639 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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" (x), or spread themselves unto it; before they lay close in a narrow compass, but now they put themselves in a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait,.... Or an appointed time (z) 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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke,.... Fire being set to it by the liers in wait, who had entered it, and who made a large fire, which caused a vast pillar of flame and smoke to arise, which might be seen a great way off: the Benjamites looked behind them; perhaps at hearing the blowing of the trumpet, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the men of Israel turned again,.... Turned their faces to the Benjaminites, on whom they had turned their backs; and which they did on hearing the sound of the trumpet, or seeing the flame of the city, or both, and that in order to fight the Benjaminites, and smite them, as now was their opportunity: the men of Benjamin were amazed; at...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel,.... And fled from them: unto the way of the wilderness; what wilderness is not certain, perhaps the wilderness of Judah; they did not turn directly back towards Gibeah, perceiving that was taken, and in the hands of a body of men that would meet them, and therefore they turned on one side...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus they enclosed the Benjaminites round about,.... Surrounded them on all sides, the army of Israel being posted in different places, and people coming out of all the cities to their assistance. Josephus (a) says, they were forced into, and cooped up, in a hollow place in a valley, so that they could not escape: and chased them; or "caused to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men,.... Just the number they had slain of Israel in the second battle. This is the number of them that were slain when Israel turned upon them, and by that time they got to the east of Gibeah; afterwards 5000 more were slain on the highways, and 2000 near Gidom, as after related: all these were men of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they turned and fled toward the wilderness, unto the rock of Rimmon,.... Which signifies pomegranate; perhaps it was in the form of one, and may be the same as in 1 Samuel 14:2 where Saul is said to be under a pomegranate tree, or under Rimmon, the rock Rimmon, for that is said to be near Gibeah, as this was. There was a village in the times...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But six hundred men,.... Who were all that were left of 26,700 turned and fled to the wilderness; turned out of the highway or common road, and being swift of foot, got to a wilderness; what wilderness is not certain: unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months; very probably in a cave of that rock, which might be large enough...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin,.... After they had destroyed their army, the city of Gibeah, and the inhabitants of it: not content with this, in their wrath and fury, turned and went, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city; even men, women, and children, in every city of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Judges 21 This chapter relates how that when the Israelites calmed down, and seriously to reflect on what had passed, they were sore grieved, and much lamented the case of Benjamin, and were particularly concerned what they should do for wives for those few men that remained, that the tribe might be built up again, Judges 21:1 and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh,.... Where they were there convened, before the war began; after they had heard the account the Levite gave of the affair, which brought them thither; and after they had sent messengers to Benjamin to deliver up the men of Gibeah, that had committed the wickedness; and after they perceived that Benjamin...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the people came to the house of God,.... Not to the city Bethel, as the Targum, Septuagint, and other versions, but to Shiloh, where were the tabernacle and ark; and this is to be understood of the army after they had utterly destroyed the Benjaminites: hence we read of the camp in Shiloh, Judges 21:12, here they came not so much to rejoice,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And said, O Lord God of Israel,.... Jehovah, the only living and true God, the Being of beings, eternal, immutable, omnipotent and omnipresent, the God of all Israel, of the twelve tribes of Israel, their covenant God and Father; who had shown favour to them in such a peculiar and gracious manner, as he had not to other nations, and therefore...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early,.... The day after their fasting and prayer, and a sense of their present case and circumstances being deeply impressed upon their minds, they rose early in the morning to acts of devotion, and exercises of religion, hoping that being in the way of their duty, the difficulties with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel said,.... One to another, after they had offered their sacrifices, and while they were together in Shiloh: who is there among all the tribes of Israel, that came not up with the congregation unto the Lord? when they were summoned to come to Mizpeh, to consult together about the affair of the Levite's concubine, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother,.... Not that they went to war with them, as if their cause was not good; but for the severity they had exercised towards them, especially in destroying their women and children, and for the fatal consequences like to follow here after, particularly the dissolution of the whole...