INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 6 In this chapter we have an account of the distressed condition Israel was in through the Midianites, Judges 6:1, of a prophet being sent unto them to reprieve them for their sins, Judges 6:7 of an angel appearing to Gideon, with an order to him to go and save Israel out of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD,.... After the death of Deborah and Barak, during whose life they kept to the pure worship of God, and who, perhaps, lived pretty near the close of the forty years' rest, or of the twenty years from their victory over Jabin; but they dying... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE HAND OF MIDIAN PREVAILED AGAINST ISRAEL,.... They were too strong for them, and overcame them, and brought them into subjection to them, and no wonder, when the Lord delivered them into their hand: AND BECAUSE OF THE MIDIANITES; because of their usage of them, their manner of coming upon th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SO IT WAS, WHEN ISRAEL HAD SOWN,.... Their land, and it was grown up, and near being ripe, or quite; for the Midianites gave them no disturbance in the winter, and during seedtime, when they came out of their lurking holes, and manured their land, and sowed it: THAT THE MIDIANITES CAME UP; into... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY ENCAMPED AGAINST THEM,.... Formed a camp, from whence they sent out parties to plunder the people; or "they were fixing their tents among them,'' as the Vulgate Latin version; and so the Targum, "they dwelt by them,'' or fixed their habitations by them; for they seem not to have come as... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY CAME UP WITH THEIR CATTLE, AND THEIR TENTS,.... Brought their flocks and their herds with them, to eat up the increase of the earth, and their tents, which they pitched and removed from place to place, for the convenience of feeding their cattle, and while they cut down the fruit of the ear... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ISRAEL WAS GREATLY IMPOVERISHED, BECAUSE OF THE MIDIANITES,.... Were reduced very low, brought into famishing circumstances through the Midianites thus destroying the fruits of the earth year after year: AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL CRIED UNTO THE LORD; which they should have done at first, inste... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL CRIED UNTO THE LORD, BECAUSE OF THE MIDIANITES. Because of their oppressions and ill usage of them, and not because of their sins, which had brought those evils on them, of which, at present, they seemed not to be sensible; and yet such was the goodne... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SENT A PROPHET UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,.... "A man, a prophet" f, as in the Hebrew text, not an angel, but a man; and this not Phinehas, as say some Jewish writers g; for it is not probable he should live so long as more than two hundred years; and had he been living, it is very muc... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I DELIVERED YOU OUT OF THE HAND OF THE EGYPTIANS,.... Even after they were brought out of Egypt, when the Egyptians pursued after them, and overtook them at the Red sea; where they were in the utmost distress, and the Lord wrought salvation for them, gave them a passage through it, and destroyed... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAID UNTO YOU, I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD, c:] The covenant God of them and their fathers, and they ought not to have owned and acknowledged any other besides him: FEAR NOT THE GODS OF THE AMORITES, IN WHOSE LAND YE DWELL meaning not a fear of being hurt by them, but such a fear and reverence of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE CAME AN ANGEL OF THE LORD,.... This was not the prophet before mentioned, as Ben Gersom thinks, but an angel of God, as expressed, and not a created one, but the Angel of Jehovah's presence, the Word and Son of God, and who is expressly called Jehovah himself, Judges 6:14 AND SAT UNDER AN... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD APPEARED UNTO HIM,.... He stayed some time under the oak, and Gideon being busy in threshing, took no notice of him wherefore he came and stood before him, in his sight: AND SAID UNTO HIM, THE LORD IS WITH THEE; the gracious presence of God was with Gideon while he was thr... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GIDEON SAID TO HIM, OH MY LORD,.... Taking him not to be an angel, but some illustrious and eminent person: IF THE LORD BE WITH US, WHY THEN IS ALL THIS BEFALLEN US? all these troubles and calamities through the oppression of the Midianites; for he understood what was said to him in the salutat... