John Gill Commentary Judges 20:38

"Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers-in-wait was, that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city." — Judges 20:38 (ASV)

Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and
the liers in wait
Or an appointed time ^F26 as the Targum; so Kimchi and Abarbinel. There was a time fixed, at which the men of Israel proposed to be at Baaltamar, exactly when the Benjaminites would be drawn at a proper distance from the city, and then the liers in wait were to break forth, and rush upon it, and enter it:

and that they should make a great flame with smoke to rise up out of
the city ;
set it on fire, and cause the fire to burn fiercely, that there might be a large ascent of flame and smoke to be seen afar off; which, when the men of Israel saw, they would know the city was taken.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F26: (dewmh) "tempus constitutum", Panginus, Montanus, Junius et Tremellius, Piscator.