Judges 8 commentary

Those who will not attempt or venture any thing in the cause of God, will be the most ready to censure and quarrel with such as are of a more zealous and enterprising spirit. And those who are the most backward to difficult services, will be the most angry not to have the credit of them. Gideon stands here as a great example of self-denial; and shows us that envy is best removed by humility. The Ephraimites had given vent to their passion in very wrong freedom of speech, a certain sign of a weak cause: reason runs low when chiding flies high.

Gideon's men were faint, yet pursuing; fatigued with what they had done, yet eager to do more against their enemies. It is many a time the true Christian's case, fainting, and yet pursuing. The world knows but little of the persevering and successful struggle the real believer maintains with his sinful heart. But he betakes himself to that Divine strength, in the faith of which he began his conflict, and by the supply of which alone he can finish it in triumph.

The active servants of the Lord meet with more dangerous opposition from false professors than from open enemies; but they must not care for the behaviour of those who are Israelites in name, but Midianites in heart. They must pursue the enemies of their souls, and of the cause of God, though they are ready to faint through inward conflicts and outward hardships. And they shall be enabled to persevere. The less men help, and the more they seek to hinder, the more will the Lord assist. Gideon's warning being slighted, the punishment was just. Many are taught with the briers and thorns of affliction, who would not learn otherwise.

The kings of Midian must be reckoned with. As they confessed themselves guilty of murder, Gideon acted as the avenger of blood, being the next of kin to the persons slain. Little did they think to have heard of this so long after; but murder seldom goes unpunished in this life. Sins long forgotten by man, must be accounted for to God. What poor consolation in death from the hope of suffering less pain, and of dying with less disgrace than some others! yet many are more anxious on these accounts, than concerning the future judgment, and what will follow.

Gideon refused the government the people offered him. No good man can be pleased with any honour done to himself, which belongs only to God. Gideon thought to keep up the remembrance of this victory by an ephod, made of the choicest of the spoils. But probably this ephod had, as usual, a teraphim annexed to it, and Gideon intended this for an oracle to be consulted. Many are led into false ways by one false step of a good man. It became a snare to Gideon himself, and it proved the ruin of the family. How soon will ornaments which feed the lust of the eye, and form the pride of life, as well as tend to the indulgences of the flesh, bring shame on those who are fond of them!

As soon as Gideon was dead, who kept the people to the worship of the God of Israel, they found themselves under no restraint; then they went after Baalim, and showed no kindness to the family of Gideon. No wonder if those who forget their God, forget their friends. Yet conscious of our own ingratitude to the Lord, and observing that of mankind in general, we should learn to be patient under any unkind returns we meet with for our poor services, and resolve, after the Divine example, not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.

CHAPTER 8

Jud 8:1-9. The Ephraimites Offended, but Pacified.

1. the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus?--Where this complaint was made, whether before or after the crossing of the Jordan, cannot be determined. By the overthrow of the national enemy, the Ephraimites were benefited as largely as any of the other neighboring tribes. But, piqued at not having been sharers in the glory of the victory, their leading men could not repress their wounded pride; and the occasion only served to bring out an old and deep-seated feeling of jealous rivalry that subsisted between the tribes (Is 9:21). The discontent was groundless, for Gideon acted according to divine directions. Besides, as their tribe was conterminous with that of Gideon, they might, had they been really fired with the flame of patriotic zeal, have volunteered their services in a movement against the common enemy.

2-3. he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you?--His mild and truly modest answer breathes the spirit of a great as well as good man, who was calm, collected, and self-possessed in the midst of most exciting scenes. It succeeded in throwing oil on the troubled waters (Pr 16:1), and no wonder, for in the height of generous self-denial, it ascribes to his querulous brethren a greater share of merit and glory than belonged to himself (1Co 13:4; Php 2:3).

4. Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over--much exhausted, but eager to continue the pursuit till the victory was consummated.

5. he said unto the men of Succoth--that is, a place of tents or booths. The name seems to have been applied to the whole part of the Jordan valley on the west, as well as on the east side of the river, all belonging to the tribe of Gad (compare Ge 33:17; 1Ki 7:46; with Jos 13:27). Being engaged in the common cause of all Israel, he had a right to expect support and encouragement from his countrymen everywhere.

6. the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand--an insolent as well as a time-serving reply. It was insolent because it implied a bitter taunt that Gideon was counting with confidence on a victory which they believed he would not gain; and it was time-serving, because living in the near neighborhood of the Midianite sheiks, they dreaded the future vengeance of those roving chiefs. This contumelious manner of acting was heartless and disgraceful in people who were of Israelitish blood.

7. I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers--a cruel torture, to which captives were often subjected in ancient times, by having thorns and briers placed on their naked bodies and pressed down by sledges, or heavy implements of husbandry being dragged over them.

8. he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise--a neighboring city, situated also in the territory of Gad, near the Jabbok, and honored with this name by Jacob (Ge 32:30, 31).

9. he spake ..., When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower--Intent on the pursuit, and afraid of losing time, he postponed the merited vengeance till his return. His confident anticipation of a triumphant return evinces the strength of his faith; and his specific threat was probably provoked by some proud and presumptuous boast, that in their lofty watchtower the Penuelites would set him at defiance.

Jud 8:10-27. Zebah and Zalmunna Taken.

10. Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor--a town on the eastern confines of Gad. The wreck of the Midianite army halted there.

11. Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east--He tracked the fugitives across the mountain range of Gilead to the northeast of the Jabbok, and there came upon them unexpectedly while they were resting secure among their own nomadic tribes. Jogbehah is supposed to be Ramoth-gilead; and, therefore, the Midianites must have found refuge at or near Abela, "Abel-cheramim," "the plain of the vineyards."

12. when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them--A third conflict took place. His arrival at their last quarters, which was by an unwonted path, took the fugitives by surprise, and the conquest of the Midianite horde was there completed.

13. Gideon returned from battle before the sun was up--He seems to have returned by a nearer route to Succoth, for what is rendered in our version "before the sun was up," means "the heights of Heres, the sun-hills."

14. he described--wrote the names of the seventy princes or elders. It was from them he had received so inhospitable a treatment.

16. he took ... the thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth--By refusing his soldiers refreshment, they had committed a public crime, as well as an act of inhumanity, and were subjected to a horrible punishment, which the great abundance and remarkable size of the thorn bushes, together with the thinness of clothing in the East, has probably suggested.

18. Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor?--This was one of the countless atrocities which the Midianite chiefs had perpetrated during their seven years' lawless occupancy. It is noticed now for the first time when their fate was about to be determined.

each one resembled the children of a king--An Orientalism for great beauty, majesty of appearance, uncommon strength, and grandeur of form.

19. They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother--That is, uterine brothers; but, in all countries where polygamy prevails, "the son of my mother" implies a closeness of relationship and a warmth of affection never awakened by the looser term, "brother."

20. he said unto Jether his first-born, Up, and slay them--The nearest of kin was the blood-avenger; but a magistrate might order any one to do the work of the executioner; and the person selected was always of a rank equal or proportioned to that of the party doomed to suffer (1Ki 2:29). Gideon intended, then, by the order to Jether, to put an honor on his son, by employing him to slay two enemies of his country; and on the youth declining, he performed the bloody deed himself.

22-23. the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us ... Gideon said unto them, the Lord shall rule over you--Their unbounded admiration and gratitude prompted them, in the enthusiasm of the moment, to raise their deliverer to a throne, and to establish a royal dynasty in his house. But Gideon knew too well, and revered too piously the principles of the theocracy, to entertain the proposal for a moment. Personal and family ambition was cheerfully sacrificed to a sense of duty, and every worldly motive was kept in check by a supreme regard to the divine honor. He would willingly act as judge, but the Lord alone was King of Israel.

24-26. Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you--This was the contribution of an earring (singular). As the ancient Arabians (Ishmaelites and Midianites being synonymous terms, Ge 37:25, 28) were gorgeously adorned with barbaric pearl and gold, an immense amount of such valuable booty had fallen into the hands of the Israelitish soldiers. The contribution was liberally made, and the quantity of gold given to him is estimated at £3113 sterling.

27. Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, ... Ophrah--That no idolatrous use was in view, nor any divisive course from Shiloh contemplated, is manifest from Jud 8:33. Gideon proposed, with the gold he received, to make an ephod for his use only as a civil magistrate or ruler, as David did (1Ch 15:27), and a magnificent pectoral or breastplate also. It would seem, from the history, that he was not blamable in making this ephod, as a civil robe or ornament merely, but that it afterward became an object to which religious ideas were attached; whereby it proved a snare, and consequently an evil, by perversion, to Gideon and his house [Taylor, Fragments].

Jud 8:28. Midian Subdued.

28. Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel--This invasion of the Arab hordes into Canaan was as alarming and desolating as the irruption of the Huns into Europe. It was the severest scourge ever inflicted upon Israel; and both it and the deliverance under Gideon lived for centuries in the minds of the people (Psa 83:11).

The men of Ephraim said - This account is no doubt displaced; for what is mentioned here could not have taken place till the return of Gideon from the pursuit of the Midianites; for he had not yet passed Jordan, Jdg 8:4. And it was when he was beyond that river that the Ephraimites brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to him, Jdg 7:25.

Is not the gleaning, etc. - 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.

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.

