Dominic Bnonn Tennant (the B is silent)

Judges 20

1

And all the sons of Israel ‹came forth›, and the assembly was mustered as one man, from Dan and unto Be’er-Sheba, and the land of Gilead, unto Yahweh at Mitzpah;1

2

and the corners2 of all the people, of all the rods3 of Israel, stationed themselves in the muster of the people of God, four hundred thousand4 men5 on foot drawing sword.

3

And the sons of Benyamin heard that the sons of Israel had ascended to Mitzpah. And the sons of Israel said, “Speak to us: how ‹came to be› this badness?”

The Levite’s carefully-spun tale

4

And answered the man, the Levite, man of the woman that was killed,6 and said, “The Gibeah that is for Benyamin I ‹came into›, I and my slavewife, to overnight;

5

and the masters of Gibeah rose upon me, and surrounded upon me the house by night, and imagined7 to slay me, and my slavewife they abased and she died;

6

and I gripped my slavewife and dismembered her and ‹sent her forth› in all the field8 of the inheritance of Israel, in that they have worked purposefulness9 and folly in Israel;

7

lo, all ye are sons of Israel;10 render11 your word and counsel hither.”

Israel’s judgment on Benyamin

8

And all the people rose as one man to say, “We go not a man to his tent, and we turn aside not a man to his house,

9

and now this is the thing that we shall work unto Gibeah, upon it, by lot:

10

and we shall take ten men to a hundred12 for all the rods of Israel, and a hundred to a thousand, and a thousand to ‹ten thousand›, to take provision for the people, to work, at their ‹coming in› to Gibeah of Benyamin, as unto all the folly that it has worked in Israel.”

11

And every man of Israel was gathered13 unto the city, bound14 as one man.15

12

And the rods of Israel ‹sent forth› men in all the rod of Benyamin to say, “What is this badness that hath been16 in you?

13

And now, give the men, the sons of worthlessness, that are in Gibeah, and we shall ‹put them to death›, and ·we shall purge17 the badness from Israel.”

Benyamin sides with Gibeah

And Benyamin wanted not to hear the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel,

14

and the sons of Benyamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah to ‹come forth› to war with the sons of Israel;

15

and the sons of Benyamin visited18 in that day, from the cities, twenty and six thousand19 men drawing sword, apart from the dwellers of Gibeah; they visited seven hundred20 chosen21 men;

16

from all this people were seven hundred men chosen,22 fastened of their right hand;23 each of these slinging a stone at a hair24 and not missing.25

17

And the men of Israel, they visited, apart from Benyamin, four hundred thousand men drawing sword, every one26 a man of war.

Israel’s initial assault fails

18

And they rose and ascended to Beth-El,27 and asked of God, and the sons of Israel said, “Who shall ascend for us in the start, for war28 with the sons of Benyamin?”29 And Yahweh said, “Yehudah in the start.”30

19

And the sons of Israel rose in the morning and encamped upon Gibeah,

20

and the men of Israel ‹came forth› for war with Benyamin, and the men of Israel arrayed31 against them for war unto Gibeah;

21

and the sons of Benyamin ‹came forth› from Gibeah and destroyed in Israel in that day two and twenty thousand men,32 to the land.33

Israel’s second assault fails

22

And the people, the men of Israel, strengthened themselves, and added to array for war in that place where they had arrayed themselves in the head34 day;

23

and the sons of Israel ascended and wept before the face of Yahweh until the evening,35 and asked of Yahweh, to say, “Shall I add36 to ‹draw near›37 for war with the sons of Benyamin, my brother?”38 And Yahweh said, “Ascend unto him.”39

24

And the sons of Israel ‹brought themselves near›40 unto the sons of Benyamin in the second day;41

25

and Benyamin ‹came forth› to meet them from Gibeah in the second day, and destroyed in the sons of Israel still eighteen thousand men,42 to the land; all these drawing sword.

