Bible Strands
Judges 20:15
On that day the Benjamites mobilized 26,000 swordsmen from their cities, in addition to the 700 select men of Gibeah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the immediate military mobilization of the tribe of Benjamin as they gather at Gibeah to confront the rest of Israel. This occurs at the opening of the civil war campaign detailed in Judges 20.
The words — וַ/יִּתְפָּֽקְדוּ֩ (va/yitpaqdeu) translates literally as "and they were mustered," denoting a formal military census. עֶשְׂרִ֨ים (esrim) and וְ/שִׁשָּׁ֥ה (veshesh) combine to specify the exact count of twenty-six thousand swordsmen.
The thread — Formal tribal registration appears in Numbers 1:37 and Numbers 26:41, where Benjamin's population is recorded for administrative purposes. The ongoing military exchange between Benjamin and the other tribes continues in Judges 20:25.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to note that a formal military count precedes the battle, establishing the scale of the tribal coalition. It demands attention to the precise numbers as a factual record of the impending conflict rather than a theological statement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Numbers 26:41 These were the clans of Benjamin, and their registration numbered 45,600.
- Numbers 1:37 those registered to the tribe of Benjamin numbered 35,400.
- Judges 20:25 That same day the Benjamites came out against them from Gibeah and cut down another 18,000 Israelites, all of them armed with swords.
- Judges 20:35 The LORD defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and on that day the Israelites slaughtered 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords.
- Judges 20:46 That day 25,000 Benjamite swordsmen fell, all men of valor.