Faint, yet pursuing - The Vulgate paraphrases this, et prae lassitudine, fugientes persequi non poterant; "and, through fatigue, unable to pursue the fugitives."

Give, I pray you, loaves of bread - As Gideon was engaged in the common cause of Israel, he had a right to expect succor from the people at large. His request to the men of Succoth and Penuel was both just and reasonable.

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.

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 victorious army, as the corn is trodden out with the feet of the ox. Succoth was beyond Jordan, in the tribe of Gad. Penuel was also in the same tribe, and not far distant from Succoth.

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.

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 likely, for it is said, Jdg 8:11, that Gideon smote the host, for the host was secure.

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.

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.

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, Jdg 8:7, but is supported by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. The Hebrew text might have been easily corrupted in this place by the change of ש shin into ע ain, letters very similar to each other.

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 of it, and now questions them concerning the fact. They boldly acknowledge it, and describe the persons whom they slew, by which he found they were his own brethren. This determines him to avenge their death by slaying the Midianitish kings, whom he otherwise was inclined to save. He might have heard that his brethren had been taken prisoners, and might have hoped to have exchanged them for the kings now in his hand; but when he found they had been all slain, he decrees the death of their murderers. There is something in this account similar to that in the 12th Aeneis of Virgil: - When Turnus was overthrown, and supplicated for his life, and Aeneas was inclined to spare him; he saw the belt of his friend Pallas, whom Turnus had slain, and which he now wore as a trophy: this immediately determined the Trojan to sacrifice the life of Turnus to the manes of his friend. The story is well told: -

Stetit acer in armis

Aeneas, volvens oculos, dextramque repressit.

Et jam jamque magis cunctantem flectere sermo

Coeperat: infelix humero cum apparuit ingens

Balteus, et notis fulserunt cingula bullis

Pallantis pueri; victum quem vulnere Turnus

Straverat, atque humeris inimicum insigne gerebat.

Ille oculis postquam saevi monumenta doloris

Exuviasque hausit: furiis accensus et ira

Terribilis: Tune hinc spoliis indute meorum

Eripiare mihi? - Pallas, te hoc vulnere Pallas

Immolat; et poenam scelerato ex sanguine sumit.

Hoc dicens furrum adverso sub pectore condit Fervidus.

Virg. Aen. lib. xii., ver. 938. "In deep suspense the Trojan seem'd to stand,

And, just prepared to strike, repress'd his hand.

He roll'd his eyes, and every moment felt

His manly soul with more compassion melt.

When, casting down a casual glance, he spied

The golden belt that glitter'd on his side;

The fatal spoils which haughty Turnus tore

From dying Pallas, and in triumph wore.

Then roused anew to wrath, he loudly cries, (Flames, while he spoke, came flashing from his eyes),

Traitor! dost thou! dost thou to grace pretend,

Clad, as thou art, in trophies of my friend? -

To his sad soul a grateful offering go; 'Tis Pallas, Pallas gives this deadly blow.

He rais'd his arm aloft; and at the word,

Deep in his bosom drove the shining sword."

Dryden.

The same principle impels Gideon to slay Zebah and Zalmunna which induced Aeneas to kill Turnus: and perhaps the ornaments which he took from their camels' necks, Jdg 8:21, were some of the spoils of his slaughtered brethren.

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 have hewn Agag in pieces, 1Sam 15:33. Benaiah slew Joab, 1Kgs 2:25. Saul orders his guards to slay the priests who had contributed to the escape of David, 1Sam 22:17; and David caused one of his attendants to slay the Amalekite who pretended to have slain Saul, 2Sam 1:15.

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, a Roman knight, headed a revolt of the Gauls against Rome, in the year of the city 824. Of him Tacitus says, Hist. lib. iv., c. 61: Ferebatur parvulo filio quosdam captivorum sagittis jaculisque puerilibus figendos obtulisse: "He is said to have given to his little son some prisoners, as butts to be shot at with little darts and arrows." This was for their greater torment and dishonor; and to inure his child to blood! Could any thing like this have been the design of Gideon?

The ornaments that were on their camels' necks. - The heads, necks, bodies, and legs of camels, horses, and elephants, are highly ornamented in the eastern countries, and indeed this was common, from the remotest antiquity, in all countries. Virgil refers to it as a thing long before his time, and thus describes the horses given by King Latinus to the ambassadors of Aeneas. - Aen. lib. vii., ver. 274.

Haec effatus equos numero pater eligit omni.

Stabant tercentum nitidi in praesepibus altis:

Omnibus extemplo Teucris jubet ordine duci

Instratos ostro alipedes pictisque tapetis. Aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent: Tecti auro fulvum mandunt sub dentibus aurum. "He said, and order'd steeds to mount the band: In lofty stalls three hundred coursers stand; Their shining sides with crimson cover'd o'er; The sprightly steeds embroider'd trappings wore, With golden chains, refulgent to behold: Gold were their bridles, and they champ'd on gold."

Pitt.

Instead of ornaments, the Septuagint translate τους μηνισκους, the crescents or half-moons; and this is followed by the Syriac and Arabic. The worship of the moon was very ancient; and, with that of the sun, constituted the earliest idolatry of mankind. We learn from Jdg 8:24 that the Ishmaelites, or Arabs, as they are termed by the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic, had golden ear-rings, and probably a crescent in each; for it is well known that the Ishmaelites, and the Arabs who descended from them, were addicted very early to the worship of the moon; and so attached were they to this superstition, that although Mohammed destroyed the idolatrous use of the crescent, yet it was universally borne in their ensigns, and on the tops of their mosques, as well as in various ornaments.

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 who was only an instrument in the hands of God to deliver them from their enemies, they wish to throw off the Divine yoke, and shackle themselves with an unlimited hereditary monarchy! An unlimited monarchy is a curse; a limited monarchy may be a blessing: the latter may be an appointment of God; the former never can. Those who cast off their allegiance to their Maker, are guilty of folly and extravagance of every kind.

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 commons offered him the crown of England!

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, Exo 32:2, etc. Whether Gideon designed this ephod for an instrument of worship, or merely as a trophy, is not very clear. It is most likely that he had intended to establish a place of worship at Ophrah; and he took this occasion to provide the proper sacerdotal vestments.

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 of the weight of the golden ear-rings, taken from the slaughtered Ishmaelites, will bring to the reader's mind the slaughter of the Roman knights by the Carthaginians at the battle of Cannae, from whose spoils Hannibal sent three bushels of gold rings to the city of Carthage!

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 service in miniature out of this gold.

All Israel went thither a whoring after it - This form of speech often occurs, and has been often explained. The whole Jewish nation is represented as being united to God as a wife is to her husband. Any act of idolatry is considered as a breach of their covenant with God, as an act of whoredom is the breach of the marriage agreement between man and wife. God calls himself the husband of the Jewish nation, and their idolatries acts of whoredom, adultery, and fornication. All Israel paid idolatrous worship to the ephod or sacerdotal establishment made by Gideon at Ophrah, and this is called going a whoring after it; see on Jdg 8:33 (note). For a description of the ephod, see Exo 25:7 (note); and for the other garments of the priests, see Exo 28:4 (note), etc.

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.

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 raise her son to the supreme government, and therefore gave him a name which might serve to stimulate him to seek that which she hoped he should enjoy in his father's right. See the following chapter, Judges 9 (note).

Gideon - died in a good old age - Supposed to have been A.M. 2799; b.c. 1205.

A whoring after Baalim - This term has probably a different meaning here from what it has Jdg 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-berith - Literally, the lord of the covenant; the same as Jupiter faederis, or Mercury, among the Romans; the deity whose business it was to preside over compacts, leagues, treaties, covenants, etc. Some of the versions understand it as if the Israelites had made a covenant or agreement to have Baal for their god; so the Vulgate: Percusseruntque cum Baal faedus, ut esset eis in deum.

Remembered not the Lord their God - They attributed their deliverance to some other cause, and did not give him the glory of their salvation.

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 so sensible of them that they offered to settle the kingdom on him and his family, yet they forgot him also; for, becoming foes to God, they could not be friends to Man. Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon. - This is improper; it should be Jerubbaal Gideon, as we say Simon Peter, or call any man by his Christian name and surname.

The ancients, particularly St. Ambrose and Augustine, have endeavored to find out a parallel between our blessed Lord and Gideon. We have already seen what Origen has made of the whole account, who is followed in the main by the above Latin fathers. As I believe no such parallel was intended by the Spirit of God, I must be excused from going into their details. It is no credit either to Christ or Christianity to be compared to such persons and their transactions.

1. Of Gideon the most we can say is that which the angel said, he was a mighty man of valor.

2. He was also a true patriot, he loved his country, and hazarded his life for it; and yet he would not stir till he had the most incontestable proofs that God would, by his supernatural assistance, make him victorious.

3. He was most evidently disinterested, and void of ambition; he refused the kingdom when it was offered to him and to his heirs after him. But, consistently with the belief he had in God, he could not accept it, as this would have been a complete alteration of the Jewish constitution, which acknowledged no ruler but God himself.

4. His motive in making the ephod is not well understood; probably it was done with no reprehensible design. But the act was totally wrong; he had no Divine authority to make such an innovation in the religious worship of his country. The ark was at Shechem; and there was the proper and only accredited priest. The act therefore can never be excused, whatever may be said of his motive.

