Judges 8
PATAnd they did dude with him sharply.) Spake very angry words, as if they would have come to blows. thought it more honourable to die by the hand of Gideon, who was a man of as great strength as dignity; and would sooner dispatch them, than a stripling could do. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were about their camels’ netks.) As well as all the ornaments which they wore themselves. The word saharonim is found no where but here, and ver. 26. and in Isaiah iii. 18. where we translate it round tires like the moon. So our margin also in this place, ornaments like the moon; following the LXX. who translate it/njvt’<xkovc, little moons. So ancient was this custom of wearing ornaments of this figure; which was spread afterward over many nations. Huetius thinks it came originally from the Phoenicians, who were the worshippers of Astarte, i. e. the moon; and went from them to the Arabians, who were very anciently devoted to the moon, who propagated it to tho Turks; and the Brachmans also are wont to adorn their heads in the same figure; as he observes in his Demonstr. Evangel, propos. iv. p. 197. -
Judges 8:1
JjlND the men of Ephraim said unto him. When they presented the heads of the two princes unto him. Why hast thou served us thus?] They thought themselves slighted by their brethren of the tribe of Manasseh; which they took the more heinously>because they looked upon themselves to be every way superior to them, by the blessing of Jacob. TJiat thou calledst us not when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites.] As he had done other meaner tribes, (vi. 35.) who were not so able to assist him as themselves;
Judges 8:2
And he said, What have I done noiv in comparison with you?. Proud men love to be praised; and therefore he magnifies their service as far surpassing his own. Is not the gleaning of the grapes ofEphraim, better than the vintage o/Abi-ezer?] A common proverb, I suppose, in those days, whereby they were wont to commend the smallest action of one, assuperior to the greatest of another: and here it is most fitly applied; for it is as if he had said, These scattered parties that you have gleaned and picked up (as we now speak) at the fords of Jordan, are far more than thbse which I and my whole host (as it is called, vii. 15.) have destroyed.
Judges 8:3
God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. Which he was content they should think more considerable than all the common men that he had vanquished. And wliat was I able to do in comparison with you?] To yield unto others the glory which they affect, wonderfully appeases their highest displeasure. Tlien their anger was abated towards him when he had said that.] According to that of Solomon, Prov. xv. 1. This is an argument of the singular modesty and prudence of Gideon, and no, less conspicuous in him than his courage; which is a mixture that rarely meets together, but is absolutely necessary to make a truly great man; who never appears so great, as when he treats insolent men with humility, and angry men with meekness.
Judges 8:4
And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over J. - Or rather, had passed over; for he was gone over Jordan’ before Oreb and Zeeb were taken; but it is not related till now, that what concerned the Ephraimites might be told altogether without interruption. He and the three hundred men that were with him.] Not one of which was lost. Faint, yet pursuing them.] Tired with a long march, and eager pursuit; which notwithstanding they continued, being more solicitous for the public safety than their own.
Judges 8:5
And he said unto the men of Succoth. A city in the tribe of Gad, mentioned in Gen. xxxiii. 17. and other places. Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me.] A small request, considering their great merits. For they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and 2ktlmunna.] He gives two reasons for his request; because his men were faint with a whole night’s labour for the public safety, and he had not made his victory so complete as he hoped to do, if his men were refreshed and enabled to pursue the enemy. Kings of Midian.] It is no wonder we read of more kings than one in this country, there being five in Moses’s time, (Numb. xxxi. 8.) and more than five times five in Canaan, which was divided into many petty kingdoms: and therefore, if we take Oreb and Zeeb also to have been kings, there is no improbability in it. Ver. G. And the princes of Succoth said.] The rulers and governors of the city, who had the chief authority among them; as Oreb and Zeeb had in the army of Midian, for it is tho very same word in the Hebrew. Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in tJty hand, that we should give bread unto thy army?] They bid him first take those kings captives, and bring them thither with their hands bound behind them, before he made any demands of them. It is a bitter sort of taunt or derision, arising from irreligion; which made them think there was nothing of God in this victory, and that he would not be able to perfect it.