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD LOOKED UPON HIM,.... The same before called the angel of the Lord, and who was no other than Jehovah himself; who looked upon him with great earnestness, and with great delight and pleasure smiled upon him, and thereby showing he had a kindness for him, and meant well to him: and SAID... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO HIM, OH MY LORD,.... Whether he had yet suspected who he was, or took him still for some eminent person, is not certain; it is very probable he began to think he was some extraordinary person sent of God, and speaking in his name, and therefore expostulates with him about the work h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM, SURELY I WILL BE WITH THEE,.... The Targum is, "my Word shall be thy help,'' which was sufficient to answer all objections taken from his meanness, unworthiness, and weakness: AND THOU SHALT SMITE THE MIDIANITES AS ONE MAN; all together, and as easily as if thou hadst... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO HIM, IF NOW I HAVE FOUND GRACE IN THY SIGHT, c. Or seeing he had, as appeared by his salutation of him as a man of might, by the work he gave him a commission to do, and by the promise of assistance and success: THEN SHOW ME A SIGN THAT THOU TALKEST WITH ME in the name of God, as a... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 18 DEPART NOT HENCE, I PRAY THEE, UNTIL I COME UNTO THEE,.... Intending to go to his own, or his father's house, to fetch some food to entertain him with, and therefore entreats he would not quit the place where he was until he returned: AND BRING FORTH MY PRESENT, AND SET IT BEFORE THEE; to t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GIDEON WENT IN,.... Into his own house, or his father's: AND MADE READY A KID; boiled it, as appears by the broth he brought, at least part of it was so dressed; and perhaps it was only some part of one that he brought, since a whole one was too much to be set before one person, and if even he... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE ANGEL OF GOD SAID UNTO HIM,.... Instead of sitting down and partaking of the entertainment made for him, he bid him do as follows: TAKE THE FLESH, AND THE UNLEAVENED CAKES, AND LAY THEM UPON THIS ROCK; not as a table to eat it from, but as an altar to offer it upon; and which rock and altar... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE ANGEL OF THE LORD PUT FORTH THE END OF THE STAFF THAT WAS IN HIS HAND,.... With which he walked, appearing as a traveller, and which was one reason of Gideon's providing for his refreshment, before he proceeded on in his journey: AND TOUCHED THE FLESH AND THE UNLEAVENED CAKES; did not stri... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN GIDEON PERCEIVED HE WAS AN ANGEL OF THE LORD,.... By the miracle wrought, and the manner of his departure: GIDEON SAID, ALAS! O LORD GOD; woe to me, what will become of me, or befall me, I shall surely die: FOR BECAUSE I HAVE SEEN AN ANGEL OF THE LORD FACE TO FACE; and whom he had reason... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM,.... Either by a secret impulse upon his spirit, or by a voice from heaven; and even, as Kimchi observes, the angel, after he ascended, might cause this voice to be heard, seeing him in great fear, because he knew he was an angel; and which is another proof of this angel b... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN GIDEON BUILT AN ALTAR THERE UNTO THE LORD,.... On the top of the rock where he had laid his provisions, and which had been consumed by fire issuing out of it, as a token of divine acceptance, and as an assurance of his destroying the Midianites as easily and quickly as the fire had consumed the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS THE SAME NIGHT,.... The night which followed the day in which the angel appeared to Gideon as he was threshing: THAT THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM; perhaps in a dream, since it was in the night: take thy father's young bullock: or "the bullock, the ox" p; a bullock which was a large gr... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BUILD AN ALTAR TO THE LORD THY GOD UPON THE TOP OF THIS ROCK,.... Where the provisions were laid, and out of which came forth fire that consumed them; and where the altar, called by the name of Jehovahshalom, had been built by him, near it very probably; and there might be room enough for both u... