Judges 20:46

46 So all of Benjamin who fell on that day were twenty-five thousand {sword-wielding men}; all of these [were] {able men}.

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 And eighteen thousand men from Benjamin fell, all of them {able men}.
45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, but they cut down on the main roads five thousand men; and they pursued after them up to Gidom, and they struck down two thousand men.
46 So all of Benjamin who fell on that day were twenty-five thousand {sword-wielding men}; all of these [were] {able men}.
47 But six hundred turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon, and they remained at the rock of Rimmon [for] four months.
48 And the men of Israel returned to the descendants of Benjamin, and they put them to {the edge of the sword}, both the inhabitants of city and [the] animals that were found; they also set on fire all the cities that they found.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Literally "men drawing sword"
  • [b]. Literally "men of strength"
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