Judges 8:7
And Gideon said, TJierefore ivhen the Lord hath delivered Zebah and Zalmnnna into my hand. As he was confident he would’. Then ivill I tear your JlesK with the thorns of the wilderness, and with briers.] This city was near to a wilderness, in whi<?h there were plenty of thorns and briers; with which he threatens to thrash their flesh, as the word is in the Hebrew: which some think signifies, thatjaying briers and thorns on their naked bodies, he intended to bring the cartwheel over them (as the manner was of thrashing out their corn) to fasten them deep in their flesh, and then crush them to death: such a kind of punishment David inflicted on the Ammonites, (2 Sam. xii. nit.)
Judges 8:8
And he went up from thence.’) He would not stay to avenge this repulse at present, but sacrificed his private resentments to the public service, and therefore went onafter the enemy. Unto Fennel.] Another city in the tribe of Gad, not far from Succoth; unto both which Jacob gave their name, (Gen. xxxii. 30. xxxiii. 17.) And spake unto them likewise.] Desired some provision of them, for the same reason. And the mm of Penuel.] i. e. The principal persons of the city. Answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him.] It is very likely they were idolaters; and therefore hated Gideon, who began to refonn religion: and, trusting to the strength of, their tower, despised the small forces he had with him.
Judges 8:9
And he spake unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower. In which they confided; and perhaps pointed to it, when they gave him their rude answer.
Judges 8:10
Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in KarkorJ. We read of this place no where else; and therefore it is but a conjecture that it was in the confines of the tribe of Gad. St. Jerome saith, there was a castle in his time called Carcaria, about a day’s journey from the city Petra; and Eusebius saith the same. And all the hosts with them.] That is, all the troops or regiments, as we now speak, that fled with them. About fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east] This moved those of Succoth and Penuel to mock at Gideon; that he should think with three hundred men, and they fatigued (as we now speak), to vanquish fifteen thousand, and that he should make demands to them, as if he had his enemies already in his power. For there fell a hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword.] Besides all the people that attended their baggage.
Judges 8:11
And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents. He fetched a compass, by the country of the Arabians called Scenitac, because they dwelt intents: and so he came upon the back of Zebah and Zalmunna; where they suspected no danger. irff wf vwvf I CHAP. VIII.] UPON JUDGES. On the east ofNobah and Jogbehah.] Two cities, the last of which is expressly said to be in the tribe of Gad, Sf urab. xxxii. 35. and the former in the tribe of Manasseh, on the borders of Gad, as may be gathered from this place. M And smote the host: for the host ivas secure.] He fell upon them, it is very probable, in the night, as he had done upon their main army at the first: and they haying fled as fast as they could, the day,- and part of the night before, were gone to take their rest; supposing they had been out of all danger of disturbance, now they were got so far from the placeof battle.
Judges 8:12
And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them. We read of no refreshment that he and his men had all this time; but either they met with some by the way, or God miraculously supported them. And took the two kings ofMidian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the host.] Haying routed their army, the two kings could make little resistance.
Judges 8:13
And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle before tlie sun was np.~. The Hebrew words mihnahaleh hachares are so variously translated by very learned men, that it hath made it uncertain whether he returned after sun-rise, or a little before it set (as Kimchi among the Jews, and Mercer among Christians understand it), or, as our translation, before sun-rise: so the Yulgar, with Junius, and Tremellius, and others. And then it shews, both that Gideon had smote the army in the night, and that he made such haste to return, that he came to Succoth before they were aware, by br,eak of’ day.
Judges 8:14
And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him. Surprised him in the field, and examined him who were the principal men of the city. And he described to him the princes pf Succoth, and the elders thereof even threescore and seventeen mm.] He wrote down (as the Hebrew word for describe signifies) the names, and, perhaps, the dwellings pf the great men of the city, and of the judges; who were the persons that derided him, and who.m alone he intended to punish; not all the people, who were not in the guilt.
Judges 8:15
And he came unto the men of Succoth. Got into the city very early; and called those men before him, who had put the late affront upon him. And said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom you upbraided me.] He kept these two kings alive, on purpose that the princes of Succoth might see the Lord had delivered them into his hand; and made their jeers turn to their own shame.. • Saying, Are the hands of Zebah, and Zalmunna in thy hand, that we. should give bread unto thy men that are weary?] He repeats their own words to them, (ver. 6.) that he might reproach them with their inhuman usage of him; when he was in distress, and had done such wonders for their preservation. Ver. 1G. And he took the elders of the city.] Under this name of elders, all their great men arc comprehended. And thorns of the wilderness, and briers.] Which he had ready at hand. And with them he taught the men of Succoth.] He thrashed or tare them (as he threatened, ver. 7. and as some copies here have it), and by this severe correction taught them better manners, and more wisdom. It is not said that he tormented them till they expired, (as some think, he did, see ver. 7.) for then it would have been as plainly said, as it is in the next verse of the men of Penuel.