5. His private character does not appear to have been very exemplary; he had many wives, and seventy sons by them, besides one by a concubine, which he kept at Shechem, where he was often obliged to go as judge, for the purpose of administering justice. In short, there is scarcely a trait in his character worthy to be compared with any thing in the conduct of the Redeemer of mankind.

6. Parallels to Christ, and the work of his Spirit in the salvation of men, have been diligently sought in the sacred writings, by both commentators and preachers; and we have had voluminous treaties on types and antitypes; and how little has sound doctrine or true piety derived from them! They have often served to unsettle the former, and have been rather inimical than favorable to the interests of the latter. When the Spirit of God says such things are types and such things are allegories, it is our duty to believe and examine; when men produce their types and metaphors, it may be our duty to doubt, be suspicious, and pass on.

AND the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? and they did chide with him sharply.

Why hast thou neglected and despised us, in not calling us in to thy help, as thou didst other Tribes? These were a proud people, Isa. 11. 13. puffed up with a conceit of their Number and Strength, and the preference which Iacob by Divine direction gave them above Manasseh, Gen. 48. 19, 20. of which Tribe Gideon was, who by this act had seemed to advance his own Tribe, and to depress theirs.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] thing is [illegible: 1 word] thou [illegible: 1 word] unto us.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

2 And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you ? is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer ?

What was done, was done by Gods immediate hand, making them one to kill another; what I have done in cutting off some of the Fugitive common Soldiers, is not to be compared with your Exploit in destroying their Princes; I began the War, but you have finished.

What you have gleaned or done after me.

i. e. Of the Abiezrites, to whom he modestly communicateth the honour of the Victory, and doth not arrogate it to himself, as Generals commonly do.

3 God hath delivered into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that .

His soft and humble Answer allayed their Rage and Envy; see Prov. 17. 11. and 25. 15.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word]

4 ¶ And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over , he, and the three hundred men that were with him: faint, yet pursuing them.

Or, had passed over. When he passed over; see on Iudg. 7. 25.

5 And he sent unto the men of Succoth , Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me, for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zeba and Zalmunna, kings of Midian .

A place beyond Iordan, Gen. 33. 17. Ios. 13. 27. Psal. 60. 8.

Where before this time were five Kings at once, Numb. 31. 8. who either reigned separately in divers parts of the Land; or governed by common counsel and consent; as sometimes there were two or three Roman Emperors together.

6 ¶ And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zeba and Zalmunna now in thine hand , that we should give bread unto thine army?

Art thou so foolish, to think with thy 300 faint and weary Soldiers, to conquer and destroy an Host of 15000 men?

Marginal references: See 1 [illegible: 1 word] 25. 10.

7 And Gideon said, Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zeba and Zalmunna into mine hand, I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the Wilderness : and with briers.

Which grow abundantly in the neighbouring Wilderness; I will chastise or beat your naked Bodies with Thorny Rods, even unto Death: Or, I will lay you down upon Thorns, on the ground, and bring the Cart-wheel upon you, which will both tear your flesh, and bruise you to death.

Marginal references: Heb. thresh.

8 ¶ And he went up thence to Penuel , and spake unto them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him.

Another City beyond Iordan; of which see Gen. 32. 30. 1 King. 12. 25.

9 And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower .

Your confidence in which, makes you thus Proud and Presumptuous. He implies that he would afterwards destroy their persons, as is expressed v. 17.

10 ¶ Now Zeba and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword .

i. e. Persons expert and exercised in War, besides the retainers to them, Iudg. 6. 5.

Marginal references: Or, an hundred and twenty thousand, every one drawing a sword.

11 ¶ And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents , on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah , and smote the host: for the host was secure .

i. e. Of the Arabians, so fetching a compass, and falling upon them where they least expected it.

Of which Cities see Numb. 32. 35, 42.

Being now got safe over Iordan, and a great way from the place of Battel; and probably, supposing Gideon's men to be so tired with their hard Service, and the great Slaughter which they had made, that they would have neither Strength nor Will to pursue them so far.

13 ¶ And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battel before the sun was up ,

By which it may be gathered, that he came upon them in the Night, which was most convenient for him who had so small a number with him; and most likely both to surprise and terrify them by the remembrance of the last Nights sad work, and the expectation of another like it.

14 And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth , and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men.

He told him their Names and Qualities.

Marginal references: Heb. writ.

16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness, and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth .

By that severe punishment, of which v. 7. he made the men, i. e. the Elders of Succoth, to know their Sin and Folly, though it was too late for their good, but not for the instruction and warning of others.

Marginal references: Heb. made [illegible: 1 word] know.

18 Then said he unto Zeba and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor ? And they answered, As thou art, so were they, each one resembled the children of a king .

i. e. For outward shape and quality.

Whither he understood they fled for shelter, upon the approach of the Midianites; and where he learnt that some were slain, which he suspected might be they.

Not for their Garb, or outward Splendour, for the Family was but mean; but for the Majesty of their looks: By which commendation they thought to ingratiate themselves with their Conqueror.

Marginal references: Heb. according to the form, &c.

19 And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the LORD liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you .

For being not Canaanites, he was not obliged to kill them; but they having killed his Brethren, and that in cool blood, he was by Law the avenger of their Blood.

20 And he said unto Jether his first-born, Up, and slay them : but the youth drew not his [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] feared, because he was yet a youth.

Partly, that he mig[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] him to the use of Arms, for his God and Countrey, against their Enemies, and to the Exercise of Justice; partly, that the Death of those mischievous persons might be more shameful and painful; and partly, that he might have some share in the honour of the Victory.

21 Then Zeba and Zalmunna said, Rise thou and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength . And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels necks.

Thou excellest him, as in Age and Stature, so in Strength; and it is more honourable, as well as easy, to die by the hands of a valiant man.

Marginal references: Or, ornaments like the moon.

22 ¶ Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us , both thou, and thy son, and thy sons son also : for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian .

Not as a Judg, for he was already made by God; but as a King.

Let the Kingdom be Hereditary to thee, and to thy Family.

This miraculous and glorious deliverance by thy hands, deserves no less from us.

23 And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you , neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you .

To wit, as a King, which you desire.

In a special manner, as he hath hitherto done, by Judges, whom God did particularly appoint and direct, even by Urim and Thummim, and assist upon all occasions; whereas Kings had a greater Power, and onely a general dependence upon God, as other Kings had. Compare 1 Sam. 8. 6, 7.

24 ¶ And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, That ye would give me every man the ear-rings of his prey, (for they had golden ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites .)

Obj. They are called Midianites before. Ans. Here seems to have been a mixture of People, Iudg. 6. 3. which are all called by one general name, Ishmaelites, or Arabians, who used to wear Ear-rings, Gen. 35. 4. but the greatest, and the ruling part of them were Midianites.

27 And Gideon made an ephod thereof , and put it in his city , even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it ; which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.

Not of all of it; for then it would have been too heavy for use; but of part of it, the rest being probably employed about other things agreeable and appertaining to it; which elsewhere are comprehended under the name of the Ephod, as Iudg. 17. 5. and 18. 14, 18. Hos. 3. 4.

Not as a Monument of the Victory, for such Monuments were neither proper nor usual; but for Religious use, for which alone the Ephod was appointed. The cafe seems to be this, Gideon having by Gods Command erected an Altar in his own City, Ophrah, Iudg. 6. 26. for an extraordinory time and occasion, though it might be continued for ordinary use; and therefore as he intended to procure Priests, so he designed to make Priestly Garments, and especially an Ephod, which was the chief and most costly; which besides its use in sacred ministrations, was also the instrument by which the Mind of God was enquired and discovered, 1 Sam. 26. 6, 9. and 30. 7. which might seem necessary for the Judg to have at hand, that he might consult with God upon all occasions.

Committing Superstition or Idolatry with it, or going thither to enquire the Will of God; whereby they were drawn from the true Ephod, instituted by God for this end, which was to be worn by the High-Priest onely.

An occasion of Sin and Ruine to him and his, as the next Chapter sheweth. Though Gideon was a good man, and did this with an honest mind, and a desire to set up Religion in his own City and Family; yet here seems to be many Sins in it; 1. Superstition and Will-worship, Worshipping God by a device of his own, which was frequently and expresly forbidden. 2. Presumption, in wearing, or causing other Priests to wear this kind of Ephod, which was peculiar to the High-Priest. 3. Transgression of a plain Command, of Worshipping God ordinarily but at one place and one Altar, Deut. 12. 5, 11, 14. and withdrawing people from that place, to his. 4. Making a fearful Schism or Division among the People. 5. Laying a Stumbling-Block, or an occasion of Superstition or Idolatry before that people, whom he knew to be too prone to it.

28 ¶ Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their head no more : and the countrey was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon .

i. e. Recovered not their former Strength or Courage, so as to Conquer or Oppress others, as they had done.

i. e. To the fortieth year, from the beginning of the Midianitish Oppression; see on Iudg. 3. 11.

i. e. As long as Gideon lived.

29 ¶ And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house .

Not in his Fathers House, as he did before; nor yet in a Court like a King, as the People desired; but in a middle state, as a Judge, for the preservation and maintenance of their Religion and Liberties.

31 And his concubine that was in Shechem , she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech .

She dwelt there, and he oft came thither, either to execute Judgment, or upon other occasions.

i. e. My Father the King; so he called him, probably, to gratify his Concubine, who desired it either out of Pride, or Design.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

32 And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age , and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrite.