Israel seeks God’s favor

26

And all the sons of Israel ascended, and all the people, and ·they ‹came in› to Beth-El43 and wept, and dwelt there before the face of Yahweh, and fasted in that day until the evening, and ascended ascensions and shalom offerings before the face of Yahweh;44

27

and the sons of Israel asked of Yahweh—and there the ark of the covenant of God was in those days,

28

and Pinhas,45 son of Eleazar, son of Aharon46 ‹took his stand›47 before its face in those days—to say, “Shall I add still to ‹go forth› to war with the sons of Benyamin my brother, or shall I forebear?” And Yahweh said, “Ascend, in that tomorrow I shall give him into thine hand.”48

Israel’s third assault succeeds49

29

And Israel set ‹lyings-in-wait›50 unto Gibeah, surrounding,

30

and the sons of Israel ascended unto the sons of Benyamin in the third day, and arrayed themselves unto Gibeah as time by time.

31

And the sons of Benyamin ‹came forth› to meet the people, torn away51 from the city, and started to smite from the people the pierced,52 as time by time, in the highways, of which one ascends to Beth-El and one to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel;

32

and the sons of Benyamin said, “They are stricken before our face, as at the head.”53 And the sons of Israel had said, “Let us flee, and tear them away from the city unto the highways.”

33

And every man of Israel rose from his place, and they arrayed in Ba’al-Tamar,54 and the ‹lying-in-wait›55 of Israel burst56 from their place, from west57 of Gibeah;

34

and there ‹came in› from opposite58 to Gibeah ten thousand men chosen from all Israel. And the war was heavy,59 and they knew not that the bad60 was touching61 upon them,

35

and Yahweh struck Benyamin before the face of Israel, and the sons of Israel destroyed in Benyamin in that day twenty and five thousand and one hundred men, all these drawing sword.

36

And the sons of Benyamin saw that they were struck, and the men of Israel gave place to Benyamin in that they were confident in the ‹lying-in-wait› which they had set unto Gibeah,62

37

and the ‹lying-in-wait› hurried and tore63 upon Gibeah, and the ‹lying-in-wait› drew64 and smote all the city with the mouth of the sword.

Benyamin put under the ban65

38

And there was an ‹appointed time›66 for the men of Israel with the ‹lying-in-wait›: they must ascend an abounding uplifting67 of smoke from the city,

39

and the men of Israel would turn68 in the war. And Benyamin had started to smite the pierced of the men of Israel, as unto thirty men, in that, they said, “He is just stricken struck before our face as unto the head war.”

40

And the uplifting started to ascend from the city, a pillar69 of smoke, and Benyamin faced behind and lo, the entire70 city ascending to the heavens;71

41

and the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benyamin were dismayed, in that they saw that the bad touched upon them,

42

and they about-faced before the face of the men of Israel, unto the way of the wilderness, and the war clutched72 after him,73 and those from the cities; they destroyed him in his midst.74

43

They encircled Benyamin; they pursued him; at his ‹resting-place›75 they trod on him76 until before Gibeah77 toward the rising of the sun;78

44

and there fell from Benyamin eighteen thousand men; all these, men of capability,

45

and they about-faced and fled toward the wilderness, unto the crag79 of Rimmon.80 And they abased of him in the highways five thousand men, and clutched after81 him until Gidom, and smote from him two thousand men;

46

and it was, all those falling from Benyamin were twenty and five thousand men drawing sword in that day; all these men of capability.

47

And there about-faced and fled toward the wilderness, unto the crag of Rimmon, six hundred men, and ·they dwelt in the crag of Rimmon four ‹new moons›.82

48

And the men of Israel ‹turned back› unto the sons of Benyamin and smote them with the mouth of the sword from the city, from people until beast83 until all that they found; also all the cities they found they ‹sent forth› in fire.

