But the battle overtook them, &c.— Houbigant renders this, but the battle overtook them, from the liers in wait, who came, surrounded them, and destroyed them on every side; moreover they pursued them, and trod them under foot, from Noah, even to the east side of Gibeah. See his note.
REFLECTIONS.—Confounded at their repeated losses, the whole congregation assemble before the Lord at Shiloh. 1. In deep affliction they compass God's altar, humbling their souls under a sense of conscious guilt, and crying for pardon and help from him who alone can save either body or soul from ruin. They offer sacrifices of atonement, and peace-offerings; and having now rejected every vain confidence, and inquired of God, not only whether they should go up, but whether they should succeed, God gives them assurance of victory, and bids them draw near to the battle. Note; (1.) When in true humiliation the soul is brought low before God, the end of its suffering is near. (2.) It is by the one great sacrifice alone, that the sinner can hope for the favour and presence of God.
2. On the divine warrant, they now draw near to the battle, and with a success equal to their most sanguine wishes. Having contrived an ambush near Gibeah, as at Ai, the army advances; but when the Benjamites come forth they retire precipitately. The Benjamites, concluding that they were smitten as before, eagerly pursue, and about thirty men are slain in the retreat. But now the men of Gibeah and Benjamin being at a distance, the ambush arises, and the defenceless city is seized and burnt. At the sight of the ascending smoke, the signal given, the men of Israel face about at Baal-tamar: the battle is renewed; the Benjamites look back, and too late discover the evil which had overtaken them. They are attacked in front and rear at once, routed with ease, and, hemmed in as they are, flight is vain. Eighteen thousand are slain on the spot; five thousand in the pursuit, and two thousand at Gidom, a place to which they had fled, or where they made a stand. Thus the very name of Benjamin had been blotted out, if six hundred men had not escaped to the rock Rimmon; for, in their heat, or for their oath's sake in Mizpeh, they fell upon the cities, burnt them, slew men, women, and children, and every living creature, as they had done by the devoted Canaanites, and left the land swept as with the besom of destruction. Note; (1.) What desolation does sin make on the earth! (2.) It is in vain to fight where God is our foe, or to fly when he pursues. (3.) When God awakes to judgment in the last day, not a sinner shall escape; no rock can then hide, no mountain cover him.