Judges 21:10

10 Then the congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the most valiant and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword with the women and the children.

Judges 21:10 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 21:10

And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the
valiantest
That were in their army; in the Vulgate Latin version it is only 10,000; but the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and Josephus ^F3, agree with the Hebrew text. This place, according to Bunting, to which this army was sent, was fifty two miles from Shiloh ^F4:

and commanded them, saying;
these were the orders they gave them, when they marched out:

go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the
sword, with the women and the children;
which it seems was according to the oath they had made, ( Judges 21:5 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 10.)
F4 Travels p. 121.

Judges 21:10 In-Context

8 And they said, Is there anyone of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And they found that no one from Jabeshgilead had come to the camp nor to the assembly.

9 For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there.

10 Then the congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the most valiant and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword with the women and the children.

11 And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male and every woman that has lain with a man.

12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins that had known no man by lying with any male, and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.