His long Life being Crowned with the continuance of his Honour, Tranquility and Happiness.

33 And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again , and went a whoring after Baalim , and made Baal-berith their god.

Whereby we see the Wicked temper of this people, who did no longer cleave to God, than they were in a manner constrained to it, by the Presence and Authority of their Judges.

This was the general name including all their Idols, whereof one here follows.

i. e. The Lord of the Covenant, so called, either from the Covenant wherewith the Worshippers of this God bound themselves to maintain his Worship, or to defend one another therein; or rather, because he was reputed the God and Judg of all Covenants, and Promises, and Contracts, to whom it belonged to maintain them, and to punish the violaters of them; and such a God both the Grecians and the Romans had.

Jdg 8:1-3

When the Ephraimites met with Gideon, after they had smitten the Midianites at Oreb and Zeeb, and were pursuing them farther, they said to him, “What is the thing that thou hast done to us (i.e., what is the reason for your having done this to us), not to call us when thou wentest forth to make war upon Midian? And they did chide with him sharply,” less from any dissatisfied longing for booty, than from injured pride or jealousy, because Gideon had made war upon the enemy and defeated them without the co-operation of this tribe, which was striving for the leadership. Gideon’s reply especially suggests the idea of injured ambition: “What have I now done like you?” sc., as if I had done as great things as you. “Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?” The gleaning of Ephraim is the victory gained over the flying Midianites. Gideon declares this to be better than the vintage of Abiezer, i.e., the victory obtained by him the Abiezrite with his 300 men, because the Ephraimites had slain two Midianitish princes. The victory gained by the Ephraimites must indeed have been a very important one, as it is mentioned by Isaiah (Isa 10:26) as a great blow of the Lord upon Midian. “And what could I do like you?” i.e., could I accomplish such great deeds as you? “Then their anger turned away from him.” רוּח, the breathing of the nose, snorting, hence “anger,” as in Isa 25:4, etc.

Pursuit and Complete Overthrow of the Midianites. - That the Midianites whom God had delivered into his hand might be utterly destroyed, Gideon pursued those who had escaped across the Jordan, till he overtook them on the eastern boundary of Gilead and smote them there.

Jdg 8:4-5

When he came to the Jordan with his three hundred men, who were exhausted with the pursuit, he asked the inhabitants of Succoth for loaves of bread for the people in his train. So far as the construction is concerned, the words from עבר to ורדפים form a circumstantial clause inserted as a parenthesis into the principal sentence, and subordinate to it: “When Gideon came to the Jordan, passing over he and the three hundred men ... then he said to the men of Succoth.” “Exhausted and pursuing,” i.e., exhausted with pursuing. The vav is explanatory, lit. “and indeed pursuing,” for “because he pursued.” The rendering πεινῶντες adopted by the lxx in the Cod. Alex. is merely an arbitrary rendering of the word רדפים, and without any critical worth. Gideon had crossed the Jordan, therefore, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Succoth. Succoth was upon the eastern side of the valley of the Jordan (Jos 13:27), not opposite to Bethshean, but, according to Gen 33:17, on the south side of the Jabbok (Zerka).

Jdg 8:6

The princes of Succoth, however, showed so little sympathy and nationality of feeling, that instead of taking part of the attack upon the enemies of Israel, they even refused to supply bread to refresh their brethren of the western tribes who were exhausted with the pursuit of the foe. They said (the sing. ויּאמר may be explained on the ground that one spoke in the name of all: see Ewald, §319, a.), “Is the fist of Zebah and Zalmunna already in thy hand (power), that we should give thine army bread?” In these words there is not only an expression of cowardice, or fear of the vengeance which the Midianites might take when they returned upon those who had supported Gideon and his host, but contempt of the small force which Gideon had, as if it were impossible for him to accomplish anything at all against the foe; and in this contempt they manifested their utter want of confidence in God.

Jdg 8:7

Gideon threatened them, therefore, with severe chastisement in the event of a victorious return. “If Jehovah give Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thresh your flesh (your body) with desert thorns and thistles.” The verb דּוּשׁ, constructed with a double accusative (see Ewald, §283, .), is used in a figurative sense: “to thresh,” in other words, to punish severely. “Thorns of the desert” as strong thorns, as the desert is the natural soil for thorn-bushes. The ἁπ. λεγ. בּרקנים also signifies prickly plants, according to the early versions and the Rabbins, probably “such as grow upon stony ground” (Bertheau). The explanation “threshing machines with stones or flints underneath them,” which was suggested by J. D. Michaelis and Celsius, and adopted by Gesenius, cannot be sustained.

Jdg 8:8-9

The inhabitants of Pnuel on the north bank of the Jabbok (see at Gen 32:24.) behaved in the same churlish manner to Gideon, and for this he also threatened them: “If I return in peace,” i.e., unhurt, “I will destroy this tower” (probably the castle of Pnuel).

Jdg 8:10-12

The Midianitish kings were at Karkor with all the remnant of their army, about fifteen thousand men, a hundred and twenty thousand having already fallen. Gideon followed them thither by the road of the dwellers in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbeha; and falling upon them unawares, smote the whole camp, which thought itself quite secure, and took the two kings prisoners, after discomfiting all the camp. The situation of Karkor, which is only mentioned here, cannot be determined with certainty. The statement of Eusebius and Jerome (Onom. s. v. Καρκὰ, Carcar), that it was the castle of Carcaria, a day’s journey from Petra, is decidedly wrong, since this castle is much too far to the south, as Gesenius (Thes. p. 1210) has shown. Karkor cannot have been very far from Nobah and Jogbeha. These two places are probably preserved in the ruins of Nowakis and Jebeiha, on the north-west of Ammân (Rabbath-ammon; see at Num 21:31). Now, as Burckhardt (Syr. p. 612) also mentions a ruin in the neighbourhood, called Karkagheisch, on the left of the road from Szalt to Ammân, and at the most an hour and a half to the north-west of Ammân, Knobel (on Num 32:42) is inclined to regard this ruin as Karkor. If this supposition could be proved to be correct, Gideon would have fallen upon the camp of the enemy from the north-east. For “the way of the dwellers in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbeha” cannot well be any other than the way which ran to the east of Nobah and Jogbeha, past the most easterly frontier city of the Gadites, to the nomads who dwelt in the desert. באללים השּׁכוּני has the article attached to the governing noun, which may easily be explained in this instance from the intervening preposition. The passive participle שׁכוּן has an intransitive force (see Ewald, §149, a.). The verb החריד in the circumstantial clause acquires the force of the pluperfect from the context. When he had startled the camp out of its security, having alarmed it by his unexpected attack, he succeeded in taking the two kings prisoners.

Punishment of the Towns of Succoth and Pnuel, and Execution of the Captures Kings of Midian.

Jdg 8:13-14

Gideon returned victorious from the war, החרס מלמעלה, “from by the ascent (or mountain road) of Hecheres,” a place in front of the town of Succoth, with which we are not acquainted. This is the rendering adopted by the lxx, the Peshito, and the Arabic; but the rest of the early translators have merely guessed at the meaning. The Chaldee, which has been followed by the Rabbins and Luther, has rendered it “before sunset,” in utter opposition to the rules of the language; for although cheres is a word used poetically to denote the sun, מעלה cannot mean the setting of the sun. Aquila and Symmachus, on the other hand, confound חרס with הרים. - Gideon laid hold of a young man of the people of Succoth, and got him to write down for him the princes and elders (magistrates and rulers) of the city, - in all seventy-seven men. ויּכתּב ויּשׁאלהוּ is a short expression for “he asked him the names of the princes and elders of the city, and the boy wrote them down.” אליו, lit. to him, i.e., for him.

Jdg 8:15-16

Gideon then reproached the elders with the insult they had offered him (Jdg 8:6), and had them punished with desert thorns and thistles. “Men of Succoth” (Jdg 8:15 and Jdg 8:16) is a general expression for “elders of Succoth” (Jdg 8:16); and elders a general term applied to all the representatives of the city, including the princes. אתי חרפתּם אשׁר, with regard to whom ye have despised me. אשׁר is the accusative of the more distant or second object, not the subject, as Stud. supposes. “And he taught the men of Succoth (i.e., caused them to know, made them feel, punished them) with them (the thorns).” There is no good ground for doubting the correctness of the reading ויּדע. The free renderings of the lxx, Vulg., etc., are destitute of critical worth; and Bertheau's assertion, that if it were the Hiphil it would be written יודע, is proved to be unfounded by the defective writing in Num 16:5; Job 32:7.

Jdg 8:17

Gideon also inflicted upon Pnuel the punishment threatened in Jdg 8:9. The punishment inflicted by Gideon upon both the cities was well deserved in all respects, and was righteously executed. The inhabitants of these cities had not only acted treacherously to Israel as far as they could, from the most selfish interests, in a holy conflict for the glory of the Lord and the freedom of His people, but in their contemptuous treatment of Gideon and his host they had poured contempt upon the Lord, who had shown them to be His own soldiers before the eyes of the whole nation by the victory which He had given them over the innumerable army of the foe. Having been called by the Lord to be the deliverer and judge of Israel, it was Gideon’s duty to punish the faithless cities.

