Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 20:21
And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men.
21. The numbers here and in Jdg 20:25 are again prodigious: the Benjamites, without losing a man themselves (as is implied in Jdg 20:35 ; Jdg 20:44-47), kill 40,000 Israelites in the two battles. Why this loss on the Israelite side? Probably the narrator considered that even the champions of the divine justice were not free from blame; they had not begun the holy war with due religious observances. Or, if Jdg 20:18 is not a later addition, because they had consulted the oracle merely to enquire which tribe should go up first.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gibeah, being on a hill, was difficult of access to an attacking army, and gave great advantage to the defenders, who fought from higher ground, and probably defended a narrow pass, while their companions on the walls could gall the assailants with their slingstones.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. Destroyed down to the ground – twenty-two thousand men.] That is, so many were left dead on the field of battle.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Quest. Why would God suffer them to have so great a loss in so good a cause?
Answ. Because they had many and great sins reigning amongst themselves, and they should not have come to so great a work of God as this with polluted hands, but should have pulled the beam out of their own eye, before they attempted to take that out of their brother Benjamins eye; which because they did not, God doth it for them, making them by this loss more clearly to see their own sins, and their need of Gods help, without which their great numbers were insignificant; and bringing them through the fire, that they might be purged from their dross; it being probable that the great God, who governs every stroke in battles, did so order things, that their worst and rotten members should be cut off, which was a great blessing to the whole commonwealth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah,…. Which was their place of rendezvous, and which they came to defend; and in and about which they had stationed their whole army of 26,000 men:
and destroyed down to the ground: killed dead upon the spot:
of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men; wanting but 4000 of their whole number, excepting the men of Gibeah, which was such a rebuff the Israelites did not expect, being engaged in so just a cause, and having such a numerous army. Several Jewish, writers q think this was on account of their idolatry, that though they were very zealous to revenge corporeal adultery in the case of the Levite’s concubine, and to remove such iniquity from Israel; yet were not zealous to revenge and put away spiritual adultery or idolatry in the case of the Danites, who had set up the image of Micah, and so had spread idolatry not only in their own tribe, but throughout Israel; and therefore God took this opportunity to avenge his own quarrel, and rebuke them for their sin; and now did Benjamin raven as a wolf, according to Jacob’s prophecy, Ge 49:27.
q T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 103. 2. Pirke Eliezer, c. 28. Jarchi & Kimchi in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(21) Came forth out of Gibeah.The whole armed force of the tribe had therefore assembled to save the wicked town from assault. Like many of the towns of Palestine (as their names indicate), it was on a hill, and therefore easily defensible against the very imperfect siege operations of the ancients.
Destroyed down to the groundi.e., laid them dead on the ground, as in Jdg. 6:25.
Twenty and two thousand men.This immense slaughter shows the extraordinary fierceness of the battle. The Benjamite force must have nearly killed a man apiece.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE WAR AGAINST BENJAMIN, Jdg 20:20-48.
21. Destroyed down to the ground That is, smote them so that they lay dead upon the ground.
Twenty and two thousand Almost as many as all Benjamin’s host contained. Compare Jdg 20:15. But of the Benjamites very few seem to have fallen.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on that day twenty two eleph of men.’
The phrase ‘destroyed down to the ground’ is unusual. They were not necessarily all killed, but many knocked to the ground as though dead. This may have been partly through the slingstones. But they lost in this way twenty two of their units, a shattering defeat.
The question may be asked why they were defeated when they were in a righteous cause. The answer may lie in a similar complaint to that when Joshua failed against Ai. Instead of taking their whole army they had sent only a tenth (Jdg 20:10 see Jos 7:3). They had, like Joshua, been presumptuous and had gone forward confident in their own strength and ability. Others have attributed it to the fact that idolatry was still rife in the land as illustrated in Judges 18. The men of Dan, who had set up their own graven image and established their own priesthood, were in the confederacy. But a third possibility lies in the fact that God does not always give success immediately. Sometimes failure is a test to see whether His people will persevere in what is right even when things go wrong. What He promises is final success, and this they would achieve.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 20:21 And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men.
Ver. 21. And destroyed down to the ground twenty and two thousand men.] They slew so many upon the turf, as we phrase it, and that with a great deal of eagerness and earnestness; such as Scanderbeg expressed when, in fighting against the Turks, the blood did oftentimes burst out of his lips. a
a Turk. Hist., p. 287.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the children: Gen 49:27, Hos 10:9
destroyed: Deu 23:9, 2Ch 28:10, Psa 33:16, Psa 73:18, Psa 73:19, Psa 77:19, Ecc 9:1-3, Jer 12:1
Reciprocal: Jdg 20:25 – destroyed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 20:21. The children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah Those forces which were left in Gibeah for its defence issued out upon the Israelites in their rear, while the other Benjamites fought against them in front. And destroyed that day twenty and two thousand Since they were engaged in so good a cause, and God himself bid them go up, it may seem strange that they should receive such a defeat. But it is to be observed, he only bid them go, but did not promise them success. And undoubtedly they were highly blameable that they did not ask counsel of him in such an important matter as going to war with their brethren. For we find they absolutely determined upon it without doing so, and only inquired who should be in the van of their army. The Benjamites certainly deserved punishment. But to engage with them in a civil war was certainly what they ought not to have done without consulting God. It may be, if they had done so, God would have directed them to have sent another message, and that in HIS name, to the Benjamites, which might have had the desired effect, without proceeding to shed the blood of brethren, and exposing their own to be shed by brethren in such an awful manner. Add to this, that these tribes had many and great sins reigning among themselves, and they should not have proceeded to so great a work with polluted hands; but should have pulled the beam out of their own eye, before they attempted to take that out of their brother Benjamins eye: which, because they did not, God doth it for them, bringing them through the fire, that they might be purged from their dross. And God would hereby show, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. We must never lay that weight on an arm of flesh which only the Rock of ages will bear.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
20:21 And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day {l} twenty and two thousand men.
(l) This God permitted because by this means he would punish their sins, by the strength of the Israelites.