Footnotes

  1. Mitzpah. “Watchtower” or “lookout.” The exact location of Mitzpah of Gilead is unknown, but it is to the east of the Jordan, making it a somewhat strange location for Israel to gather at. It is where Yiphtah cuts covenant “before the face of Yahweh” with the elders of Gilead (cf. [[Judges 11#11|Jdg 11:11]], [[Judges 11#29|29]]); but what this phrase denotes is not entirely clear. The most natural assumption is that they are coming to God’s house, but the information in Judges seems conflicted on this point. We may infer from [[Judges 2#1|Jdg 2:1]] that the house of God is in Bokim, which appears to be another name for Beth-El: verses 26–28 of our chapter reveal this to be where the ark of the covenant is during this time, using the same language of coming “before the face of Yahweh.” This comports also with the story of the Levite in [[Judges 19#18|19:18]] that he is traveling through Ephraim to the house of Yahweh, since Beth-El is in the northeast of Ephraim. However, [[Judges 18#31|18:31]] implies that the house of God was in Shiloh, which is also in Ephraim, but certainly not the same location, being a little further south. Possibly chapter 18 occurs before chapter 19, and the house of God was moved to Shiloh between these events; certainly it was located there by the time of Shamuel (Samuel), who lived conterminously with Shimshon. But this still leaves the puzzle of Mitzpah, well to the east across the Jordan. My best guess is that a second location was established there for the sake of those living so far away, with such a significant natural barrier between them and the “true” house in Beth-El/Shiloh. Some commentators suggest an alternative explanation: that the house of God was in Mizpah, but the ark of the covenant was in Beth-El/Shiloh. I don’t think this is tenable, not only because it cannot explain the Levite’s route ([[Judges 19#18|19:18]]), but also because it fails to engage with the nature of the ark as the “seat” of Yahweh. If the ark is his throne, then wherever it is will be his house, the royal palace. It remains a mystery to me, then, what exactly was in Mitzpah, and also why Israel gathered in such a remote location, when Beth-El seems so much more convenient, both for its centrality, and its ease of access to the immediately-adjacent land of Benyamin. Perhaps the angel of Yahweh himself mustered them to this location. ↩

  2. corners (pinnah). Trad. “chiefs,” but the word really is “corner.” It derives from a root meaning “face,” but in this case, in English a face connotes the opposite of a vertex. The symbolism of men being “corners” is hardly more difficult for an English reader to grasp than Jesus being the “cornerstone.” ↩

  3. rods (shevet). Trad. “tribes,” but the Hebrew word simply means rod. In this case, the rod in view is a scepter, although also possibly a branch; the image is multifaceted. ↩

  4. four hundred thousand. This is a staggeringly large number; some commentators confidently assert that Israel could never in its history have deployed so many men. Given the calculated use of the word “corners” in this verse (one of only three times it is used this way in scripture), the number seems likely to be symbolic, indicating cosmic completion. I am not certain about how literal symbolic numbers were expected to be, but absent any guardrails to prevent a slide into total skepticism, I assume they are historical. ↩

  5. men (ish). Heb. “man” (and throughout most of the chapter). It seems to be an idiosynrasy of Hebrew to speak this way (as an Englishman, for example, might speak of “four hundred ton” rather than “tons”), but it also reiterates the emphasis on Israel acting as one man. ↩

  6. killed (ratsach). The same word used in [[Exodus 20#13|Ex 20:13]]. ↩

  7. imagined (damah). The same root is used in [[Genesis 1#26|Gen 1:26]], where it means “likeness.” The sense is that the men of Gibeah had the likeness, the image, of slaying the Levite in their minds. ↩

  8. field (sedeh). A curious choice of words, especially given the connotation of the field built up earlier in Judges 9. However, here it appears to be hearkening back to [[Judges 1#14|Jdg 1:14]], where Aksah induces of Caleb a field. This episode is set in obvious contrast to the slavewife through the inversion of Aksah descending from the ass to receive a blessing, while the slavewife is placed upon it after being abased. ↩

  9. purposefulness (zimmah). The root means to purpose, often but not always with a negative connotation (e.g., Genesis 11:6; Job 17:17). The noun is particularly used in a similar way that we might speak of willfulness in English, and here seems especially to allude back to Leviticus 18:17; 19:29; 20:14, which all speak of particular kinds of sexual perverseness perpetrated against women. ↩

  10. all ye are sons of Israel. Or, “all ye sons of Israel.” Following both Young and Alter, I take this as implying a verb because the other reading doesn’t seem to make as much sense. The Levite is essentially deferring to the wisdom of Israel as a whole. ↩

  11. render (yahav). Like “purposefulness” in verse 6, this word is relatively rare, and also used in Genesis 11 (three times). However, here the allusion seems to once again be especially to [[Judges 1#15|Jdg 1:15]], where Aksah induces Caleb to “render” to her a blessing. ↩

  12. ten men to a hundred. This is a tithe, which here appears to be “gathered” for purely strategic and logistical purposes. It becomes intriguing, however, when exactly one tenth of Israel’s number are later decimated (a rare proper use of this term) by Benyamin in the first two forays. ↩

