Judges 20:36-39 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 20:26-48

We have here a full account of the complete victory which the Israelites obtained over the Benjamites in the third engagement: the righteous cause was victorious at last, when the managers of it amended what had been amiss; for, when a good cause suffers, it is for want of good management. Observe then how the victory was obtained, and how it was pursued. I. How the victory was obtained. Two things they had trusted too much to in the former engagements?the goodness of their cause and the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 20:36

So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten ,.... Their forces broken and worsted, many being killed: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjaminites ; at first, and made as if they were afraid of them, and so fled before them, which was only to decoy them to a greater distance from the city Gibeah: because they trusted unto the liers in wait, which they had set beside Gibeah ; that these would not only enter the city, and burn it, but meet the Benjaminites fleeing... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 20:37

And the liers in wait hasted ,.... When the time was come agreed upon for them to rise out of their ambush: and rushed upon Gibeah ; at unawares, with great force and violence entered the city, and took possession of it; or "extended" F24 יפשטו "extenderunt se", Tigurine version. , or spread themselves unto it; before they lay close in a narrow compass, but now they put themselves in a regular order, and marched rank and file, and reached from the meadows in which they were, ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 20:38

Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait ,.... Or an appointed time F26 המועד "tempus constitutum", Panginus, Montanus, Junius et Tremellius, Piscator. as the Targum; so Kimchi and Abarbinel. There was a time fixed, at which the men of Israel proposed to be at Baaltamar, exactly when the Benjaminites would be drawn at a proper distance from the city, and then the liers in wait were to break forth, and rush upon it, and enter it: and that they... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 20:39

And when the men of Israel retired in the battle ,.... Which is before expressed by their fleeing, and giving place to the Benjaminites, and was only an artifice of theirs, to draw them off from the city: Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons ; which was done in the highways leading to Shiloh and Gibeah in the field, Judges 20:31 . for they said, surely they are smitten down before us as in the first battle ; when the greater number of the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 20:38

Now there was an appointed sign - From this verse to the end of the chapter we have the details of the same operations which are mentioned, in a general way, in the preceding part of the chapter. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 20:36-37

Judges 20:36-37. The children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten Namely, when they saw the flame in Gibeah, as mentioned Judges 20:40. But after these words, in the following part of the verse, begins a relation of the whole day’s action, the particulars of which are related in the following verses. The liers in wait drew themselves along Or extended themselves; whereas before they lay close, and contracted into a narrow compass, now they spread themselves, and marched in rank and... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Judges 20:1-48

The war with Benjamin (19:1-21:25)A Levite whose concubine had run away from him came to Judah looking for her. When they were reunited, her father was so pleased he did not want them to leave. They therefore stayed with him a few days, then set out to return to the Levite’s home in Ephraim (19:1-9).The route back to Ephraim took the couple through the tribal territory of Benjamin. Looking for somewhere to sleep the night, they preferred not to stay in Jerusalem, which was inhabited by... read more

E.W. Bullinger