Jdg 8:18-21

After punishing these cities, Gideon repaid the two kings of Midian, who had been taken prisoners, according to their doings. From the judicial proceedings instituted with regard to them (Jdg 8:18, Jdg 8:19), we learn that these kings had put the brothers of Gideon to death, and apparently not in open fight; but they had murdered them in an unrighteous and cruel manner. And Gideon made them atone for this with their own lives, according to the strict jus talionis. איפה, in Jdg 8:18, does not mean where? but “in what condition, of what form, were the men whom he slew at Tabor?” i.e., either in the city of Tabor or at Mount Tabor (see Jdg 4:6, and Jos 19:22). The kings replied: “As thou so they” (those men), i.e., they were all as stately as thou art, “every one like the form of kings’ sons.” אחד, one, for every one, like אחד אישׁ in 2Ki 15:20, or more frequently אישׁ alone. As the men who had been slain were Gideon’s own brothers, he swore to those who had done the deed, i.e., to the two kings, “As truly as Jehovah liveth, if ye had let them live I should not have put you to death;” and then commanded his first-born son Jether to slay them, for the purpose of adding the disgrace of falling by the hand of a boy. “But the boy drew not his sword from fear, because he was yet a boy.” And the kings then said to Gideon, “Rise thou and stab us, for as the man so is his strength,” i.e., such strength does not belong to a boy, but to a man. Thereupon Gideon slew them, and took the little moons upon the necks of their camels as booty. “The little moons” were crescent-shaped ornaments of silver or gold, such as men and women wore upon their necks (see Jdg 8:26, and Isa 3:18), and which they also hung upon the necks of camels-a custom still prevalent in Arabia (see Schröder, de vestitu mul. hebr. pp. 39, 40, and Wellsted, Reisen in Arab. i. p. 209).

Jdg 8:22-23

Gideon’s Remaining Acts, and Death. - Jdg 8:22, Jdg 8:23. As Gideon had so gloriously delivered Israel from the severe and long oppression on the part of the Midianites, the Israelites offered him an hereditary crown. “The men of Israel” were hardly all the twelve tribes, but probably only the northern tribes of the western part of the land already mentioned in Jdg 6:35, who had suffered the most severely from the Midianitish oppression, and had been the first to gather round Gideon to make an attack upon the foe. The temptation to accept the government of Israel was resisted by this warrior of God. “Neither I nor my son shall rule over you; Jehovah shall rule over you,” was his reply to this offer, containing an evident allusion to the destination and constitution of the tribes of Israel as a nation which Jehovah had chosen to be His own possession, and to which He had just made himself known in so conspicuous a manner as their omnipotent Ruler and King. This refusal of the regal dignity on the part of Gideon is not at variance with the fact, that Moses had already foreseen the possibility that at some future time the desire for a king would arise in the nation, and had given them a law for the king expressly designed for such circumstances as these (Deu 17:14.). For Gideon did not decline the honour because Jehovah was King in Israel, i.e., because he regarded an earthly monarchy in Israel as irreconcilable with the heavenly monarchy of Jehovah, but simply because he thought the government of Jehovah in Israel amply sufficient, and did not consider either himself or his sons called to found an earthly monarchy.

Jdg 8:24

Gideon resisted the temptation to put an earthly crown upon his head, from true fidelity to Jehovah; but he yielded to another temptation, which this appeal on the part of the people really involved, namely, the temptation to secure to himself for the future the position to which the Lord had called and exalted him. The Lord had called him to be the deliverer of Israel by visibly appearing in His angel, and had not only accepted the gift which he offered Him, as a well-pleasing sacrifice, but had also commanded him to build an altar, and by offering an atoning burnt-sacrifice to re-establish the worship of Jehovah in his family and tribe, and to restore the favour of God to His people once more. Lastly, the Lord had made His will known to him again and again; whilst by the glorious victory which He had given to him and to his small band over the powerful army of the foe, He had confirmed him as His chosen servant to be the deliverer and judge of Israel. The relation which Gideon thus sustained to the Lord he imagined that he ought to preserve; and therefore, after declining the royal dignity, he said to the people, “I will request of you one request, that ye give me every one the ring that he has received as booty.” This request the historian explains by adding the remark: “for they (the enemy) had golden rings, for they were Ishmaelites,” from whom therefore the Israelites were able to get an abundance of rings as booty. Ishmaelites is the general name for the nomad tribes of Arabia, to whom the Midianites also belonged (as in Gen 37:25).

Jdg 8:25-26

This request of Gideon’s was cheerfully fulfilled: “They spread out the cloth (brought for collecting the rings), and threw into it every one the ring that he had received as booty.” Simlah, the upper garment, was for the most part only a large square piece of cloth. The weight of these golden rings amounted to 1700 shekels, i.e., about 50 lbs., (מן לבד) separate from, i.e., beside, the remaining booty, for which Gideon had not asked, and which the Israelites kept for themselves, viz., the little moons, the ear-pendants (netiphoth , lit. little drops, probably pearl-shaped ear-drops: see Isa 3:19), and the purple clothes which were worn by the kings of Midian (i.e., which they had on), and also apart from the neck-bands upon the necks of their camels. Instead of the anakoth or necklaces (Jdg 8:26), the saharonim, or little moons upon the necks of the camels, are mentioned in Jdg 8:21 as the more valuable portion of these necklaces. Even at the present day the Arabs are accustomed to ornament the necks of these animals “with a band of cloth or leather, upon which small shells called cowries are strung or sewed in the form of a crescent. The sheiks add silver ornaments to these, which make a rich booty in time of war” (Wellsted, Reise, i. p. 209). The Midianitish kings had their camels ornamented with golden crescents. This abundance of golden ornaments will not surprise us, when we consider that the Arabs still carry their luxurious tastes for such things to a very great excess. Wellsted (i. p. 224) states that “the women in Omân spend considerable amounts in the purchase of silver ornaments, and their children are literally laden with them. I have sometimes counted fifteen ear-rings upon each side; and the head, breast, arms, and ankles are adorned with the same profusion.” As the Midianitish army consisted of 130,000 men, of whom 15,000 only remained at the commencement of the last engagement, the Israelites may easily have collected 5000 golden rings, or even more, which might weigh 1700 shekels.

Jdg 8:27

“And Gideon made it into an ephod,” i.e., used the gold of the rings obtained from the booty for making an ephod. There is no necessity, however, to understand this as signifying that 1700 shekels or 50 lbs. of gold had been used for the ephod itself, but simply that the making of the ephod was accomplished with this gold. The word ephod does not signify an image of Jehovah, or an idol, as Gesenius and others maintain, but the shoulder-dress of the high priest, no doubt including the choshen belonging to it, with the Urim and Thummim, as in 1Sa 14:3; 1Sa 21:10; 1Sa 23:6, 1Sa 23:9, etc. The material for this was worked throughout with gold threads; and in addition to that there were precious stones set in gold braid upon the shoulder-pieces of the ephod and upon the choshen, and chains made of gold twist for fastening the choshen upon the ephod (see Ex 28:6-30). Now, if 50 lbs. of gold could not be used for these things, there were also fourteen precious stones to be procured, and the work itself to be paid for, so that 50 lbs. of gold might easily be devoted to the preparation of this state dress. The large quantity of gold, therefore, does not warrant us in introducing arbitrarily into the text the establishment of a formal sanctuary, and the preparation of a golden image of Jehovah in the form of a bull, as Bertheau has done, since there is no reference to פּסל or מסכה, as in Judg 17-18; and even the other words of the text do not point to the founding of a sanctuary and the setting up of an image of Jehovah.Oehler has correctly observed in Herzog's Cyclopaedia, that Bertheau acts very arbitrarily when he represents Gideon as setting up the image of a bull, as Jeroboam did afterwards, since there is nothing to sustain it in the account itself. Why cannot Gideon have worshipped without any image of Jehovah, with the help of the altar mentioned in Jdg 6:24, which was a symbol of Jehovah’s presence, and remained standing till the historian’s own time?

The expression which follows, אתו ויּצּג, does not affirm that “heset it up,” but may also mean, “he kept it in his city of Ophrah.” הצּג is never used to denote the setting up of an image or statue, and signifies not only to put up, but also to lay down (e.g., Jdg 6:37), and to let a thing stand, or leave behind (Gen 33:15). The further remark of the historian, “and all Israel went thither a whoring after it, and it became a snare to Gideon and his house,” does not presuppose the founding of a sanctuary or temple in Ophrah, and the setting up of a golden calf there. In what the whoring of Israel after the ephod, i.e., the idolatry of the Israelites with Gideon’s ephod which was kept in Ophrah, consisted, cannot be gathered or determined from the use of the ephod in the worship of Jehovah under the Mosaic law. “The breastplate upon the coat, and the holy lot, were no doubt used in connection with idolatry” (Oehler), and Gideon had an ephod made in his town of Ophrah, that he might thereby obtain revelations from the Lord. We certainly are not for a moment to think of an exposure of the holy coat for the people to worship. It is far more probable that Gideon put on the ephod and wore it as a priest, when he wished to inquire and learn the will of the Lord. It is possible that he also sacrificed to the Lord upon the altar that was built at Ophrah (Jdg 6:24). The motive by which he was led to do this was certainly not merely ambition, as Bertheau supposes, impelling the man who, along with his followers, and maintained an independent attitude towards the tribe of Ephraim in the war itself (Jdg 8:1.), to act independently of the common sanctuary of the congregation which was within the territory of Ephraim, and also of the office of the high priest in the time of peace as well. For there is not the slightest trace to be found of such ambition as this in anything that he did during the conflict with the Midianites. The germs of Gideon’s error, which became a snare to him and to his house, lie unquestionably deeper than this, namely, in the fact that the high-priesthood had probably lost its worth in the eyes of the people on account of the worthlessness of its representatives, so that they no longer regarded the high priest as the sole or principal medium of divine revelation; and therefore Gideon, to whom the Lord had manifested himself directly, as He had not to any judge or leader of the people since the time of Joshua, might suppose that he was not acting in violation of the law, when he had an ephod made, and thus provided himself with a substratum or vehicle for inquiring the will of the Lord. His sin therefore consisted chiefly in his invading the prerogative of the Aaronic priesthood, drawing away the people from the one legitimate sanctuary, and thereby not only undermining the theocratic unity of Israel, but also giving an impetus to the relapse of the nation into the worship of Baal after his death. This sin became a snare to him and to his house.

