שופטים, פרק כ׳, פסוק ל״ז

While the enemy's main army was lured away in pursuit, leaving their city completely unprotected, a hidden Israelite strike force seized the perfect moment to launch a rapid assault. The ambush was executed in precise, swift stages as part of a carefully coordinated strategy. Exactly as the main Israelite army feigned a retreat to draw the enemy out into the open, the hidden troops sprang into action. Their ultimate goal was to trap the opposing army from two directions at once, using a smoke signal to coordinate the final blow [מלבי״ם, מצודת דוד].

The hidden soldiers first hurried from their positions, acting with extreme speed [מצודת ציון, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Immediately afterward, they spread out, deploying across the city in a calculated combat formation [מצודת ציון, מצודת דוד]. As the attack progressed, the troops pushed forward. This advance is viewed by some as a deep physical penetration into the city [מצודת דוד, רד״ק], perhaps with the commander actively drawing the rest of the soldiers inside after him [רש״י]. This physical takeover implies a sustained effort, as fully conquering the city and overcoming its inhabitants naturally took time to complete [מלבי״ם]. Alternatively, this phase of the assault is understood not as physical movement, but as a sudden burst of sound, with the ambushers blowing a long blast on a shofar and shouting to shock the remaining defenders [רש״י, רד״ק]. Ultimately, the raid ended in total devastation as the strike force put all the inhabitants of the city to the edge of the sword [מצודת ציון].