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Judges 20:2

in Judges 20

The leaders of all the people and all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 men on foot, armed with swords.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.

KJV

And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.

This verse in Judges 20

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The chief of all the people - The corners פנות pinnoth; for as the corner-stones are the strength of the walls, so are the chiefs the strength of the people. Hence Christ is called the chief corner-stone. In the assembly of the people of God - The Septuagint translate, And all the tribes of Israel stood up before the face of the Lord, εν εκκλησιᾳ του λαου του Θεου, in the Church of the people of God.

This site's exposition

the congregation assembled as one man

on Judges 20:1-2

The words “as one man” fall three times in this chapter, at verses 1, 8 and 11, and elsewhere in Judges only at 6:16, of Gideon against Midian. Deborah’s song had to name the tribes that stayed home at 5:16 and 5:17 and curse Meroz at 5:23. The one muster in this book that arrives whole is raised against a tribe of Israel, at Mizpah.

This site's exposition

The leaders of all the people

The Hebrew for leaders is pinnoth, the corners, and Clarke explains that the chiefs held the people together as cornerstones hold a wall. Barnes gives the same sense, the corner stones. Clarke adds that the Septuagint calls this assembly of God's people an ekklesia, a church.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

On the Duties of the Clergy 3.19.115-16 · Written before 397.

proposed

When this [what had happened to the concubine] became known, (to be brief) almost all the people of Israel broke out into war.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And the chief of all the people,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The place of their meeting was Mizpeh; they gathered together unto the Lord there, for Mizpeh was so very near to Shiloh that their encampment might very well be supposed to reach from Mizpeh to Shiloh.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

The chief - literally, “the corner stones.” (Compare 1Sa 14:38.)

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיִּֽתְיַצְּב֞וּand they presented themselves

    vaiyityatzevuH3320 →

  • פִּנּ֣וֹת[the] corners of

    pinotH6438 →

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הָעָ֗םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • כֹּ֚לall

    kolH3605 →5413 times

  • שִׁבְטֵ֣י[the] tribes of

    shivteiH7626 →190 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • בִּקְהַ֖לin [the] assembly of

    bikhalH6951 →123 times

  • עַ֣ם[the] people of

    ʾamH5971 →1873 times

  • הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים<the> God

    haelohimH430 →2601 times

  • אַרְבַּ֨עfour

    ʾarba'H702 →318 times

  • מֵא֥וֹתhundred<s>

    meotH3967 →581 times

  • אֶ֛לֶףthousand

    ʾelefH505 →505 times

  • אִ֥ישׁman

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • רַגְלִ֖יon foot

    ragliH7273 →

  • שֹׁ֥לֵֽף[who] drew

    sholefH8025 →25 times

  • חָֽרֶב׃ פa sword

    charevH2719 →413 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Judges 8:10

    Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army of about fifteen thousand men—all that were left of the armies of the people of the east. A hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had…

    it leads to

    • 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.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Judges 7:12

      Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.

    • 2 Kings 3:26

      When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not prevail.

    • Judges 20:15

      On that day the Benjamites mobilized 26,000 swordsmen from their cities, in addition to the 700 select men of Gibeah.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 24:9

    And Joab reported to the king the total number of the troops. In Israel there were 800,000 men of valor who drew the sword, and in Judah there were 500,000.

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 27:23–24

      David did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had said that He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky.

    • 1 Chronicles 21:5–6

      And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah.

    • Numbers 1:44–46

      These were the men numbered by Moses and Aaron, with the assistance of the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family.

  • Through

    Judges 20:15

    On that day the Benjamites mobilized 26,000 swordsmen from their cities, in addition to the 700 select men of Gibeah.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 26:41

      These were the clans of Benjamin, and their registration numbered 45,600.

About Judges

Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.
Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray, 1635. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 3.19.115-16; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.