Judges 8:17
Andhe beat down the tower ofPenuel, and slew the men of the city. It is not said the princes and elders, and therefore this looks as if the whole city had been guilty of the affront. put upon him, and consequently punished by -him. But the men of the city in this story, hath signified only the principal persons in it, as.1 interpreted ver. 8. (see ver. 15, 16.) and therefore it is probable no other men are here meant, who fled into the tower, perhaps, for safety (knowing their ovm guilt, and the danger they were in of suffering for it), and were there slain.
Judges 8:18
Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor?. Where Gideon brought them before:him to be judged, is uncertain: and when it was that they slew some Israelites at Tabor, we can; but guess. It is probable he brought them out to receive their sentence after he came home: and that some who hid.themselves in dens and caves, which were in the mountains, (vi. 2.) being found out, were slain by the Midianites. And Gideon’s brethren being missing, he desired to find out, whether they were the persons whom they slew. And they answered, As thou art, so were they.’] They were very like him, and perhaps resembled him in their countenance; as, brethren frequently do one another. •Every one resembled the children. of a king.] By this it appears, that. Gideon was of a goodly.presence; carrying greatness and majesty in his aspect: and that kings took care in those days to match only with graceful persons; by whom they might hope to have children like to themselves.
Judges 8:19
And he said, They were.my brethren, even Xhe sons of my mother. Though, perhaps, not by the same father. As the Lord liveth, if ye had spared them alive.] As generous men arc wont to do comely and graceful persons; who look like men of quality, as we now speak. I would not slay you.] For. not being of the race of Canaan/he was not bound by. the law to cut them off.
Judges 8:20
And he said unto Jether his first-born, Up, and slay them. It was not unusual for great persons to do execution upon offenders in ancient times; no more than it.unbecamc them to sentence them to death: and therefore they had not, as now, such as the Romans called carnifices, public executioners; but Saul bade such as waited on him,kill the priests; and Doeg, one of his great officers, did;it, (] Sam. xxii. 17, 18.) And Samuel himself is said to have hewed Agag to pieces in Gilgal; and Benaiah, the general of the army, to have fallen upon Joab at the horns of the altar. Accordingly Gideon would have had his son do this execution, that he might be early animated against the enemies of Israel; as Hannibal is reported, when he was a boy, to have been incensed against the Romans. But the youth drew not his sword; for he feared, because he was yet a youth.] They were men, it is likely, of great stature, and of a fierce and stern countenance, who (as appears by the story) feared not death; which made. the youth afraid even to look upon them.
Judges 8:21
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Arise thou, andfallupon us: for as the man iSj so is his strength. They
Judges 8:22
Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son also.) They would have made his dominion over them hereditary. For thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian.) They pretended to make this offer out of gratitude to him; but, in truth, they were disposed now (as their posterity were afterward) to throw off the Divine government; being desirous to set a king over themselves, like the rest of the nations round about them. And now they thought was a fit opportunity; when such an extraordinary judge was raised up, as had done wonders beyond all his predecessors; and might, they thought, be ambitious enough to establish the supreme authority in his family.
Judges 8:23
But Gideon said, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you.) He absolutely rejected their offer; because he looked upon God as their king, who appointed what deputy he pleased to rule them: and therefore he accounted this to be an attempt to alter the government of God without asking his consent. The Lord shall rule over you.) As he hath done hitherto. This shews that these two could not consist together; a successive dominion of kings and such governors as they now had by the Divine appointment. Such a one was Gideon, raised up by God when they needed a deliverer; and therefore he durst not accept of the authority they offered him, because it was a thing sacred, and proper only to the Divine Majesty to order who should govern: whence it is that the judgment which was administered among that people was called God’s judgment, Deut. i. 17. and Solomon is said to sit upon the throne of the Lord, 1 Chron. xxix. 23. and the kingdom of his posterity is called the kingdom of the Jjyrd, 2 Chron. xiii. 8. because, before kings w r ere settled in Israel, the Lc>rd was their king; from whom the government was derived to the house of David by a special act of God.
