Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 20:22
And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.
22. To make sense this and Jdg 20:23 should change places. After the men of Israel the Vulgate adds trusting to their prowess and numbers, i.e. it was the presumption of the Israelites which caused their defeat.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Encouraged themselves, Heb. strengthened themselves; partly by supporting themselves with the conscience of the justice of their cause, and the hopes of success; and partly by putting themselves in better order for defending themselves, and annoying their enemies.
In the place where they put themselves in array the first day; hereby showing their freedom from that heathenish superstition, whereby they might have been apt to have rejected that as an unlucky place. Compare 1Ki 20:23,28.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves,…. That though they had lost a great number of men, yet still their forces were large and greatly superior to those of Benjamin, and above all their cause was good:
and set their battle again in array formed a line of battle again facing their enemy, inviting to another battle, and bidding defiance:
and in the place where they put themselves in array the first day; by which it seems they kept the field of battle; though they lost so many men, they did not flee before the children of Benjamin, but stood their ground; nor were they so superstitious as to fancy the place unlucky; nor was it a bad situation they were in, to which their want of success was owing, for then they would have changed it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Notwithstanding this terrible overthrow, the people strengthened themselves, and prepared again for battle, “at the same place” where they had made ready on the first day, “seeking out of pure vainglory to wipe out the stains and the disgrace which their previous defeat had brought upon them” (Berleb. Bible).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(22) Encouraged themselves.Trusting, as the Vulgate adds, in their courage and numbers.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. Encouraged themselves “They did not seek for courage from God, but they cheered one another with vainglorious vauntings of their own strength, and with confident assurances of victory, and therefore God punished them.” Wordsworth.
Jdg 20:22 a
‘And the people, the men of Israel, made themselves strong.’
This may indicate that they brought up further reinforcements as a result of messengers going back to the main force with an indication of what had happened. It may also indicate that many men who had seemed fatally struck down had not been so, and had been brought back to camp ready for further battle.
Jdg 20:22 b
‘And set the battle again in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day.’
They still considered that their tactics of the first day had been right. So they once again set their forces in array ready for a further battle. But first they wanted confirmation from Yahweh.
Jdg 20:22 And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.
Ver. 22. Encouraged themselves. ] Not in the Lord their God, as David in a distress did, 1Sa 30:6 but in the goodness of their cause, and in the multitude of their men. Thus also did the Tigurines in their fight against the Popish cantons, and were defeated and discomfited by them. In that fight fell that famous man of God, Huldericus Zuinglius. And Oecolampadius in an epistle to the divines of Ulm writeth thus thereupon, Non inter minima bona recenseri merentur humiliatio mentium nostrarum, et fiducia non in brachium carnis sed in Deum ipsum: quae duo electi inde discunt. Two good things we have learned by this late defeat: first to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God; and secondly, not to put confidence any more in the arm of flesh, but in God alone.
encouraged: Jdg 20:15, Jdg 20:17, 1Sa 30:6, 2Sa 11:25, Psa 64:5
Jdg 20:22-23. The men of Israel encouraged Hebrew, strengthened themselves, supporting themselves with the consciousness of the justice of their cause, and putting themselves in better order for defending themselves, and annoying their enemies. The children of Israel wept Not so much for their sins, as for their defeat and loss. My brother They impute their ill success, not to their own sins, but to their taking up arms against their brethren. But still they persist in their former neglect of seeking Gods assistance in the way which he had appointed, as they themselves acknowledged presently, by doing those very things which now they neglected.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments