‘ And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. And they began to smite and to kill some of the people as at other times, in the high ways, of which one goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, in the country, about thirty men of Israel.'
The children of Israel went into retreat drawing the Benjaminites after them into the highways in the open country going towards Bethel. The Benjaminites, exulting in this further success, followed them leaving Gibeah relatively undefended. And they killed thirty men of Israel. But this time the rapid retreat had prevented maximum use of the slingers.
“Thirty men.” A round number signifying the complete number of the killed with an indication that it was not too many. This puts the previous figures in context. We have not previously been told the number of actual deaths, only the number of units disabled and crushed, but going by this it was seemingly not huge. And the Benjaminites saw this as similar to the previous actions, ‘as at first'.
“Gibeah in the country” may possibly identify another Gibeah, which would signify that the children of Israel divided their forces (and thus the enemy), or the description may be of the main highway (going between Bethel and Jerusalem) and the highway that led off towards Gibeah.