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Judges 20:40
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38 Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was that they would make a great cloud of asmoke rise up from the city,  
39 whereupon the men of Israel would turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun1 to strike and kill about thirty of the men of Israel. For they said, “Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.”  
40 But when the cloud began to rise from the city in a column of smoke, the Benjamites alooked behind them, and there was the whole city going up in smoke to heaven.  
41 And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them.
42 Therefore they1 turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them, and whoever came out of the cities they destroyed in their midst.  
43 They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and easily trampled them down as far as the front of Gibeah toward the east.
44 And eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell; all these were men of valor.
45 Then1 they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of aRimmon; and they cut down five thousand of them on the highways. Then they pursued them relentlessly up to Gidom, and killed two thousand of them.  
46 So all who fell of Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all these were1 men of valor.  
47 aBut six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and they stayed at the rock of Rimmon for four months.  
48 And the men of Israel turned back against the children of Benjamin, and struck them down with the edge of the sword—from every city, men and beasts, all who were found. They also set fire to all the cities they came to.
Book Notes:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Book Notes

Judges

JUDGES is the title given to the next book, from its containing the history of those non-regal rulers who governed the Hebrews from the time of Joshua to that of Eli, and whose functions in time of peace consisted chiefly in the administration of justice, although they occasionally led the people in their wars against their public enemies. The date and authorship of this book are not precisely known. It is certain, however, that it preceded the Second Book of Samuel (compare Judges 9:35 with II Samuel 11:21), as well as the conquest of Jerusalem by David (compare Judges 1:21 with II Samuel 5:6). Its author was in all probability Samuel, the last of the judges (see Judges 19:1; Judges 21:25), and the date of the first part of it is fixed in the reign of Saul, while the five chapters at the close might not have been written till after David's establishment as king in Israel (see Judges 18:31). It is a fragmentary history, being a collection of important facts and signal deliverances at different times and in various parts of the land, during the intermediate period of three hundred years between Joshua and the establishment of the monarchy. The inspired character of this book is confirmed by allusions to it in many passages of Scripture (compare Judges 4:2; Judges 6:14 with I Samuel 12:9-12; Judges 9:53 with II Samuel 11:21; Judges 7:25 with Psalms 83:11; compare Judges 5:4-5 with Psalms 7:5; Judges 13:5; Judges 16:17 with Matthew 2:13-23; Acts 13:20; Hebrews 11:32).

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