Bible Strands
Judges 20:40
But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, the Benjamites looked behind them and saw the whole city going up in smoke.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the Benjamite warriors at Gibeah, who glance backward during a feigned retreat to gauge their pursuit of the Israelite forces. This observation occurs at the exact moment the Israelites execute their counteroffensive.
The words — עַמּ֣וּד עָשָׁ֑ן ('a.Mud 'a.Shan) translates literally as "pillar of smoke," while הֵחֵ֛לָּה לַ/עֲל֥וֹת (he.Che.lah la./'a.Lot) means "it began to go up." These terms identify the visual signal that confirms the city's burning.
The thread — The rising smoke motif appears when the men of Ai look back at Joshua 8:20, parallels Joel’s prophetic signs in Joel 2:30, and anticipates the eternal judgment imagery of Revelation 19:3. It operates as a recurring biblical marker of confirmed destruction.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to note how a signal of anticipated victory instantly becomes proof of catastrophic reversal. It asks the reader to recognize that sudden exposure of ruin dismantles human tactical confidence without exception.
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The Hebrew words
King James Version
But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven.
Cross-references
- Joshua 8:20 When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers.
- Joel 2:30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.
- Revelation 19:3 And a second time they called out: “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises forever and ever.”
- Genesis 19:28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.
- Song of Solomon 3:6 Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from all the spices of the merchant?