  13. gathered (asaph). Cf. [[Judges 19#15|Jdg 19:15]], [[Judges 19#18|18]]. ↩

  14. bound (chaver). See note on [[Deuteronomy 18#11|Dt 18:11]]. ↩

  15. bound as one man. Or, perhaps, “as one man, a binding.” ↩

  16. hath been (hayah). Or “exists;” this is the verb “to be” in Hebrew. ↩

  17. purge (ba’ar). More literally, “cause to be consumed,” which can refer to eating (Ex 22:5) or burning (Isa 4:4), but this is needlessly convoluted, and the piel form of the verb does suit it to a stronger word like “purge.” ↩

  18. visited (paqad). I have chosen to render this word consistently with the very broad term “visit,” and let the reader do the work of filling it with the new meaning of “muster,” “inspect,” or “number.” To understand its full sense, see the note on [[Judges 15#1|Jdg 15:1]]. ↩

  19. twenty and six thousand. While Israel has an army nearly twenty times larger, an army whose number signals cosmic completion, Benyamin has a small army whose number is the same as the gematria of Yahweh—26 (yod = 10; hey = 5; vav = 6; so yod + hey + vav + hey = 26). Something mysterious is happening here: Benyamin are the “bad guys,” but their number aligns with Yahweh, and they follow the pattern of Yahwistic victory over vastly superior numbers by defeating Israel twice. The text appears to be signaling in advance that God is actually on Benyamin’s side. This is perplexing from a moral point of view, but it is actually entirely predictable from a providential one, because Judges has repeatedly established that the cycle of judgment involves God selling Israel into the hand of its enemies before saving them. In order for that to happen, God must actually be fighting for Israel’s enemies; he must be on the “wrong side” during this initial judgment. Judges 20 has not departed from the Judges Cycle; it is elaborating on it. Israel is under judgment for leaving God, particularly because its Levites have left God. She has presumed to take kingship on herself in judging the matter of Gibeah, instead of upholding God’s kingship by obeying his laws for judicature: there is no corroborating witness, no cross-examination, no diligent inquiry; only a snap judgment on the basis of a partial witness’ carefully-spun and deceptive account. God will now forcibly extract the tribute he is due through the tithe he takes from Israel by the hand of Benyamin, before turning to judge Benyamin also, as he always does with the enemies he brings against his own people. ↩

  20. seven hundred. As Benyamin’s number corresponds to the name of Yahweh, so Gibeah’s number corresponds with the sabbath of Yahweh; it is a perfect, holy force of God’s judgment. Again, however, this does not mean a morally just force with an upright cause. ↩

  21. chosen. Bachar is a verb here, but the connotation seems to be adjectival: “choice men.” ↩

  22. from all this people were seven hundred men chosen. The text is ambiguous, but seems to indicate that there are two groups of seven hundred: firstly, the seven hundred from Gibeah; secondly, an elite force chosen from the total 26,700 troops. Two lots of 700 is one for each hand, or one for each day of impending judgment upon Israel. ↩

  23. fastened of their right hand. Cf. [[Judges 3#15|Jdg 3:15]]. This is an idiom meaning that they are lefthanded, which is intentionally comical in Hebrew because the right hand is yad yamin, from which ben-yamin, “son of my right (hand)” originates. ↩

  24. a hair. Heb. “the hair.” ↩

  25. missing (chata). In addition to the “bound up” yamins, there is further thick and dreadful irony here, unfortunately elided in modern Bibles which translate chata inconsistently as “sin” in most cases. Obviously it is not the sense of the phrase here that the men could sling at a hair without sinning; rather, they could sling at a hair without missing. However, “sin” really means to miss, and I translate it as “do amiss” elsewhere. ↩

  26. one (ze). Lit. “this;” we could therefore translate, “all these men of war.” I prefer a translation that preserves the overall emphasis of this chapter on the singularity of the people. ↩

  27. Beth-El. Or “the house of God.” Verse 27 indicates that this should be taken as a place name, for the reader might suppose that the ark of God was already in Shiloh at this point (see note on [[#Judges 20#1|verse 1]]; cf. [[Judges 19#18|Jdg 19:18]]). ↩

  28. for war. The Hebrew here is a noun, rather than the verb in 1:1. ↩

  29. Who shall ascend for us in the start, for war with the sons of Benyamin? Cf. [[Judges 1#1|Jdg 1:1]]. The sons of Benyamin are cast here as Cana’anites. However, Israel notably does not ask God if he will be with them in this battle, nor do they seek his favor and fellowship through ascension and shalom offerings. They assume all this, with high-handed presumption. ↩

