What Does Judges 20:36 Mean?
So the children of Benjamin saw that they were struck, for the men of Israel gave ground to the Benjamites, because they leaned their full weight upon the men lying in wait that they had set beside Gibeah.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah.THE KEY
Israel’s apparent retreat is space deliberately granted to Benjamin, the opening its hidden ambush needs.
THE MEANING
Here, Israel’s men give Benjamin room while relying on the ambush they have set beside Gibeah; the retreat is a tactical opening within the violence of the battle. Benjamin sees its defeat as the hidden strike turns that opening into the place of the blow.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that visible retreat proves an opponent is defeated: the apparent withdrawal is part of a concealed attack.
THE ROOT
וַיִּתְּנוּ
vayyitnu
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
Give, set, place.
“gave place” in this verse is vayyitnu. The phrase pairs וַיִּתְּנוּ (vayyitnu, they gave) with מָקוֹם (maqom, place): the space is actively granted. Israel’s apparent retreat is a deliberate setting of the conditions for the ambush.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This verb’s range makes the men’s action more than a passive loss of ground: they grant space to Benjamin.
mattanah: Gift, present.
מַתָּנָה
A gift is something given; this branch echoes the root’s sense of placing something within another’s reach.
הָאָרֵב
ha’orev
GROWS FROM
ארב
ʾ-r-b
Lie in wait; ambush.
“men lying in wait” in this verse is ha’orev. The Hebrew keeps the hidden action and the one who performs it within the same root family. That concealed action explains why Israel can yield ground while still relying on its plan.
ALSO GROWS
ma’arav: Ambush.
מַאֲרָב
This noun names the concealed attack Israel has set beside Gibeah.
orev: One who lies in wait.
אֹרֵב
This form names the hidden agent whose presence makes the apparent retreat dangerous.
נִגָּפוּ
niggafu
GROWS FROM
נגף
n-g-p
Strike; stumble; be struck down.
The root carries the force of an actual blow, so “smitten” here is a bodily defeat, not just a change in fortune. The same root appears with “ambush” in 2 Chronicles 20:22, joining the hidden attack and those struck down across both verses.
ALSO GROWS
maggephah: Plague, slaughter, or defeat.
מַגֵּפָה
This noun carries the root’s sense of a striking blow into a larger outbreak of harm.
negef: A stroke, blow, or calamity.
נֶגֶף
This branch makes explicit the striking force held within the word translated “smitten.”
THE PATTERN
A visible retreat can conceal a reversal already set in motion.
And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were struck down before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.And the children of Benjamin said, They are struck down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city onto the raised roads.When they began to shout and to praise, the LORD set those who lie in wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were struck down.THE THREAD
When they began to shout and to praise, the LORD set those who lie in wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were struck down.The Hebrew roots ארב (ʾ-r-b, ambush) and נגף (n-g-p, strike down) appear together in both verses. Judges shows Israel yielding ground while relying on the hidden strike; Chronicles uses the same roots to join ambush and defeat in another battle.
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