The history of Gideon is concluded in Jdg 8:28-32. - Jdg 8:28. The Midianites had been so humiliated that they lifted up their head no more, and the land of Israel had rest forty years “in the days of Gideon,” i.e., as long as Gideon lived.

Jdg 8:29-31

Before the account of his death, a few other notices respecting his family are introduced for the purpose of preparing the way for the following history of the doings of his sons, in which the sin of Gideon came to a head, and the judgment burst upon his house. “And Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went and dwelt in his house.” Both the word ויּלך, which simply serves to bring out the fact more vividly (see the remarks on Exo 2:1), and also the choice of the name Jerubbaal, merely serve to give greater prominence to the change, from the heat of the war against the Midianites to the quiet retirement of domestic life. Instead of accepting the crown that was offered him and remaining at the head of the nation, the celebrated Baal-fighter retired into private life again. In addition to the seventy sons of his many wives, there was a son born to him by a concubine, who lived at Shechem and is called his maid-servant in Jdg 9:18, and to this son he gave the name of Abimelech, i.e., king’s father. את־שׁמו ויּשׂם is not the same as את־שׁמו קרא, to give a person a name, but signifies to add a name, or give a surname (see Neh 9:7, and Dan 5:12 in the Chaldee). It follows from this, that Abimelech received this name from Gideon as a cognomen answering to his character, and therefore not at the time of his birth, but when he grew up and manifested such qualities as led to the expectation that he would be a king’s father.

Jdg 8:32

Gideon died at a good old age (see Gen 15:15; Gen 25:8), and therefore also died a peaceful death (not so his sons; see Judg 9), and was buried in his father’s grave at Ophrah (Jdg 6:11).

Jdg 8:33-35 form the introduction to the history of Gideon’s sons.

Jdg 8:33

After Gideon’s death the Israelites fell once more into the Baal-worship which Gideon had rooted out of his father’s city (Jdg 6:25.), and worshipped Baal-berith as their God. Baal-berith, the covenant Baal (equivalent to El-berith, the covenant god, Jdg 9:46), is not Baal as the god of covenants, but, according to Gen 14:13, Baal as a god in covenant, i.e., Baal with whom they had made a covenant, just as the Israelites had their faithful covenant God in Jehovah (see Movers, Phöniz. i. p. 171). The worship of Baal-berith, as performed at Shechem according to Jdg 9:46, was an imitation of the worship of Jehovah, an adulteration of that worship, in which Baal was put in the place of Jehovah (see Hengstenberg, Dissertations on the Pentateuch, vol. ii. p. 81).

Jdg 8:34-35

In this relapse into the worship of Baal they not only forgot Jehovah, their Deliverer from all their foes, but also the benefits which they owed to Gideon, and showed no kindness to his house in return for all the good which he had shown to Israel. The expression Jerubbaal-Gideon is chosen by the historian here, not for the purely outward purpose of laying express emphasis upon the identity of Gideon and Jerubbaal (Bertheau), but to point to what Gideon, the Baal-fighter, had justly deserved from the people of Israel. Judgment upon the House of Gideon, or Abimelech’s Sins and End - Judges 9

After the death of Gideon, Abimelech, his bastard son, opened a way for himself to reign as king over Israel, by murdering his brethren with the help of the Shechemites (Jdg 9:1-6). For this grievous wrong Jotham, the only one of Gideon’s seventy sons who escaped the massacre, reproached the citizens of Shechem in a parable, in which he threatened them with punishment from God (Jdg 9:7-21), which first of all fell upon Shechem within a very short time (vv. 22-49), and eventually reached Abimelech himself (Jdg 9:50-57).

Gideon Pacifies the Ephraimites. (b. c. 1249.)

1 And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. 2 And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3 God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.

No sooner were the Midianites, the common enemy, subdued, than, through the violence of some hot spirits, the children of Israel were ready to quarrel among themselves; an unhappy spark was struck, which, if Gideon had not with a great deal of wisdom and grace extinguished immediately, might have broken out into a flame of fatal consequence. The Ephraimites, when they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon as general, instead of congratulating him upon his successes and addressing him with thanks for his great services, as they ought to have done, picked a quarrel with him and grew very hot upon it.

I. Their accusation was very peevish and unreasonable: Why didst thou not call us when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? v. 1. Ephraim was brother to Manasseh, Gideon's tribe, and had the pre-eminence in Jacob's blessing and in Moses's, and therefore was very jealous of Manasseh, lest that tribe should at any time eclipse the honour of theirs. Hence we find Manasseh against Ephraim and Ephraim against Manasseh, Isa. ix. 21. A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and their contentions are as the bars of a castle, Prov. xviii. 19. But how unjust was their quarrel with Gideon! They were angry that he did not send for them to begin the attack upon Midian, as well as to follow the blow. Why were they not called to lead the van? The post of honour, they thought, belonged to them. But, 1. Gideon was called of God, and must act as he directed; he neither took the honour to himself nor did he himself dispose of honours, but left it to God to do all. So that the Ephraimites, in this quarrel, reflected upon the divine conduct; and what was Gideon that they murmured against him? 2. Why did not the Ephraimites offer themselves willingly to the service? They knew the enemy was in their country, and had heard of the forces that were raising to oppose them, to which they ought to have joined themselves, in zeal for the common cause, though they had not a formal invitation. Those seek themselves more than God that stand upon a point of honour to excuse themselves from doing real service to God and their generation. In Deborah's time there was a root of Ephraim, ch. v. 14. Why did not this appear now? The case itself called them, they needed not wait for a call from Gideon. 3. Gideon had saved their credit in not calling them. If he had sent for them, no doubt may of them would have gone back with the faint-hearted, or been dismissed with the lazy, slothful, and intemperate; so that by not calling them he prevented the putting of those slurs upon them. Cowards will seem valiant when the danger is over, but those consult their reputation who try not their courage when danger is near.

II. Gideon's answer was very calm and peaceable, and was intended not so much to justify himself as to please and pacify them, v. 2, 3. He answers them, 1. With a great deal of meekness and temper. He did not resent the affront, nor answer anger with anger, but mildly reasoned the case with them, and he won as true honour by this command which he had over his own passion as by his victory over the Midianites. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty. 2. With a great deal of modesty and humility, magnifying their performances above his own: Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim, who picked up the stragglers of the enemy, and cut off those of them that escaped, better than the vintage of Abiezer—a greater honour to them, and better service to the country, than the first attack Gideon made upon them? The destruction of the church's enemies is compared to a vintage, Rev. xiv. 18. In this he owns their gleanings better than his gatherings. The improving of a victory is often more honourable, and of greater consequence, than the winning of it; in this they had signalized themselves, and their own courage and conduct, or, rather, God had dignified them; for thought, to magnify their achievements, he is willing to diminish his own performances, yet he will not take any flowers from God's crown to adorn theirs with: "God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, and a great slaughter has been made of the enemy by your numerous hosts, and what was I able to do with 300 men, in comparison of you and your brave exploits?" Gideon stands here a very great example of self-denial, and this instance shows us, (1.) That humility of deportment is the best way to remove envy. It is true even right works are often envied, Eccl. iv. 4. Yet they are not so apt to be so when those who do them appear not to be proud of them. Those are malignant indeed who seek to cast down from their excellency those that humble and abase themselves, (2.) It is likewise the surest method of ending strife, for only by pride comes contention, Prov. xiii. 10. (3.) Humility is most amiable and admirable in the midst of great attainments and advancements. Gideon's conquests did greatly set off his condescensions. (4.) It is the proper act of humility to esteem others better than ourselves, and in honour to prefer one another.

Now what was the issue of this controversy? The Ephraimites had chidden with him sharply (v. 1), forgetting the respect due to their general and one whom God had honoured, and giving vent to their passion in a very indecent liberty of speech, a certain sign of a weak and indefensible cause. Reason runs low when the chiding flies high. But Gideon's soft answer turned away their wrath, Prov. xv. 1. Their anger was abated towards him, v. 3. It is intimated that they retained some resentment, but he prudently overlooked it and let it cool by degrees. Very great and good men must expect to have their patience tried by the unkindnesses and follies even of those they serve and must not think it strange.

Gideon Pursues the Midianites. (b. c. 1249.)

