Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
The reference to the Israelites weeping (Judges 20:23) is significant. This book opened with a reference to the people weeping because of their unfaithfulness to the covenant, manifested in idolatry (Judges 2:4-5). In the middle chapter of the book there is another reference to weeping by Jephthah’s daughter and her friends as a result of Jephthah’s foolish vow (Judges 11:37-38). So weeping frames the book and lies at its heart showing the unhappy outcome of idolatry and self-assertiveness. [Note: McCann, p. 118.] One writer referred to Judges as "a book of weeping." [Note: Tate, p. 34.] 