Judges 20:16

16. Lefthanded See on Judges 3:15.

Sling stones at a hair breadth Literally, to the hair. Seven hundred men thus disciplined argues that this lefthanded skill of Benjamin was acquired. “This is a region where such a mode of warfare would be cultivated in ancient times, and be very effective. The stones for the sling are everywhere at hand, and the country is cut up by deep gorges with impracticable banks; and before the invention of guns there was no other weapon that would carry across these profound depths, and reach the ranks of the enemy. David, while following his flocks over these rough mountains, practised other arts besides that of playing on the shepherd’s pipe, for he became as expert in the use of the sling as any of the chosen men of Benjamin.” Thomson. This writer also states that he had seen boys fighting battles with slings among the gorges of Mount Hermon, and at times almost darkening the air with their whizzing pebbles. By similar practices, perhaps, the ancient youth of Benjamin and other tribes were disciplined for warfare.