Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Judges 20:16
(16) Seven hundred chosen men.—These words are omitted in the LXX. and Vulg.Left handed.—The same phrase as that employed in Judges 3:15.Could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.—The expression is perfectly simple, and merely implies extreme accuracy of aim. Bochart’s attempt (Hieroz. Ii. 162) to explain it by a passage in Quintus Smyrnœus, which says that archers used to contend which should be able to shoot off the horsehair crest of a helmet, is a mere specimen of learning... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Judges 20:15
(15) Out of the cities.—They could only live in cities, because the Jebusites still held Jerusalem, and the Canaanites around them were very incompletely subdued.Twenty and six thousand.—This seems to be the correct number, and is found in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. Josephus, however (Antt. v. 2, § 10), has 25,000, as also has Codex A of theLXX., and Codex B has 23,000 (see Note on Judges 20:46). We see generally that the Benjamites, like the rest of the Israelites, in spite of their... read more