CHAPTER VIII _The Ephraimites are angry with Gideon because he did not call_ _them particularly to his assistance; he pacifies them_, 1-3. _Gideon and his three hundred men pass over Jordan, pursuing the_ _Midianites; and, being faint, ask victuals from the princes of_ _Succoth, but are refused... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:2. Is _NOT THE GLEANING, C._] That is, The Ephraimites have performed more important services than Gideon and his men and he supports the assertion by observing that it was they who took the two Midianitish generals, having discomfited their hosts at the passes of Jordan.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:3. _THEN THEIR ANGER WAS ABATED_] A soft answer turneth away wrath. He might have said that he could place but little dependence on his brethren when, through faint-heartedness, 22,000 left him at one time; but he passed this by, and took a more excellent way.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:4. _FAINT, YET PURSUING_] The Vulgate paraphrases this, _et_ _prae lassitudine, fugientes persequi non poterant_; "and, through fatigue, unable to pursue the fugitives.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:5. _GIVE, I PRAY YOU, LOAVES OF BREAD_] As Gideon was engaged in the common cause of Israel, he had a right to expect succour from the people at large. His request to the men of Succoth and Penuel was both just and reasonable.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:6. _ARE THE HANDS OF ZEBAH AND ZALMUNNA NOW IN THINE HAND_] They feared to help Gideon, lest, if he should be overpowered, the Midianites would revenge it upon them; and they dared not trust God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:7. _I WILL TEAR YOUR FLESH_] What this punishment consisted in I cannot say; it must mean a severe punishment: as if he had said, I will thresh your flesh with briers and thorns, as corn is threshed out with threshing instruments; or, Ye shall be trodden down under the feet of my vict... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:9. _I WILL BREAK DOWN THIS TOWER._] Probably they had not only denied him, but insultingly pointed to a tower in which their chief defense lay; and intimated to him that he might do his worst, for they could amply defend themselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:10. _ZEBAH AND ZALMUNNA WERE IN KARKOR_] If this were a _place_, it is nowhere else mentioned in Scripture. Some contend that קרקר _karkor_ signifies _rest_; and thus the Vulgate understood it: Zebah and Zalmunna _requiescebant, rested_, with all their army. And this seems the most li... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:13. _RETURNED FROM BATTLE BEFORE THE SUN_ WAS UP] This does not appear to be a proper translation of מלמעלה החרס _milmaaleh_ _hechares_. It should be rendered _from the ascent of Chares_: this is the reading of the _Septuagint_, the _Syriac_, and the _Arabic_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:14. _HE DESCRIBED UNTO HIM THE PRINCES OF SUCCOTH_] The young man probably gave him the names of seventy persons, the chief men of Succoth, who were those who were most concerned in refusing him and his men the refreshment he requested.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:16. _HE TAUGHT THE MEN OF SUCCOTH._] Instead of וידע _he_ _taught_, Houbigant reads וידש _he tore_; and this is not only agreeable to what Gideon had threatened, Judges 8:7, but is supported by the _Vulgate, Septuagint, Chaldee, Syriac_, and _Arabic_. The Hebrew text might have been e... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:18. _WHAT MANNER OF MEN_ WERE THEY _WHOM YE SLEW AT TABOR?_] We have no antecedent to this question; and are obliged to conjecture one: it seems as if Zebah and Zalmunna had massacred the family of Gideon, while he was absent on this expedition. Gideon had heard some confused account... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:20. _HE SAID UNTO JETHER HIS FIRST-BORN_] By the ancient laws of war, prisoners taken in war might be either slain, sold, or kept for slaves. To put a captive enemy to death no _executioner_ was required. _Gideon_ slays Zebah and Zalmunna with his own hand. So _Samuel_ is said to hav... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:21. _THEN ZEBAH AND ZALMUNNA SAID, RISE, THOU, AND FALL_ _UPON US_] It was disgraceful to fall by the hands of a _child_; and the death occasioned by the blows of such a person must be much more lingering and tormenting. Some have even employed children to despatch captives. _Civilis_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:22. _RULE THOU OVER US, BOTH THOU, AND THY SON, AND THY_ _SON'S SON_] That is, Become our king, and let the crown be hereditary in thy family. What a weak, foolish, and inconstant people were these! As yet their government was a _theocracy_; and now, dazzled with the success of a man... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:23. _THE LORD SHALL RULE OVER YOU_] Few with such power at their command would have acted as Gideon. His speech calls them back to their first principles, and should have excited in them both shame and contrition. How different is this speech from that of _Oliver Cromwell_ when the co... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:24. _GIVE ME EVERY MAN THE EAR-RINGS OF HIS PREY._] The spoils taken from their enemies in this warfare. This is a transaction very like to that of the Israelites and Aaron; when they brought him their _golden ear-rings_, out of which he made the _molten calf_, Exodus 32:2, c. Whether... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:26. _THE WEIGHT OF THE GOLDEN EAR-RINGS - WAS A THOUSAND AND_ _SEVEN HUNDRED SHEKELS OF GOLD_] Taking the shekel at _half an ounce_ weight, the sum of the gold collected in ear-rings was seventy pounds ten ounces; and worth, as gold now rates, about £3,100 sterling. This computation... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:27. _GIDEON MADE AN EPHOD THEREOF_] That is, he made an ephod _out of this_ mass of gold; but he could not employ it _all_ in making this one garment, for it is not likely that any man could wear a coat of nearly one hundred pounds weight. It is likely that he made a whole tabernacle... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:28. _FORTY YEARS IN THE DAYS OF GIDEON._] The Midianites were so completely humbled that they could make head no more against Israel during the forty years in which the government of Gideon lasted.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:31. _HIS CONCUBINE_] A _lawful_ but _secondary wife_, whose children could not _inherit_. _WHOSE NAME HE CALLED ABIMELECH._] That is, _my father is king_, or _my father hath reigned_. This name was doubtless given by the _mother_, and so it should be understood here; she wished to ra... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:32. _GIDEON - DIED IN A GOOD OLD AGE_] Supposed to have been A.M. 2799; B.C. 1205.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:33. _A WHORING AFTER BAALIM_] This term has probably a different meaning here from what it has Judges 8:7; for it is very likely that in most parts of the pagan worship there were many _impure_ rites, so that _going a whoring after Baalim_ may be taken in a _literal_ sense. _BAAL-BER... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:34. _REMEMBERED NOT THE LORD THEIR GOD_] They attributed their deliverance to some other cause, and did not give him the glory of their salvation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 8:35. _NEITHER SHOWED THEY KINDNESS TO THE HOUSE OF - GIDEON_] They were both _unthankful_ and _unholy_. Though they had the clearest proofs of God's power and goodness before their eyes, yet they forgot him. And although they were under the greatest obligations to Gideon, and were once... [ Continue Reading ]