  30. Yehudah in the start. As Alter notes, this is an extremely terse response, and reflects the fact that Israel’s heart is not right before God. They have not sought counsel about whether to go up; only about who should lead the battle. They have not sought favor with God or offered sacrifices to secure shalom between them. God thus responds with only the barest factual answer to their question; he does not actually tell them they should go up yet, but given the choice they have made to do this, obviously Yehudah should lead, since he is the kingly tribe. ↩

  31. arrayed (’arak). The previous two instances of this word in [[Judges 6#26|Jdg 6:26]]; [[Judges 17#10|17:10]] are both religiously-freighted. ↩

  32. two and twenty thousand men. The outcome hits abruptly, and certainly unexpectedly for the inattentive reader who has not been paying care to the prior clues in the text. Twenty-two thousand is, again, a multiple of 11, that perennial number in the book of Judges. ↩

  33. destroyed…to the land. This is a curious expression, repeated in verse 25, and used nowhere else in scripture except [[Genesis 38#9|Gen 38:9]]: “And Onan knew that the seed would not be for him, and it was, if he came in unto the woman of his brother, and he destroyed it to the land, to not give seed to his brother.” We could also translate this, “he wasted it on the ground.” Here, Benyamin “lays waste” to Israel “to the ground.” This allusion indicates that a cutting off of progeny is in view, which will become ironic once God enters the battle and cuts off Benyamin’s progeny—the restoration of which is the theme of chapter 21. ↩

  34. head (rishon). I.e., the first day. The root is rosh, “head.” ↩

  35. And the sons of Israel ascended and wept before the face of Yahweh until the evening. There is no contradiction between this verse and the previous one; the “people,” being the main army, array themselves again, but they do not attack until they receive word from their representatives who have ascended again to Beth-El. ↩

  36. shall I add. The Hebrew verb is in the first person. ↩

  37. draw near (nagash). Cf. [[Judges 9#52|Jdg 9:52]] and note. ↩

  38. the sons of Israel wept…and asked of Yahweh, “Shall I add to draw near for war with the sons Benyamin, my brother? Now some progress is made, but this is still worldly sorrow producing death, not godly repentance leading to life. They weep, and they double-check with God about continuing their plan, but they still do not seek God’s favor; they still do not ensure fellowship with God, which is only possible through sacrifice. ↩

  39. And Yahweh said, “Ascend unto him. God does not assure them of victory; he sends them out for further judgment. ↩

  40. brought themselves near (qarav). Cf. [[Judges 3#17|Jdg 3:17]]–[[Judges 3#18|18]]. ↩

  41. the second day. Or, “day two.” Given the distance to Beth-El, and the stated timing of weeping until evening, it seems that the “second day” is the second day of battle, not the second day simpliciter. From Gibeah to Beth-El is around 12–15 km (7–9 mi), a trip that would take the better part of an hour, even on horseback, meaning that if the people were to attack again on the same day their elders wept before Yahweh, they would have been launching their offensive at twilight. This seems very unlikely. ↩

  42. still eighteen thousand men. This is the remaining portion of the tithe God demands (22,000 + 18,000 = 40,000, one tenth of the whole army). It seems likely to me that we are supposed to see in this a reflection of Israel’s poor treatment of the Levites, to whom the tithe was owed; which in turn is connected to the Levites’ poor representation of God. It seems like no coincidence that the two examples of Levites at the end of Judges are men who have a decidedly disordered relationship with the provision of other Israelites. No one is doing what they ought in Israel, and the result is that God must forcibly put things back in their place. ↩

  43. Beth-El. Or “the house of God.” ↩

  44. fasted…and ascended ascensions and shalom offerings. Fasting is associated with repentance and the covering of sin; Yom Kippur, the day of coverings, was the one day in the year that Israelites were required to afflict their souls by fasting (Num 29:7; cf. Ps 35:13; Ez 8:21). Ascensions are the standard offering to God from the time of Noah and the patriarchs, representing the complete giving of the supplicant himself to God, as he ascends into his presence through death and the fire of judgment. Shalom offerings are then a meal in God’s presence, as an assurance of restored fellowship. Curiously absent is any sin offering, which one might well expect to precede these two others (Lev 4:1–6:7). Indeed, the offering of Leviticus 6:1ff seems especially pertinent! Possibly we should infer that Israel is so badly off theologically that they still don’t see the need for this offering, or don’t even know to make it. Either way, God is certainly very gracious to overlook its absence. ↩