Judges 8:24
And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you.) Which he thought, after such a great offer from them, they would not deny him. That ye would give me every man the ear-rings of his prey ) He doth not ask all the ear-rings they had got; but from every man one, or as many as he pleased., For they had golden ear-rings, because they, were Ishniaelites.) The Chaldee paraphrast well expresses it, because they were Arabians, who are called the children of the east’, (vi. 3.) and generally wore such ornaments, as I observed upon Exod. xxxii. 2. Ishmaelites, also, and Midianites, were so near neighbours, and so mixed together, that the Scripture speaks of them as one people. (See upon Gen.xxxvii.28.)
Judges 8:25
And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the ear-rings of his prey.) They made no difficulty to grant his request; but, as M r e speak, no sooner said than done. Ver. 2G. And the weight of the golden ear-rings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold.) It is easy to compute what this makes of our money, by considering the value of a shekel, and the proportion that silver holds to gold. Of which see the very learned treatise of the Bishop of Peterborough, concerning Scripture Weights and Measures, chap. 4. Besides ornaments.) Of which see above, ver. 21. And the collars.) The Hebrew word hanetiphoth is thought to signify little pots of precious ointments. For neteph signifies a drop, or a tear; the most precious of which is balsam. Among, the spoils of Darius (as Arius Montanus observes) historians mention boxes of ointments set with precious stones, and curiously wrought with elegant art. And purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian.) Who were distinguished from other men, as kings are now, by robes peculiar to them. And beside the chains that were upon their camels’ necks.) All these, I take it, fell to Gideon’s share, by the custom of war, without asking. For it was the ancient manner, as Grotius observes, to give the commander-in-chief the best of the spoils they had taken.
Judges 8:27
And Gideon made an ephod thereof.) He would not have them think that he requested the ear-rings for his own private gain; but to employ them religiously in the service of God, by making a monument of his victory, as obtained solely by the miraculous mercy of God, for the restoring of his true religion among them. It is commonly said, that so much gold could not be laid out upon an ephod; and therefore some take this for a short expression, to signify the breast-plate, with the urim and thummim; that he (being now supreme governor) might consult God at his own house, in such difficulties as might occur: and they think it probable that he made also a private tabernacle with cherubims: for how else could he employ such a quantity of gold? An ephod being only fine linen embroidered with it, &c. which would not cost much. (See •Exod. xxviii. 6.) Theodoret and St. Austin seem to incline to this opinion; for which I refer the reader to our Dr. Spencer, in his most learned work De Leg. et Hit. Hebr. p. 881. But I do not see how Gideon can be excused from apostacy from God, if he set up an oracle in his own house; nor was there any need of it, Shiloh being not far from him, in the tribe of Ephraim, which adjoined to this of Manasseh. Therefore I take this ephod to have been only a monument of his victory, and of God’s great mercy, which conquerors were wont to erect: but he would not follow the common custom in erecting a pillar, and hanging up trophies, or any thing of that nature; but chose to make an ephod, as a token that he ascribed his victory only to God, and triumphed in nothing, but only in’the restoration of the true religion by his means. As for the gold that was Jaid r t Vf a II mL%*KM mj w rffwf wwvf I CHAP. VIII.] UPON JUDGES. “out upon it, the reader may observe, that it is said he made an ephod thereof; that is, out of this offering; but not that it was all spent in this”. • And put it in his city, even in Ophrah.] This is to be well noted; because I think it shews that Gideon did not make this that he might have resort to God thereby on all occasions at home; for he went and dwelt at another place, (ver. 29.) It was kept here therefore as a monument of God’s appearing to him, and of the sacrifice the angel here offered, and of all the wonders that followed, by the power of God who dwelt in the sanctuary. There are those who think, that because God bade Gideon build an altar, and offer his father^ second bullock in Ophrah, (vi. 26.) he thence concluded, he might take upon him to have priestly garments made, and the high-priest came to minister at Ophrah upon extraordinary occasions. But he understood religion better than to make such conclusions, unless he had received a Divine command for this, as he did for the building of an altar. And all Israel went thither a whoring after it.] This, I suppose, was after his death, when the people began to return to idolatry; and had this fancy, among others, that God would answer them here where this ephod was, as well as at his tabernacle in Shiloh, where he dwelt. Which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and his house.’] Occasioned the ruin of him and of his family. For though they perished after his death, yet he may be said to have suffered with them, because his name and memory, which is preserved in men’s posterity, was in a manner extinct in Israel.