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN GIDEON TOOK TEN MEN OF HIS SERVANTS,.... Not only whom he could command, but could confide in, and whom he knew would cheerfully engage in this work, being like himself, who had not bowed the knee to Baal; and as there was much work to do, and it required dispatch, such a number was necessary;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE MEN OF THE CITY AROSE EARLY IN THE MORNING,.... And came to the place where the altar of Baal, his grove and image, were, to pay their morning devotions to him: behold, THE ALTAR OF BAAL WAS CAST DOWN, AND THE GROVE WAS CUT DOWN THAT WAS BY IT, AND THE SECOND BULLOCK WAS OFFERED UPON T... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAID ONE TO ANOTHER, WHO HATH DONE THIS THING?.... They were struck with amazement, and could not devise who could be so daring and wicked as to do such an action: AND WHEN THEY INQUIRED AND ASKED; one and another, everyone present, or they could think of as proper to inquire of; they were... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE MEN OF THE CITY SAID UNTO JOASH,.... The principal inhabitants of the place met together, and in a body went to Joash their chief magistrate, to have justice done in this case: BRING OUT THY SON, THAT HE MAY DIE; they do not ask to have the cause tried by him, to hear what proof they had o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOASH SAID UNTO ALL THAT STOOD AGAINST HIM,.... Against his son; that were his accusers and adversaries, and required him to be given up to them, that they might put him to death: WILL YE PLEAD FOR BAAL? what, Israelites, and plead for Baal! or what need is there for this, cannot he plead for h... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE ON THAT DAY HE CALLED HIM JERUBBAAL,.... That is, Joash called his son Gideon by that name; who, some think, is the same with Jerombalus, the priest of the god Jevo, or Jehovah; from whom Sanchoniatho, an ancient Phoenician writer, as Philo Byblius says w, received the principal things in... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ALL THE MIDIANITES, AND THE AMALEKITES, AND THE CHILDREN OF THE EAST,.... The Arabians, Judges 6:3 were gathered together; not as being alarmed with this fact of Gideon in destroying the altar of Baal, and so came to avenge it; but it was their usual time of gathering together to come into Cana... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAME UPON GIDEON,.... Not the spirit of prophecy, as Maimonides x, who calls this spirit the first degree of prophecy, but a spirit of fortitude and courage, as the Targum; the Spirit of God filled him, or, as in the Hebrew text, "clothed" y him with zeal, strength, and mi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SENT MESSENGERS THROUGH ALL MANASSEH,.... Of which tribe he was; not only he called by the trumpet that part of the tribe, the Abiezrites, who were within the sound of it, but the rest of the tribe at a greater distance from him he sent messengers to, acquainting them with his design, and inv... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GIDEON SAID UNTO GOD,.... Not to a prophet of God who was there, of whom he asked the following signs to be done, as Ben Gersom, but to God in prayer, as Abarbinel: IF THOU WILT SAVE ISRAEL BY MINE HAND, AS THOU HAST SAID; not that he doubted of it, but was willing to have a confirmation of his... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I WILL PUT A FLEECE OF WOOL ON THE FLOOR,.... On the floor where he was threshing, where the angel first appeared to him, and which lay exposed to the open air, so that the dew might easily fall upon it: AND IF THE DEW BE ON THE FLEECE ONLY; the dew that falls from heaven in the night, when... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT WAS SO,.... The Lord condescended to work this miracle for the confirmation of his faith, and for the encouragement of those that were with him; the fleece was wet with the dew of heaven, and all the ground about it dry: FOR HE ROSE UP EARLY IN THE MORNING; being eagerly desirous of knowing... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GIDEON SAID UNTO GOD,.... In the same way as before, and on the morning when he had been favoured with the sight of the above miracle: LET NOT THINE ANGER BE HOT AGAINST ME, AND I WILL SPEAK BUT THIS ONCE; he was conscious to himself that it showed great presumption and boldness in him to repea... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD DID SO THAT NIGHT,.... The night following, the night being the season in which the dew falls: FOR IT WAS DRY UPON THE FLEECE ONLY, AND THERE WAS DEW ON ALL THE GROUND; and this might signify, that not Gideon only, as before, should partake of the divine favour, but all the Israelites, who... [ Continue Reading ]