. Barthii Ammadv. ad Claudian. in 3 Consul. Honor. ver. 50.
F14 Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 56.
F15 Philoetrat. Vit. Apollon. l. 2. c. 12.

Jueces 20:16 In-Context

14 antes los de Benjamín se juntaron de las ciudades de Gabaa, para salir a pelear contra los hijos de Israel.

15 Y fueron contados en aquel tiempo los hijos de Benjamín de las ciudades, veintiséis mil hombres que sacaban espada, sin los que moraban en Gabaa, que fueron por cuenta setecientos varones escogidos.

16 De toda aquella gente había setecientos hombres escogidos, que eran cerrados de la mano derecha (zurdos ), todos los cuales tiraban una piedra con la honda a un cabello, y no erraban.

17 Y fueron contados los varones de Israel, fuera de Benjamín, cuatrocientos mil hombres que sacaban espada, todos estos hombres de guerra.

18 Luego se levantaron los hijos de Israel, y subieron a la Casa de Dios, y consultaron a Dios, diciendo: ¿Quién subirá de nosotros el primero en la guerra contra los hijos de Benjamín? Y el SEÑOR respondió: Judá será el primero.