_Gideon delivers Israel from the Midianites_ For some years the Midianites had been the terror of Central Palestine. These nomad Arabs from the S.E. desert used to pour into the country during harvest time, and devastate the fertile neighbourhood of Shechem and the plain of Jezreel. At last Gideon,... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse is the continuation of Judges 6:34; the thread of the narrative is taken up again in Judges 7:8 b. The intervening Judges 7:2 a are dependent upon Judges 6:35. _who is Gideon_ A gloss, as in Judges 8:35. The wording suggests that the earliest form of the narrative used the name _Jerub-ba... [ Continue Reading ]
Judges 7:1-8. _Gideon's army is reduced_ It seems to have been a fixed element in the tradition that 300 was the number of Gideon's force (Judges 7:6_; Judges 7:16; Judges 7:19_, Judges 8:4); but Judges 6:35 has just declared that four tribes responded to his call; accordingly we are here told how... [ Continue Reading ]
_The people that are with thee_ Whatever is to be understood by these words in Judges 7:1, here they must refer to the host mentioned in Judges 6:35. _lest Israel vaunt themselves against me_ For the thought cf. Deuteronomy 8:11-17; Deuteronomy 9:4 f.; the same word _vaunt_occurs in Isaiah 10:15. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
_trembling_ Hebr. _ḥârçd_, with pointed reference to the name of the spring _Ḥărôd_. The sentence -whosoever is fearful … let him return" closely resembles Deuteronomy 20:8, and may allude to the ordinance there laid down. _and depart from mount Gilead_ The verb (_ṣafar_) occurs only here, and its... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will try them_ So elsewhere of Jehovah's _testing_the people, Jeremiah 9:7; Isaiah 48:10; Psalms 66:10, a figurative expression taken from the _smelting_of metals to get rid of impure properties.... [ Continue Reading ]
At the end of the verse LXX. cod. A and Luc. adds -him shalt thou set by himself," completing the parallel with the foregoing sentence. The words have probably fallen out by accident.... [ Continue Reading ]
_putting their hand to their mouth_ These words do not agree with Judges 7:5, where -lappeth" is explained -with his tongue, as a dog lappeth"; they belong to those who -bowed down upon their knees to drink water," and should be transferred to the end of the verse. LXX. cod. A and Luc. after -lapped... [ Continue Reading ]
_So the people took victuals in their hand_ Not a strict transl. of the original, which must mean _So they took the provisions of the people in their hand_(LXX, marg.), though the text requires correction to yield this meaning. But is it likely that Gideon would burden his 300 men with the provision... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gideon visits the Midianite camp_ 9 _.the same night_ Probably the night of the day which began in Judges 7:1. _get thee down_ Here and in Judges 7:11 a AGAINST _the camp_, to attack it; in Judges 7:10 _unto the camp_, to visit it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy servant_ A warrior of rank Had an attendant who acted as armour-bearer, cf. Judges 9:54; 1 Samuel 14:1; 1 Samuel 14:6. With a companion danger is more easily faced; cf. the words of Diomedes when he offers to explore the Trojan camp: ἀλλʼ εἴ τίς μοι ἀνὴρ ἅμʼ ἕποιτο καὶ ἄλλος, Μᾶλλον θαλπωρὴ,... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall thine hands be strengthened_ for a bold stroke. Hebrew speaks of the hands where we should speak of the heart; cf. 2 Samuel 2:7; 2 Samuel 16:21. _the armed men_ Elsewhere of the Israelite hosts at the period of the Wandering and the Occupation; Exodus 13:18 E, Numbers 32:17 JE, Joshua 1:14;... [ Continue Reading ]
_and the Amalekites_etc.] See on Judges 6:3, and cf. Judges 6:5. _lay along_ LAY SETTLED, like locusts: the vast numbers explain both Gideon's fear and the ease with which he escaped observation. But the verse is made up of standing expressions, and may be an editorial insertion; it rather interrup... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo_ The phraseology recalls Genesis 37:6 f., Genesis 40:9 E. No doubt the two Midianites were lying in their tent: Gideon could listen without being seen. _a cake of barley bread_ The word rendered _cake_occurs only here, and is of doubtful meaning; the context sugg... [ Continue Reading ]
_of Gideon the son of Joash_ The phrase which follows means THE MEN OF ISRAEL, as in Judges 7:8_; Judges 7:23_, Judges 8:22; Judges 9:55; Judges 20:20, the sing, being used in a collective sense; and this rendering agrees with the symbol of the barley cake, which suggests the peasantry in general, n... [ Continue Reading ]
_divided … into three companies_ Cf. Jdg 9:43 ff., 1 Samuel 11:11; 1 Samuel 13:17 f., Job 1:17 for similar tactics. Gideon had to make up by wit and daring what he lacked in numbers. _trumpets_ Hebr. _shôphâr_, the curved _horn_of a cow or ram, used to give signals in war (Judges 3:27; 2 Samuel 2:28... [ Continue Reading ]
_The night attack_ The account of Gideon's bold and successful stratagem is perfectly intelligible as a whole, though there is some confusion in the details, chiefly due to the repetitions in Judges 7:17 (Gideon's order), Judges 7:20 (the blowing of the trumpets), Judges 7:22 (the direction of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do_ This repetition of the first half of the verse is perhaps due to an attempt to harmonize a double narrative. Omit the words and the connexion with Judges 7:18 is improved: -when I come … and blow the trumpet (Judges 7:18) … then blow ye.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the middle watch_ The night was therefore divided into three watches: cf. -the morning watch" Exodus 14:24; 1 Samuel 11:11. The beginning of the middle watch would be about midnight. In later times the Jews adopted the Roman custom of dividing the night into four watches, St Mark 13:35, St Matthew... [ Continue Reading ]
Gideon's company having given the signal (Judges 7:19), the two others reply, and all three together (Judges 7:20) carry out the preconcerted plan. The sentence -and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal" seems to be, either in whole or in part, an addition, possibly from the -trumpet-st... [ Continue Reading ]
The three bands of Israelites stood still while the Midianites were thrown into a panic by the startling noises and the sudden lights. _ran_ The expression is somewhat weak. A slight correction, proposed by Moore and generally accepted, greatly improves the narrative, WOKE UP. _and they shouted, a... [ Continue Reading ]
The Midianites, roused suddenly from sleep, gave the alarm and tried to fly (Judges 7:21); now, believing themselves to be completely surrounded, and cumbered by their tents and cattle, they turn their swords against one another (cf. 1 Samuel 14:20; 2 Kings 3:23), and the flight becomes general. For... [ Continue Reading ]
_The pursuit_ 23 _.out of Naphtali etc_.] The same tribes, with the addition of Zebulun, were summoned before the battle, Judges 6:35; they must have formed the bulk of the host dismissed in Judges 7:3. They returned to their homes; but now hearing of Midian's disaster, they assemble again, this ti... [ Continue Reading ]
Gideon sends a message (cf. Judges 6:35) to the Ephraimites in the country S. of the battlefield, urging them to seize the fords, and so TO MEET _the Midianites_as they come flying down the Jordan valley. Cf. Judges 3:27 f., Judges 12:5 f. _the waters, as far as Beth-barah_, AND ALSO _Jordan_(marg.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Oreb and Zeeb_ The Midianite princes bear Hebrew (or Hebraized) names = -Raven" and -Wolf." The sheikh of the powerful tribe of the Banû -Adwân, who range the country S.E. of the Jordan, still receives the hereditary title of Dhi"âb, i.e. Zeeb. Animal names of this kind were borne both by clans and... [ Continue Reading ]