Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 20:25
And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day,…. Flushed with the victory they had obtained the day before:
and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men, all these drew the sword, were armed men; this, with the 22,000 slain the day preceding, made 40,000; the same number singled out from among them by lot to provide food for them, and is thought by some to be the case Deborah refers to, Jud 5:8 and is what is certainly intended in Ho 10:9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(25) Destroyed . . . eighteen thousand men.This second defeat seems to have been due, like the first, to overweening confidence and carelessness. Thus in two battles the eleven tribes lost 40,000 meni.e., 13,300 more than the entire Benjamite army, which was only 26,700. Such a hideous massacre can only be accounted for by the supposition that the Benjamite slings did deadly execution from some vantage-ground. Similarly at Crecy 1,200 knights and 30,000 footmena number equal to the whole English forcelay dead upon the ground (Green, 1:419).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. The second day Not necessarily the next day after the first conflict, but the second day of actual battle. Several days may have intervened between the two battles.
Eighteen thousand Four thousand less than the loss of the first day’s battle; but Israel’s self-confidence was also less than then.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And Benjamin went out against them from Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen eleph men, all these drew the sword.’
How many units went forward we are not told, but eighteen of them were again thoroughly defeated. It is very probable that again it was largely due to the slingers. The children of Israel were swordsmen and could not cope with this weapon that knocked them down to the ground before they had even reached the enemy.
The eighteen eleph felled here, together with the previous twenty two eleph of the first battle, may make up the forty eleph mentioned by Deborah in her song (Jdg 5:8). If so the choosing of ‘new gods’, as Dan had done, may well be part of the reason for their two defeats. But they had also still not committed their full forces against their enemy.
Again we are not to think of forty units all killed. The wording is declaring that they were thoroughly defeated, not that all were killed.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 20:25 And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
Ver. 25. Destroyed down to the ground eighteen thousand men.] Here a Pompey would have denied a providence; Brutus would have cried out against virtue as a mere name; others against hard fortune, Ecquid hoc infortunii est? &c. “But God giveth his more grace; wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God Be afflicted,” or afflict yourselves with voluntary sorrows for your sins, “and mourn, and weep,” &c. Jas 4:6-7 ; Jam 4:9-10 These did so the next time, and had the day. Wit is best when dear bought.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
destroyed: Jdg 20:21, Gen 18:25, Job 9:12, Job 9:13, Psa 97:2, Rom 2:5, Rom 3:5, Rom 11:33
Reciprocal: Gen 49:27 – a wolf Jdg 8:10 – fell an hundred Jdg 20:15 – twenty