Judges 20:15

Jdg 20:15 And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

Ver. 15. Twenty and six thousand men that drew sword.] But were all shortly after devoured by the sword, the whole land becoming like a general slaughter house, or a place of infernal torture. Had they not been so numerous, they had not, likely, been so venturous. "The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee." {Oba 1:3}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jdg 20:15. Twenty and six thousand men — “How does this agree with the following numbers; for all that were slain of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand and one hundred men, (Jdg 20:35,) and there were only six hundred that survived, (Jdg 20:47,) which make only twenty-five thousand and seven hundred?” We answer, The other thousand men were either left in some of their cities, where they were slain, (Jdg 20:48,) or were cut off in the first two battles, wherein it is unreasonable to think they had an unbloody victory: and as for these twenty-five thousand and one hundred men, they were all slain in the third battle.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 15. Twenty and six thousand] Some copies of the Septuagint have twenty-three thousand, others twenty-five thousand. The Vulgate has this latter number; the Complutensian Polyglot and Josephus have the same.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15) Out of the cities.—They could only live in cities, because the Jebusites still held Jerusalem, and the Canaanites around them were very incompletely subdued.

Twenty and six thousand.—This seems to be the correct number, and is found in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. Josephus, however (Antt. v. 2, § 10), has 25,000, as also has Codex A of theLXX., and Codex B has 23,000 (see Note on Jdg_20:46). We see generally that the Benjamites, like the rest of the Israelites, in spite of their exceptional increase in the wilderness, had been now diminished by about a third since the last census (Num_26:41). (See Note on Jdg_20:2.)

Seven hundred chosen men.—There seems to be some uncertainty or confusion in the text here. It is difficult to imagine that, as the text stands, the single city of Gibeah furnished to the Benjamites their one choice contingent of seven hundred slingers, and it would be a curious coincidence that the force of Gibeah and the slingers should each be exactly seven hundred.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. The figures in this account are inconsistent. The entire muster of Benjamites is reckoned here at 26,700; while Jdg_20:35; Jdg_20:47 give a total 25,700, and Jdg_20:44-47 a total 25,600. Some mss. of the LXX (cod. A, Luc. etc.), followed by Vulgate, read twenty and five thousand men here (see marg.); but this may be merely an attempt to harmonize with the numbers in Jdg_20:35; Jdg_20:47.

seven hundred chosen men] Repeated in Jdg_20:16 and applied to the left-handed slingers. The words can hardly be original in both places, and the Versions agree in giving them only once. Probably they should be omitted here, and the verse ended with the inhabitants of Gibeah; the insertion of were numbered would be required when the following words were added.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities,.... All that they could muster up, and gather together out of their several cities, were no more man than

twenty and six thousand men that drew the sword able bodied men fit for war, and expert in it:

beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men young, stout, and strong, and in all but 26,700; and what are these to an army of 400,000 men, or however 360,000 that came up against Gibeah, while 40,000 were employed in getting provisions for them? Josephus (g) makes the number of the Benjaminites still less, no more than 25,600, led thereunto by an later account, that 25,000 Benjaminites were slain in the third and last battle, and only six hundred escaped to a rock for safety, not considering that 1000 men may well be supposed to be lost in the two first battles; for it would be strange indeed that they should lose none in two engagement with so large an army; the same error is committed in the Vulgate Latin version, which makes them no more than 25,000; with which agrees the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint version: though that, according to the Vatican exemplar, has but 23,000. The numbers in the Hebrew text are no doubt the right.

(g) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 2. sect. 10.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Comparing the numbers here with those in Num. 1; 26, it is seen that in the case both of the Benjamites and the Israelites the numbers are diminished by about one-third, i. e., they appear as about two-thirds only of what they were at the last numbering in the plains of Moab. This diminution seems to indicate disturbed and harassing times. With this agrees the mention of the cities, as containing the whole Benjamite population. The inference is that the open country and unwalled villages were not safe, but that the Benjamites kept the Canaanites in subjection only by dwelling in fortified towns.

Jdg 20:16

See Jdg 3:15, and note. In the Septuagint and Vulgate the 700 chosen men of Gibeah are represented as the seven hundred left-handed slingers.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Men. This number is verified, ver. 35. The Benjamites had 25,700 in all, of whom they lost 25,100; so that 600 remained. Hebrew reads here 26,000; and some pretend (Calmet) that 1000 fell in the two victories which they obtained. (Grotius, &c.) --- But this is without proof, and the Vulgate is confirmed by Josephus, and by most of the copies of the Septuagint, though the Vatican copy has only 23,000. (Calmet) --- Gabaa. Hebrew and Septuagint add, "which were numbered 700 chosen men." Grabe repeats in the following verse with the Hebrew, "Among all this people, 700 chosen men," which seems to insinuate that these expert archers were selected out of all the army. (Haydock) --- But the other copies of the Septuagint agree with the Vulgate, that they were all of Gabaa, (Calmet) as if they were trained at this city with more particular care, to hit a mark how small soever.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Object. This agrees not with the following numbers; for all that were slain of Benjamin were 25,100 men, Jdg 20:35, and there were only 600 that survived, Jdg 20:47, which make only 25,700.

Answ. The other thousand men were either left in some of their cities, where they were slain, Jdg 20:48, or were cut off in the two first battles, wherein it is reasonable to think they had an unbloody victory; and as for these 25,100 men, they were all slain in that day, i.e. the day of the third battle, as is affirmed, Jdg 20:35.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. The inhabitants of Gibeah — These are specially mentioned because they were specially interested in the war. For their sake it was carried on, and so they furnished seven hundred men.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Twenty and six thousand. The numbers of Benjamin in the wilderness were at the first numbering 35, 400, and at the second 45, 600. (Num_1:36 Num_2:23 Num_26:41) It is impossible to account with certainty for the falling off in the numbers by so many as near 20, 000; but perhaps many were slain in the wars of Canaan, and the unsettled times were unfavourable to early marriages. For the whole of Israel there was, as appeared by ver. 2, note, a falling off of nearly 200, 000 men, or, to speak exactly (601, 730-400, 000 +26, 700), of 175, 030. Which were numbered. There is some obscurity in this latter clause; but, in spite of the accents being opposed to it, the A.V seems certainly right. The rendering according to the accents, "they (the Benjamites) were numbered, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, seven hundred chosen men," makes no sense, and does not explain who the 700 were. The population of Gibeah would be about 5 700, i.e. 3500, according to this statement.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Were numbered - "How does this agree with the following numbers? For all that were slain of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand and one hundred men, ver. 35, and there were only six hundred that survived, ver. 47, which make only twenty-five thousand and seven hundred." The other thousand men were either left in some of their cities, where they were slain, ver. 48, or were cut off in the two first battles, wherein it is unreasonable to think they had an unbloody victory: and as for these twenty-five thousand and one hundred men, they were all slain in the third battle.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

twenty-six thousand

"26,000" (See: Numbers)

seven hundred

"700" (See: Numbers)

left-handed

A left-handed person is someone who is more skilled with their left hand than with their right hand.

could sling a stone at a hair and not miss

This show how amazingly well they could aim and hit their target. It can be stated in positive form. AT: "could throw a stone at even a hair and hit it" or "could throw a stone at something as small as a hair and hit it"

translationWords

Benjamin

sword

Gibeah

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.