4 And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. 5 And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. 6 And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army? 7 And Gideon said, Therefore when the Lord hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. 8 And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him. 9 And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower. 10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword. 11 And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host: for the host was secure. 12 And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the host. 13 And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up, 14 And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men. 15 And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary? 16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. 17 And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.

In these verses we have,

I. Gideon, as a valiant general, pursuing the remaining Midianites, and bravely following his blow. A very great slaughter was made of the enemy at first: 120,000 men that drew the sword, v. 10. Such a terrible execution did they make among themselves, and so easy a prey were they to Israel. But, it seems, the two kings of Midian, being better provided than the rest for an escape, with 15,000 men got over Jordan before the passes could be secured by the Ephraimites, and made towards their own country. Gideon thinks he does not fully execute his commission to save Israel if he let them escape. He is not content to chase them out of the country, but he will chase them out of the world, Job xviii. 18. This resolution is here pushed on with great firmness, and crowned with great success.

1. His firmness was very exemplary. He effected his purpose under the greatest disadvantages and discouragements that could be. (1.) He took none with him but his 300 men, who now laid aside their trumpets and torches, and betook themselves to their swords and spears. God had said, By these 300 men will I save you (ch. vii. 7); and, confiding in that promise, Gideon kept to them only, v. 4. He expected more from 300 men, supported by a particular promise, than from so many thousands supported only by their own valour. (2.) They were faint, and yet pursuing, much fatigued with what they had done, and yet eager to do more against the enemies of their country. Our spiritual warfare must thus be prosecuted with what strength we have, though we have but little; it is many a time the true Christina's case, fainting and yet pursuing. (3.) Though he met with discouragement from those of his own people, was jeered for what he was doing, as going about what he could never accomplish, yet he went on with it. If those that should be our helpers in the way of our duty prove hindrances to us, let not this drive us off from it. Those know not how to value God's acceptance that know not how to despise the reproaches and contempts of men. (4.) He made a very long march by the way of those that dwelt in tents (v. 11), either because he hoped to find them kinder to him than the men of Succoth and Penuel, that dwelt in walled towns (sometimes there is more generosity and charity found in country tents than in city palaces), or because that was a road in which he would be least expected, and therefore that way it would be the greater surprise to them. It is evident he spared no pains to complete his victory. Now he found it an advantage to have his 300 men such as could bear hunger, and thirst, and toil. It should seem, he set upon the enemy by night, as he had done before, for the host was secure. The security of sinners often proves their ruin, and dangers are most fatal when least feared.

2. His success was very encouraging to resolution and industry in a good cause. He routed the army (v. 11), and took the two kings prisoners, v. 12. Note, The fear of the wicked shall come upon him. Those that think to run from the sword of the Lord and of Gideon do but run upon it. If he flee from the iron weapon, yet the bow of steel shall strike him through; for evil pursueth sinners.

II. Here is Gideon, as a righteous judge, chastising the insolence of the disaffected Israelites, the men of Succoth and the men of Penuel, both in the tribe of Gad, on the other side Jordan.

1. Their crime was great. Gideon, with a handful of feeble folk was pursuing the common enemy, to complete the deliverance of Israel. His way led him through the city of Succoth first and afterwards of Penuel. He expected not that the magistrates should meet him in their formalities, congratulate him upon his victory, present him with the keys of their city, and give him a treat, much less that they should send forces in to his assistance, though he was entitled to all this; but he only begs some necessary food for his soldiers that were ready to faint for want, and he does it very humbly and importunately: Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me, v. 5. The request would have been reasonable if they had been but poor travellers in distress; but considering that they were soldiers, called, and chose, and faithful (Rev. xvii. 14), men whom God had greatly honoured and to whom Israel was highly obliged, who had done great service to their country and were now doing more,—that they were conquerors, and had power to put them under contribution,—and that they were fighting God's battles and Israel's,—nothing could be more just than that their brethren should furnish them with the best provisions their city afforded. But the princes of Succoth neither feared God nor regarded man. For, (1.) In contempt of God, they refused to answer the just demands of him whom God had raised up to save them, affronted him, bantered him, despised the success he had already been honoured with, despaired of the success of his present undertaking, did what they could to discourage him in prosecuting the war, and were very willing to believe that the remaining forces of Midian, which they had now seen march through their country, would be too hard for him: Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand? "No, nor ever will be," so they conclude, judging by the disproportion of numbers. (2.) The bowels of their compassion were shut up against their brethren; they were as destitute of love as they were of faith, would not give morsels of bread (so some read it) to those that were ready to perish. Were these princes? were these Israelites? unworthy either title, base and degenerate men! Surely they were worshippers of Baal, or in the interests of Midian. The men of Penuel gave the same answer to the same request, defying the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, v. 8.

2. The warning he gave them of the punishment of their crime was very fair. (1.) He did not punish it immediately, because he would not lose so much time from the pursuit of the enemy that were flying from him, because he would not seem to do it in a neat of passion, and because he would do it more to their shame and confusion when he had completed his undertaking, which they thought impracticable. But, (2.) He told them how he would punish it (v. 7, 9), to show the confidence he had of success in the strength of God, and that, if they had the least grain of grace and consideration left, they might upon second thoughts repent of their folly, humble themselves, and contrive how to atone for it, by sending after him succours and supplies, which if they had done, no doubt, Gideon would have pardoned them. God gives notice of danger, and space to repent, that sinners may flee from the wrath to come.

3. The warning being slighted, the punishment, though very severe, was really very just.

(1.) The princes of Succoth were first made examples. Gideon got intelligence of their number, seventy-seven men, their names, and places of abode, which were described in writing to him, v. 14. And, to their great surprise, when they thought he had scarcely overtaken the Midianites, he returned a conqueror. His 300 men were now the ministers of his justice; they secured all these princes, and brought them before Gideon, who showed them his royal captives in chains. "These are the men you thought me an unequal match for, and would give me no assistance in the pursuit of," v. 15. And he punished them with thorns and briers, but, it should seem, not unto death. With these, [1.] He tormented their bodies, either by scourging or by rolling them in the thorns and briers; some way or other he tore their flesh, v. 7. Those shall have judgment without mercy that have shown no mercy. Perhaps he observed them to be soft and delicate men, who despised him and his company for their roughness and hardiness, and therefore Gideon thus mortified them for their effeminacy. [2.] He instructed their minds: With these he taught the men of Succoth, v. 16. The correction he gave them was intended, not for destruction, but wholesome discipline, to make them wiser and better for the future. He made them know (so the word is), made them know themselves and their folly, God and their duty, made them know who Gideon was, since they would not know by the success wherewith God had crowned him. Note, Many are taught with the briers and thorns of affliction that would not learn otherwise. God gives wisdom by the rod and reproof, chastens and teaches, and by correction opens the ear to discipline. Our blessed Saviour, though he was a Son, yet learnt obedience by the things which he suffered, Heb. v. 8. Let every pricking brier, and grieving thorn, especially when it becomes a thorn in the flesh, be thus interpreted, thus improved. "By this God designs to teach me; what good lesson shall I learn?"

(2.) The doom of the men of Penuel comes next, and it should seem he used them more severely than the other, for good reason, no doubt, v. 17. [1.] He beat down their tower, of which they gloried, in which they trusted, perhaps scornfully advising Gideon and his men rather to secure themselves in that than to pursue the Midianites. What men make their pride is justly by its ruin made their shame. [2.] He slew the men of the city, not all, perhaps not the elders or princes, but those that had affronted him, and those only. He slew some of the men of the city that were most insolent and abusive, for terror to the rest, and so he taught the men of Penuel.

Zebah and Zalmunna Slain. (b. c. 1249.)

18 Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king. 19 And he said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the Lord liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you. 20 And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth. 21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks.