  45. Pinhas. Trad. Phinehas. ↩

  46. Aharon. Trad Aaron. ↩

  47. took his stand (amad). Cf. [[Judges 7#21|Jdg 7:21]]; [[Judges 9#7|9:7]]; [[Judges 16#25|16:25]]. ↩

  48. tomorrow I shall give him into thine hand. Now that Israel is acting in repentance, faith, and the fear of the Lord, God immediately promises to fight for them. ↩

  49. This episode transparently rehearses the sacking of Ai in Joshua 8, thus drawing a parallel between the idolatrous Canaanites of Ai and the Benyamites of Gibeah. This is a new cleansing of the promised land by herem warfare. The connection to Ai also raises the question of where Israel got the battle strategy they now employ. It seems hardly likely that they just happened to change tactics on the third attack, especially since God has now promised them victory; if anything, this promise would give them confidence in taking the same strategy as before. I believe we should conclude, as we should in other cases of God fighting for Israel, that Yahweh himself provided the battle plan. This is depicted in Joshua 6:2, and simply assumed from that point onward. ↩

  50. lyings in wait (arav). Or “ambushes.” The word is a verb, not a noun. ↩

  51. torn away (nataq). Cf. the curious coincidence of words in [[Judges 16#9|Jdg 16:9]], [[Judges 16#12|12]], where there are also liers-in-wait when Shimson “tears apart” the cords from his arms. ↩

  52. pierced (chalal). I.e., wounded. ↩

  53. as at the head. I.e., as at first, or as at the beginning. Lit, “as in the head,” but this is a needlessly confusing construction in English because it suggests the people are stricken as if in their heads. ↩

  54. Ba’al-Tamar. Master of the Palm (tree). ↩

  55. lying-in-wait. The first appearance of this verb in verse 29 is plural. All the rest are singular. ↩

  56. burst (giach). A rare word in scripture and the first time it is used, although the root is used once previously in Gen 2:3 (“Gihon”). The Israelites are depicted like a river breaking forth upon Gibeah. ↩

  57. west of Gibeah. The received text reads ma’areh gib’a, “the bare place of Giba.” Two factors make me think this is a corruption. Firstly, ma’areh is a hapax in scripture, making it somewhat suspect, especially because it’s hard to understand how so many Israelites could hide on bare land. Secondly, gib’a seems to obviously be a corruption of gib’ah (Gibeah). LXX A reads “west of Gibeah,” which suggests its scribes were working from a Hebrew manuscript that read m’rb (“west”) rather than m’rh (vowel pointings came much later). LXX B, however, takes this as a place name, Maaragabe. Either the manuscript tradition had already diverged into these two readings, or LXX A is doing what I am doing and saying, “That doesn’t seem to make sense, it must mean west, not bare place.” On balance I think that a direction is more likely, as this fits the geography, while a bare place could not plausibly conceal an army. ↩

  58. from opposite (neged). Or, “in front of.” This is the word first used in [[Genesis 2#18|Gen 2:18]] to refer to how Eve is a counterpart to Adam; it derives from nagad, “to be apparent,” and essentially refers to something right in front of you. Thus the NET’s gloss that they “made a frontal assault.” ↩

  59. heavy (kavad). This is the same root from which we get the word traditionally translated “glory.” ↩

  60. the bad (ra’). Here is a good example of how varied this word is, and the difficulty of trying to explain it in translation. The ASV says “evil,” the NET says “disaster.” In the Hebrew, “the bad” is at the end of the sentence, which adds a certain rhetorical force, but imo this effect is lost in English due to the grammatical awkwardness. ↩

  61. touching (naga’). This is the word first used in [[Genesis 3#3|Gen 3:3]] of touching the tree of knowledge. There also seems to be a pun here, in that Benyamin think in verse 32 that the Israelites are “stricken” (nagaph), but in fact it is they who are about to be “touched” (naga’) by calamity. ↩