Judges 8:28
Thus wasMidian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. To oppress the Israelites; or, perhaps, to disturb any of their neighbours. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.] The country was in quiet in the fortieth year after the former rest restored to it by Deborah and Barak, as our primate Usher understands it, in his Annals ad A.‘M. 2759. and in his Chronologia Sacra, par. i. cap. 13. where, in more words, he thus interprets it: In the fortieth year after the rest restored by Deborah and Barak, the land began to rest again in the days of Gideon, after he had subdued the Midianites, ivho had oppressed them seven years. But the plainest account is, that after seven years’ oppression by the Midianites, the country was in peace forty years in the days of Gideon, who was their deliverer; and died, as we read ver. 32. in a good old age.
Judges 8:29
And Jerubbaal the son ofJoash ivent and dwelt in his ozvn house. Having refused to be a king, and dismissed his army, he went from Ophrah (as I understand it), and lived not so publicly as he had done, but in a private house of his own in the country.
Judges 8:30
And Gideon had threescore and ten sons, of his body begotten. These last words are added to shew, that they were none of them adopted sons. For he had many wives.] According to the manner of those times. And this is said to lessen the wonder of having so many children; many women bringing two or three at a birth, and one woman having had above twenty children by one man. V$r. 31. And his concubine.] The difference between a wife and a concubine hath been often noted. Their wives vol. n. administered the affairs of the family, the concubines meddled not with them; but, as the word signifies, were only admitted to their beds: and their children did not inherit, though they were married to them; for they were not harlots, but a secondary sort of wives. That was in Shechem.] A famous cify in the tribe of Ephraim, adjoining to that of Manasseh; where; going frequently to judge the people, he took a wife of this sort, who lived constantly with her father in this city, and not in Gideon’s family. She also bare him a son.] Beside the seventy beforementioned, as Josephus understands it. Whose name was Abimelech.] His name is here set down when nothing is said of the names of the rest, because the following story depends upon it. And perhaps his mother gave him this name (signifying my father a king) out of pride and arrogance, that she might be looked upon as the wife of one who was thought to deserve a kingdom, though he did not accept it: which afterward, it is likely, in- 1 flamed the mind of this son to affect the royal dignity.
Judges 8:32
And Gideon the son ofJoash died in a good old age. This is a phrase often used in Scripture, to signify that such persons lived long and in great prosperity and happiness. •’ And was buried ] in the sepulchre ofJoash his father, in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.] Which was accounted a great blessing in those days.
Judges 8:33
And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead; that the children of Israel turned again. He preserved them,’ it seems, in the true religion while he lived; butthey: had no great affection to it, it appears, by their revolting from it as soon as he was dead. And went a whoring after Baalim.] This seems to have* been a general name of all the gods which they worshipped/ particularly of demons, which were all called Baalim from the first demon, or deified king in the world, Belus or Baal,’ as Mr. Mede thinks, book iii. p. 777. And made Baal-berith their god.] They worshipped a new god, which was not known to them before, nor ever mentioned but here and in the next chapter: who was reputed, as some think, the god that punished those who broke their covenants and contracts; or, as others, was so called because his servants covenanted to maintain his" worship and service. But Bochartus, by a more probable’ conjecture, interprets it Baal of Berith, i. e. of Berytus. That Baal which was worshipped in that famous city whicK had its name from Beroe, the daughter of Venus and Adonis, who was there worshipped, as Nonnus tells us. This he takes to be the Baal here mentioned; for Baal is of the feminine gender as well as of the masculine, as appears from St. Paul, Rom. xi. 4. and many places of the LXX. which Bochartus mentions, lib. ii. Canaan, cap. 17.
Judges 8:34
And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side. Out of the hand of the king of Mesopotamia, and then of the Moabitcs, and after that of the Canaanites, and now lately of the Midianites and the children of the east.
Judges 8:35
Neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely Gideon. No wonder they were so ungrateful to his family when they were so forgetful of God: the fear of whom is the foundation of all virtue. Microsoft® 16G [chap. IX. According to all the goodness which he had shewn unto Israel’] In hazarding his life freely, and working for them a glorious deliverance; and in leaving them in their liberty, by refusing the despotic power which they offered to put into his hands; and in governing them so prudently many years, that he left them in peace, and in tho possession of God’s true religion, when he died.