39. When the men of Israel. It seems to make better sense to include the first part of 39 with the last part of 38 as a description of the plan that the Israelites agreed upon. The two clauses may then be understood as stating, “They should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city and then the men of Israel should turn in battle.” Having stated the plan, the author of the book takes up the account of the sequence of events with the words “Benjamin began to smite.” He then describes how the scheme worked out, exactly as planned ( 40, 41). The Benjamites saw the smoke of their city ascending behind them, and about the same time the heretofore fleeing Israelite forces suddenly turned in their flight and began to offer stiff resistance. Then the men of Benjamin recognized that they had been tricked and that they were caught between the Israelite forces with little chance of escape.
