8 Then all the people got up as one man and said, Not one of us will go to his tent or go back to his house: 9 But this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by the decision of the Lord; 10 And we will take ten men out of every hundred, through all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, a thousand out of every ten thousand, to get food for the people, so that they may give to Gibeah of Benjamin the right punishment for the act of shame they have done in Israel. 11 So all the men of Israel were banded together against the town, united like one man.
12 And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin saying, What is this evil which has been done among you? 13 Now give up those good-for-nothing persons in Gibeah so that we may put them to death, clearing away the evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not give ear to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel. 14 And the children of Benjamin came together from all their towns to Gibeah, to go to war with the children of Israel. 15 And the children of Benjamin who came that day from the towns were twenty-six thousand men armed with swords, in addition to the people of Gibeah, numbering seven hundred of the best fighting-men, 16 Who were left-handed, able to send a stone at a hair without error. 17 And the men of Israel, other than Benjamin, were four hundred thousand in number, all armed with swords; they were all men of war.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Judges 20:8-17
Chapter Contents
The tribe of Benjamin nearly extirpated.
The Israelites' abhorrence of the crime committed at Gibeah, and their resolution to punish the criminals, were right; but they formed their resolves with too much haste and self-confidence. The eternal ruin of souls will be worse, and more fearful, than these desolations of a tribe.