Judges 20:43-48

Judges 20:43

Thus they inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sunrising.

 

The last remaining vestige of the Benjamite army had now come out of Gibeah to make one last advance on the Israelite army.  The Benjamites did not have much of a chance because as soon as they made their move, the Israelite army had chased them.  The word “trode” carries with it the meaning of “tread, as one treads grapes in a vat.”  They were beaten so badly it was akin to grapes which went through treading.  The great slaughter took place on the east side of Gibeah.  The sun rising means “the east.”

 

Judges 20:44

And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour.

 

The toll that day was 18,000 men of Benjamin and they were called men of valor which means they were brave, had courage, and prowess.  Just because they were beaten, did not mean they were scared little rabbits.  They were a formidable foe because the Lord did not give them into the hands of the Israelites, the Israelites could have suffered major defeat as they did in the first two days of battle.

 

Judges 20:45

And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.

 

After the main battle was over, the Benjamites then fled into the wilderness toward the rock of Rimmon.  Rimmon was about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Gibeah.  They were hoping to make it there for safety. The Benjamites were picking up some of their troops along the way and they were able to gather 5,000 men.  The Israelites decided to pursue them because they knew they would be confused and tired.  To pursue them hard meant they were going after them in a relentless manner.  Gidom was a place which was somewhere between Gibeah and Rimmon but the exact location is unknown.  The Israelites overtook them and slew 2,000 more of their already decimated army.

 

Judges 20:46

So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour.

 

Benjamin had lost 25,000 men in the battles of the day and these men were not slouches but were men of valor who were brave in combat.  They had chosen to fight rather than to surrender.

 

Judges 20:47

But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months.

 

Six hundred of the men had continued to flee to the rock Rimmon.  These 600 may have been part of the 5,000 that the Israelite army had pursued.  They probably had found a cave where they stayed for a total of four months in hopes that the Israelite army would have disbanded by then and went back to their homes.

 

Judges 20:48

And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.

 

The men of Israel were not yet finished with the children of Benjamin.  They continued to smite them in the other cities surrounding Gibeah.  They were not just satisfied with the killing of the men, they also killed any beasts that were associated with the children of Benjamin.  There was a great slaughter to the amount of 40,000 men.  Once they had slaughtered the inhabitants of the cities, they set fire to them like they did Gibeah.  They were intensely angry with Benjamin for allowing those abominations to exist without dealing with them.

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