Judges 6:33

_THEN ALL THE MIDIANITES AND THE AMALEKITES AND THE CHILDREN OF THE EAST WERE GATHERED TOGETHER, AND WENT OVER, AND PITCHED IN THE VALLEY OF JEZREEL._ All the Midianites ... pitched in ... Jezreel. Jezreel means 'God sows.' The confederated troops of Midian, Amalek, and their neighbours, crossing the Jordan to make a fresh inroad on Canaan, encamped in the extensive and fertile plain of Esdraelon (anciently Jezreel). The southern part of the Ghor lies in a very low level, so that there is a steep and difficult ascent into Canaan by the southern wadies. Keeping this in view, we see the reason why the Midianite army, from the east of Jordan, entered Canaan by the northern wadies of the Ghor, opposite Jezreel....

33-40 These signs are truly miraculous, and very significant. Gideon and his men were going to fight the Midianites; could God distinguish between a small fleece of Israel, and the vast floor of Midian? Gideon is made to know that God could do so. Is Gideon desirous that the dew of Divine grace might come down upon himself in particular? He sees the fleece wet with dew to assure him of it. Does he desire that God will be as the dew to all Israel? Behold, all the ground is wet. What cause we sinners of the Gentiles have, to bless the Lord that the dew of heavenly blessings, once confined to Israel, is now sent to all the inhabitants of the earth! Yet still the means of grace are in different measures, according to the purposes of God. In the same congregation, one man's soul is like Gideon's moistened fleece, another like the dry ground....

Verse Judges 6:33. _THEN ALL THE MIDIANITES_] Hearing of what Gideon had done, and apprehending that this might be a forerunner of attempts to regain their liberty, they formed a general association against Israel....

A fresh invasion, and the last, of Midianites Amalekites, and Arabs (see Judges 6:3). But the Israelites, instead of hiding in dens and caves, and tamely leaving all their substance as pIunder to the invaders, now rally around their leader....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 6:33 THE MIDIANITES, etc. See Judges 6:3, note. THE VALLEY OF JEZREEL. Rather, _the_ _plain_,_ _"the great plain of Esdraelon," as the Book of Judith styles it (Judith 1:8; see Judges 4:13, note). The great plain of Jezreel, or Esdraelon (which is the Greek form of the name), through which the Kishon flows, is eight hours in length from east to west, and five hours (twelve miles) in breadth from north to south. It is described as "a very extensive and fertile plain shut in between the mountain ranges of Samaria and Mount Carmel on the south, and of Galilee on the north," and extending from the Mediterranean at the Gulf of C

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 Canaan, being harvest time, as appears by Gideon being employed in threshing, to fetch away the increase of the earth, as they had done for some years past: AND WENT OVER; the river Jordan, which lay between the Midianites and the Israelites: AND PITCHED IN THE VALLEY OF JEZREEL; a very large, delightful, and fruitful plain; of which Hosea 1:5; a very proper place for such a large number to pitch on, and from whence they might receive much; and a suitable place to bring the increase of the la

4. FOURTH DECLENSION: UNDER MIDIAN AND GIDEON, TOLA AND JAIR CHAPTER 6 _ 1. Israel's suffering from Midian (Judges 6:1)_ 2. Their repentance and the divine answer (Judges 6:7) 3. Gideon, the deliverer, chosen (Judges 6:11) 4. The restored worship (Judges 6:25) 5. The gathering for the conflict (Judges 6:33) 6. The sign of the fleece (Judges 6:36) After Deborah and Barak the land had fifty years' rest, and when again they did

THE MIDIANITE RAID, AND THE SIGN OF THE FLEECE. The broad and deep Vale of Jezreel, lying between Gilboa and Moreh, leads up from Jordan to the Great Plain. Judges 6:34. Gideon now felt the Divine impulse the spirit of Yahweh came upon him, lit clothed itself with him, put him on like a garment, possessed him, inspired him. He then blew his trumpet to awaken others. It was his own Abiezer clansmen who answered his call, and they apparently became his famous three hundred. Judges 6:36. The sign of the fleece is probably the record of a dream. Gideon had often seen the heavy dew fall on a summer night upon the hills of Manasseh, and his perceptions wove themselves into mysterious visions, in which he seemed to have power to bend the Divine will to his own. He thus became more than ever co

_The Midianite invasion; the sign of the fleece_ 33 _.Then all the Midianites … assembled themselves_ Better, _Now all the M.… had assembled themselves_. This verse may be connected with Judges 6:7_; Judges 6:25_; it prepares the way for the account of the battle in ch. 7 For _the Amalekites_etc. see on Judges 6:3. _the valley of Jezreel_ Joshua 17:16; Hosea 1:5; not the Great Plain west of Jezreel, but the broad, deep valley which descends eastwards from Jezreel down to the Jordan. It was not till after OT. times that the Great Plain was

_The Call of Giedon Judges 6:11-35_ 11 And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. 14 And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? 15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my fami