Judges 20:43

43 They enclosed the Benjamites round about, [and] chased them, [and] trod them down at [their] resting-place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the sunrise.

Judges 20:43 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 20:43

Thus they enclosed the Benjaminites round about
Surrounded them on all sides, the army of Israel being posted in different places, and people coming out of all the cities to their assistance. Josephus ^F1 says, they were forced into, and cooped up, in a hollow place in a valley, so that they could not escape:

and chased them;
or "caused to pursue" ^F2; calling after them a pursuit, crying to one another as they went along, saying, pursue them, pursue them; so Jarchi and Kimchi; which cry, as it inspired the pursuers with zeal, so they pursued with terror:

and trod them down with ease;
they making no resistance, being quite dispirited; the Targrim is,

``from the house of their rest,''

where they took up their rest, and designed to rest that night, but could not, being so closely pursued, and diligently sought after. Some take "menuchah", rendered "ease", to be the name of a place, from or unto which they were pursued and trodden down, see ( 1 Chronicles 2:52 ) and so the Septuagint seems to take it for the name of a place, rendering it, "from Noua":

over against Gibeah, towards the sunrising;
that is, as Jarchi interprets it, to the east of Gibeah, there was this overthrow and slaughter made.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 10.)
F2 (whpydrh) "persequi fecerunt eum", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "vel eos", Vatablus.

Judges 20:43 In-Context

41 The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that evil had come on them.

42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle followed hard after them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of it.

43 They enclosed the Benjamites round about, [and] chased them, [and] trod them down at [their] resting-place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the sunrise.

44 There fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these [were] men of valor.

45 They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and struck of them two thousand men.