Judges 2:4

2:4 When the Lord’s messenger finished speaking these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. ¹ 

Judges 3:1

3:1 These were the nations the Lord permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel – he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites. ² 

Judges 18:18

18:18 When these men broke into Micah’s house and stole ³  the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

Judges 20:46

20:46 That day twenty-five thousand ⁴  sword-wielding Benjaminites fell in battle, all of them capable warriors. ⁵ 

[2:4]  ¹ tn Heb “lifted their voices and wept.”

[3:1]  ² tn Heb “did not know the wars of Canaan.”

[18:18]  ³ tn Heb “These went into Micah’s house and took.”

[20:46]  ⁴ sn The number given here (twenty-five thousand sword-wielding Benjaminites) is an approximate figure; v. 35 gives the more exact number (25,100). According to v. 15, the Benjaminite army numbered 26,700 (26,000 + 700). The figures in vv. 35 (rounded in vv. 44-46) and 47 add up to 25,700. What happened to the other 1,000 men? The most reasonable explanation is that they were killed during the first two days of fighting. G. F. Moore (Judges [ICC], 429) and C. F. Burney (Judges, 475) reject this proposal, arguing that the narrator is too precise and concerned about details to omit such a fact. However, the account of the first two days’ fighting emphasizes Israel’s humiliating defeat. To speak of Benjaminite casualties would diminish the literary effect. In vv. 35, 44-47 the narrator’s emphasis is the devastating defeat that Benjamin experienced on this final day of battle. To mention the earlier days’ casualties at this point is irrelevant to his literary purpose. He allows readers who happen to be concerned with such details to draw conclusions for themselves.

[20:46]  ⁵ tn Heb “So all the ones who fell from Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men, wielding the sword, in that day, all of these men of strength.