Judges 20:10
Judges 20:13
hand over <05414> [deliver.]
good-for-nothings ...................... Israelite <01100 01121> [children of Belial.]
purge <01197> [put away.]
refused ... listen <014 08085> [would not.]
The conduct of the Israelites was very equitable in this demand; but perhaps the rulers or elders of Gibeah ought previously to have been applied to, to deliver up the criminals to justice. However, the refusal of the Benjamites, and their protection of those who had committed this horrible wickedness, because they were of their own tribe, prove them to have been deeply corrupted, and (all their advantages considered) as ripe for divine vengeance as the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah had been. Confiding in their own valour and military skill, they seen to have first prepared for battle in this unequal contest with such superior numbers.
Judges 20:15
twenty-six <06242> [twenty.]
Judges 20:18
asked <07592> [asked.]
Judah <03063> [Judah.]
Judges 20:23
wept <01058> [wept.]
Israelites ........ Lord ....... Lord .......... Benjaminites ..... Lord <01121 03068> [And the.]
It seems most evident that the Israelites did not seek the protection of God. When they "went to the house of God," (ver. 18,) it was not to enquire concerning the expediency of the war, nor of its success, but which of the tribes should begin the attack: and here the question is, "Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?" Having so much right on their side, they had no doubt of the justice of their cause, and the propriety of their conduct; and having such a superiority of numbers, they had no doubt of success. But God humbled them, and delivered them into the hands of their enemies; and shewed them that the race was not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.
Judges 20:25
struck down <07843> [destroyed.]
Judges 20:28
Phinehas <06372> [Phinehas.]
It is evident, from this mention of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, that these transactions must have taken place not long after the death of Joshua.
was serving <05975> [stood.]
more <03254> [Shall I yet.]
Attack <05927> [Go up.]
Judges 20:31
unguarded <05423> [drawn.]
army ......... strike down ... enemy <05971 02491 05221> [smite of the people, and kill, as at. Heb. smite of the people wounded as at, etc. the house of God. or, Beth-el.]
Gibeah.
thirty <07970> [thirty.]
Judges 20:35
25,100 <06242> [twenty.]
Though the numbers of the Israelites were immensely superior to those of Benjamin, though the stratagem was well laid and ingeniously executed, and the battle bravely fought, yet the inspired historian ascribes the victory to the hand of the Lord, as entirely as if he had smitten the Benjamites by a miracle.
Judges 20:48
put <05221 06310> [smote them.]
find <04672> [came to hand. Heb. was found. they came to. Heb. were found.]
Judges 21:21
<02342> [dance.]
Judges 21:23
<03212> [and they went.]
It appears that the Benjamites acted in the most honourable way to the women they had thus violently carried off, and we may rest assured, that they took them to an inheritance more than equal to their own. But this transaction, as well as the indiscriminate massacre of the people of Jabesh-gilead, as Dr. Gray observes, was certainly stamped with injustice and cruelty; and must be condemned on those principles which the Scriptures elsewhere furnish.
rebuilt <01129> [repaired.]