Judgment began at the house of God, in the just correction of the men of Succoth and Penuel, who were Israelites, but it did not end there. The kings of Midian, when they had served to demonstrate Gideon's victories, and grace his triumphs, must now be reckoned with. 1. They are indicted for the murder of Gideon's brethren some time ago at Mount Tabor. When the children of Israel, for fear of the Midianites, made themselves dens in the mountains (ch. vi. 2), those young men, it is likely, took shelter in that mountain, where they were found by these two kings, and most basely and barbarously slain in cold blood. When he asks them what manner of men they were (v. 18), it is not because he was uncertain of the thing, or wanted proof of it; he was not so little concerned for his brethren's blood as not to enquire it out before now, nor were these proud tyrants solicitous to conceal it. But he puts that question to them that by their acknowledgment of the more than ordinary comeliness of the persons they slew their crime might appear the more heinous, and consequently their punishment the more righteous. They could not but own that, though they were found in a mean and abject condition, yet they had an unusual greatness and majesty in their countenances, not unlike Gideon himself at this time: they resembled the children of a king, born for something great. 2. Being found guilty of this murder by their own confession, Gideon, though he might have put them to death as Israel's judge for the injuries done to that people in general, as Oreb and Zeeb (ch. vii. 25), yet chooses rather to put on the character of an avenger of blood, as next of kin to the persons slain: They were my brethren, v. 19. Their other crimes might have been forgiven, at least Gideon would not have slain them himself, let them have answered it to the people; but the voice of his brethren's blood cries, cries to him, now it is in the power of his hand to avenge it, and therefore there is no remedy—by him must their blood be shed, though they were kings. Little did they think to hear of this so long after; but murder seldom goes unpunished even in this life. 3. The execution is done by Gideon himself with his own hand, because he was the avenger of blood; he bade his son slay them, for he was a near relation to the persons murdered, and fittest to be his father's substitute and representative, and he would thus train him up to the acts of justice and boldness, v. 20. But, (1.) The young man himself desired to be excused; he feared, though they were bound and could make no resistance, because he was yet a youth, and not used to such work: courage does not always run in the blood. (2.) The prisoners themselves desired that Gideon would excuse it (v. 21), begged that, if they must die, they might die by his own hand, which would be somewhat more honourable to them, and more easy; for by his great strength they would sooner be dispatched and rid out of their pain. As is the man, so is his strength. Either they mean it of themselves (they were men of such strength as called for a better hand than that young man's to overpower quickly) or of Gideon, "Thou art at thy full strength; he has not yet come to it; therefore be thou the executioner." From those that are grown up to maturity, it is expected that what they do in any service be done with so much the more strength. Gideon dispatched them quickly, and seized the ornaments that were on their camels' necks, ornaments like the moon, so it is in the margin, either badges of their royalty or perhaps of their idolatry, for Ashteroth was represented by the moon, as Baal by the sun. With there he took all their other ornaments, as appears v. 26, where we find that he did not put them to so good a use as one would have wished. The destruction of these two kings, and that of the two princes (ch. vii. 25) is long afterwards pleaded as a precedent in prayer for the ruin of others of the church's enemies, Ps. lxxxiii. 11, Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, and all their princes as Zebah and Zalmunna, let them all be but off in like manner.

Gideon Declines the Proffered Crown. (b. c. 1249.)

22 Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. 23 And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you. 24 And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. 26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks. 27 And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house. 28 Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.

Here is, I. Gideon's laudable modesty, after his great victory, in refusing the government which the people offered him. 1. It was honest in them to offer it: Rule thou over us, for thou hast delivered us, v. 22. They thought it very reasonable that he who had gone through the toils and perils of their deliverance should enjoy the honour and power of commanding them ever afterwards, and very desirable that he who in this great and critical juncture had had such manifest tokens of God's presence with him should ever afterwards preside in their affairs. Let us apply it to the Lord Jesus: he hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies, our spiritual enemies, the worst and most dangerous, and therefore it is fit he should rule over us; for how can we be better ruled than by one that appears to have so great an interest in heaven and so great a kindness for this earth? We are delivered that we may serve him without fear, Luke i. 74, 75. 2. It was honourable in him to refuse it: I will not rule over you, v. 23. What he did was with a design to serve them, not to rule them—to make them safe, easy, and happy, not to make himself great or honourable. And, as he was not ambitious of grandeur himself, so he did not covet to entail it upon his family: "My son shall not rule over you, either while I live or when I am gone, but the Lord shall still rule over you, and constitute your judges by the special designation of his own Spirit, as he has done." This intimates, (1.) His modesty, and the mean opinion he had of himself and his own merits. He thought the honour of doing good was recompence enough for all his services, which needed not to be rewarded with the honour of bearing sway. He that is greatest, let him be your minister. (2.) His piety, and the great opinion he had of God's government. Perhaps he discerned in the people a dislike of the theocracy, or divine government, a desire of a king like the nations, and thought they availed themselves of his merits as a colourable pretence to move for this change of government. But Gideon would by no means admit it. No good man can be pleased with any honour done to himself which ought to be peculiar to God. Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 1 Cor. i. 13.

II. Gideon's irregular zeal to perpetuate the remembrance of this victory by an ephod made of the choicest of the spoils. 1. He asked the men of Israel to give him the ear-rings of their prey; for such ornaments they stripped the slain of in abundance. These he demanded, either because they were the finest gold, and therefore fittest for a religious use, or because they had had as ear-rings some superstitious signification, which he thought too well of. Aaron called for the ear-rings to make the golden calf of, Exod. xxxii. 2. These Gideon begged v. 24. And he had reason enough to think that those who offered him a crown, when he declined it, would not deny him their ear-rings, when he begged them, nor did they, v. 25. 2. He himself added the spoil he took from the kings of Midian, which, it should seem, had fallen to his share, v. 26. The generals had that part of the prey which was most splendid, the prey of divers colours, ch. v. 30. 3. Of this he made an ephod, v. 27. It was plausible enough, and might be well intended to preserve a memorial of so divine a victory in the judge's own city. But it was a very unadvised thing to make that memorial to be an ephod, a sacred garment. I would gladly put the best construction that can be upon the actions of good men, and such a one we are sure Gideon was. But we have reason to suspect that this ephod had, as usual, a teraphim annexed to it (Hos. iii. 4), and that, having an altar already built by divine appointment (ch. vi. 26), which he erroneously imagined he might still use for sacrifice, he intended this for an oracle, to be consulted in doubtful cases. So the learned Dr. Spencer supposes. Each tribe having now very much its government within itself, they were too apt to covet their religion among themselves. We read very little of Shiloh, and the ark there, in all the story of the Judges. Sometimes by divine dispensation, and much oftener by the transgression of men, that law which obliged them to worship only at that one altar seems not to have been so religiously observed as one would have expected, any more than afterwards, when in the reigns even of very good kings the high places were not taken away, from which we may infer that that law had a further reach as a type of Christ, by whose mediation alone all our services are accepted. Gideon therefore, through ignorance or inconsideration, sinned in making this ephod, though he had a good intention in it. Shiloh, it is true, was not far off, but it was in Ephraim, and that tribe had lately disobliged him (v. 1), which made him perhaps not care to go so often among them as his occasions would lead him to consult the oracle, and therefore he would have one nearer home. However this might be honestly intended, and at first did little hurt, yet in process of time, (1.) Israel went a whoring after it, that is, they deserted God's altar and priesthood, being fond of change, and prone to idolatry, and having some excuse for paying respect to this ephod, because so good a man as Gideon had set it up, and by degrees their respect to it grew more and more superstitious. Note, Many are led into false ways by one false step of a good man. The beginning of sin, particularly of idolatry and will-worship, is as the letting forth of water, so it has been found in the fatal corruptions of the church of Rome; therefore leave it off before it be meddled with. (2.) It became a snare to Gideon himself, abating his zeal for the house of God in his old age, and much more to his house, who were drawn by it into sin, and it proved the ruin of the family.

III. Gideon's happy agency for the repose of Israel, v. 28. The Midianites that had been so vexatious gave them no more disturbance. Gideon, though he would not assume the honour and power of a king, governed as a judge, and did all the good offices he could for his people; so that the country was in quietness forty years. Hitherto the times of Israel had been reckoned by forties. Othniel judged forty years, Ehud eighty—just two forties, Barak forty, and now Gideon forty, providence so ordering it to bring in mind the forty years of their wandering in the wilderness. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation. And see Ezek. iv. 6. After these, Eli ruled forty years (1 Sam. iv. 18), Samuel and Saul forty (Acts xiii. 21), David forty, and Solomon forty. Forty years is about an age.

Israel's Return to Idolatry. (b. c. 1249.)

29 And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house. 30 And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives. 31 And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. 32 And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 33 And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god. 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: 35 Neither showed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had showed unto Israel.

We have here the conclusion of the story of Gideon. 1. He lived privately, v. 29. He was not puffed up with his great honours, did not covet a palace or castle to dwell in, but retired to the house he had lived in before his elevation. Thus that brave Roman who was called from the plough upon a sudden occasion to command the army when the action was over returned to his plough again. 2. His family was multiplied. He had many wives (therein he transgressed the law); by them he had seventy sons (v. 30), but by a concubine he had one whom he named Abimelech (which signifies, my father a king), that proved the ruin of his family, v. 31. 3. He died in honour, in a good old age, when he had lived as long as he was capable of serving God and his country; and who would desire to live any longer? And he was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers. 4. After his death the people corrupted themselves, and went all to naught. As soon as ever Gideon was dead, who had kept them close to the worship of the God of Israel, they found themselves under no restraint, and then they went a whoring after Baalim, v. 33. They went a whoring first after another ephod (v. 27), for which irregularity Gideon had himself given them too much occasion, and now they went a whoring after another god. False worships made way for false deities. They now chose a new god (ch. v. 8), a god of a new name, Baal-berith (a goddess, say some); Berith, some think, was Berytus, the place where the Phoenicians worshipped this idol. The name signifies the Lord of a covenant. Perhaps he was so called because his worshippers joined themselves by covenant to him, in imitation of Israel's covenanting with God; for the devil is God's ape. In this revolt of Israel to idolatry they showed, (1.) Great ingratitude to God (v. 34): They remembered not the Lord, not only who had delivered them into the hands of their enemies, to punish them for their idolatry, but who had also delivered them out of the hands of their enemies, to invite them back again into his service; both the judgments and the mercies were forgotten, and the impressions of them lost. (2.) Great ingratitude to Gideon, v. 35. A great deal of goodness he had shown unto Israel, as a father to his country, for which they ought to have been kind to his family when he was gone, for that is one way by which we ought to show ourselves grateful to our friends and benefactors, and may be returning their kindnesses when they are in their graves. But Israel showed not this kindness to Gideon's family, as we shall find in the next chapter. No wonder if those who forget their God forget their friends.