  62. and the men of Israel gave place…they were confident in the lying-in-wait which they had set unto Gibeah. This appears to be describing again the strategy used, of Israel giving ground to Benyamin to draw them out, with the initial “and” serving causatively to explain why they were struck. Hence ASV, “for the men of Israel gave place.” ↩

  63. tore (pashat). See note on [[Judges 9#33|Jdg 9:33]]. The NET, however, takes this in the sense of “stripping off” their concealment. Possibly the ambiguity is intentional to further heighten the sense of action. ↩

  64. drew (mashak). Cf. [[Judges 4#6|Jdg 4:6]]–[[Judges 4#7|7]]. It is not clear how we should understand this. Did the ambush draw themselves out (YLT), draw themselves along (ASV), or draw together (Alter)? Is this describing them advancing (LEB, LXX-A), spreading out (NKJV, LXX-B), or merely deploying (NET)? It seems the exact meaning is less important perhaps than the connection to Judges 4. A large number of words in this passage seem to allude back to key episodes in Judges. ↩

  65. The following section appears to recapitulate the prior summary of Benyamin’s defeat, providing more detail about the strategy used, and especially focusing on the herem element. ↩

  66. appointed time (mo’ed). This is the word first introduced in [[Genesis 1#14|Gen 1:14]], and has distinctly liturgical overtones, being used in Genesis 17:21; Exodus 13:10; 23:15; and notably ubiquitously of the tent of “meeting,” which is literally the tent of appointed times, which functions as a metonymy for the assembly which occurs at such times. Here in Judges most translations interpret it as an appointed sign, but this does not seem necessary; the idea is that when the smoke rises, this is the appointed time for rising up against Gibeah. ↩

  67. uplifting (masshe’et). This is a rare word in scripture, but has connotations of sacrifice and gift-giving; it is only used once previously in scripture, of the gifts sent by Yoseph to his brothers (Gen 43:34). It is later used in the same way of David’s gift to Uriah (2 Sam 11:8), and also of the tax of Moses (2 Chr 24:6), the uplifting of hands at sacrifice (Ps 141:2), and oblations (Ezek 20:40). ↩

  68. turn (haphak). Another relatively rare word, but used twice in [[Judges 7#13|Jdg 7:13]]. ↩

  69. pillar (ammud). The same word used in Exodus 13:21. It seems to me the allusions to Exodus 13 are suggestive, given that this passage is about the dedication of the firstborn to Yahweh, and Benyamin is the lastborn of Israel. ↩

  70. entire (kalil). Another rare word, and one exclusively used before this point in a liturgical context, especially of offerings entirely devoted to Yahweh (Lev 6:22–23; Dt 13:16; 33:10). ↩

  71. the entire city ascending to the heavens. Or, “the city ascending entirely to the heavens,” but here “entire” is an adjective, and this has been the determining factor in choosing between these options. ↩

  72. clutched (davaq). See [[Judges 18#22|Jdg 18:22]] and note. ↩

  73. him. The construction here is singular; cf. the next verse. ↩

  74. they destroyed him in his midst. The text is a little perplexing here, and I wonder if there is a similar construction used somewhere else that this is alluding to. ↩

  75. resting-place (menuchah). The LXX assumes minnochah, “from Nohah;” either way, the root is the same word from which we get Noah, and Manoah in [[Judges 13#|Jdg 13:2]]. ↩

  76. they trod on him (derek). The single verb here is from the root whose noun is usually translated “way,” as in the previous verse. A more dynamic rendering would be, “They walked all over him.” ↩

  77. until before Gibeah. The same construction is used at the onset of this sorry tale, “until before Yebus,” in [[Judges 19#10|Jdg 19:10]]. ↩

  78. the rising of the sun. I.e., toward the east. The term “sun” here is shemesh, from which we get Shimshon (Samson), making two connections to his story in this verse. ↩

  79. crag (sela’). Another apparent connection to Shimson; cf. [[Judges 15#8|Jdg 15:8]]. ↩

  80. Rimmon. “Pomegranate.” Also the name of a Syrian deity. ↩

  81. after (achar). Here the word is supplied in Hebrew; cf. v 42. ↩

  82. four new moons. The same time the Levite’s slavewife was in the house of her father in [[Judges 19#2|Jdg 19:2]]. ↩

  83. from people until beast. I am following the NET and Alter in supposing that the Masoretic me’ir metom, “from a city of soundness,” is a corruption of me’ir metim, “from a city, from people…” ↩