Judges 20:41-48

41 Then the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified; for they saw that ¹disaster was close to them.

42 Therefore, they turned their backs before the men of Israel ²toward the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them while those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of them.

43 ³They surrounded Benjamin, pursued them without rest and trod them down opposite Gibeah toward the east *.

44 Thus 18,000 * * men of Benjamin fell; all these were valiant warriors.

45 The rest turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of ⁴Rimmon, but they caught 5,000 * of them on the highways and overtook them at Gidom and killed 2,000 of them.

46 So all of Benjamin who fell that day were 25,000 * * men who draw the sword; all these were valiant warriors.

47 But 600 * men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they remained at the rock of Rimmon four months.

48 The men of Israel then turned back against the sons of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city with the cattle and all that they found; they also set on fire all the cities which they found.

Judges 20:41-48 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 20

This chapter relates, how that there was an assembly of the children of Israel at Mizpeh, upon what had happened to the concubine of the Levite, where he appeared and related the whole affair to them, Jud 20:1-7 upon which they unanimously agreed to chastise the inhabitants of Gibeah for what they had done, Jud 20:8-11, and in order to do that sent to the tribe of Benjamin to deliver the guilty, but instead of that they took to their arms, and prepared for battle in defence of them, Jud 20:12-17 and two battles ensued on this, in which the Israelites, who were on the right side of the question, were worsted, Jud 20:18-25 but upon their seeking the Lord again, and their humiliation before him, they engaged a third time in battle, and got an entire victory over the Benjaminites, and destroyed them all excepting six hundred men, Jud 20:26-48.

Cross References

• 1. Proverbs 5:22; Proverbs 11:5, 6; Proverbs 29:6
• 2. Joshua 8:15, 24
• 3. Hosea 9:9; Hosea 10:9
• 4. Judges 21:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "evil"
• [b]. Lit "touching"
• [c]. Lit "sunrise"
• [d]. So with Gr; Heb "And they"
• [e]. Lit "gleaned"
• [f]. Lit "as far as"
• [g]. Lit "smote"