Judges 6:7

_AND ISRAEL WAS GREATLY IMPOVERISHED BECAUSE OF THE MIDIANITES; AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL CRIED UNTO THE LORD._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

7-10 They cried to God for a deliverer, and he sent them a prophet to teach them. When God furnishes a land with faithful ministers, it is a token that he has mercy in store for it. He charges them with rebellion against the Lord; he intends to bring them to repentance. Repentance is real when the sinfulness of sin, as disobedience to God, is chiefly lamented....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 6:1 MIDIAN. In Numbers 22:7 we read of the Midianites as allied with the Moabites in their hostility to the children of Israel, and we find them willing agents of Balaam s iniquitous counsels (Numbers 25:6, Numbers 25:17, Numbers 25:18; Numbers 31:7, Numbers 31:8), and suffering a terrible chastisement from the Israelites in

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 goodness and compassion of God to them, that having a mind to deliver them, he immediately, on their crying to him, sends them a messenger to bring them to a sense of their sins, and prepare them for the deliverance he designed to work for them, as follows....

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

A second writer (probably E) introduces a prophet who reproves Israel for disloyalty and ingratitude to Yahweh their God. The brief speech is a torso. Reflective rather than prophetic, it opens impressively, but ends abruptly, like a sermon without application; and then one of the main traditions begins....

Gideon of Manasseh and Abimelech Judges 6:1 to Judges 9:57 _Midian Oppresses Israel Judges 6:1-10_ And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strongholds. 3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; 4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.

GIDEON AND THE MIDIANITES The story of Gideon, which runs from Judges 6:1 to Judges 8:33, is more detailed than that of Deborah and Barak; and, from the details, it would appear that different traditions have been used. Gideon, at the bidding of an angel, calls his clan together, and after reducing them to 300 men, and receiving the encouragement of a dream, surrounds the camp of the Midianites and throws them into a panic. The Ephraimites complete the defeat. The two kings of Midian are then pursued beyond Jordan and slain. Gideon is offered the kingdom, but refuses it, and lives to old age in honour and peace. 1-6. The Midianites oppress Israel....

LIFE WITHOUT LAW JUDGES _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 6 The stories about Gideon and his son, Abimelech are the most important ones in the book. John J. Davies says, ‘Gideon is the ideal judge like Moses. His son is the very opposite.’ V1 Again *Israel’s people did not obey God. For 7 years, he let people from Midian rule them. V2 The people from Midian were stronger than the *Israelites. The *Israelites hid in holes in the mountains. They hid in caves and other safe places. V3 They planted their seeds. Then people from Midian, Amalek’s people and other *tribes from the east went into the country. They went in as enemies. V4 They camped on the land and they destroyed the crops as far as Gaza. They took sheep, cows and *mules. And they left nothing for *Israel’s people to eat. V5

וַ יְהִ֕י כִּֽי ־זָעֲק֥וּ בְנֵֽי ־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אֶל ־יְהוָ֑ה עַ֖ל אֹדֹ֥ות מִדְיָֽן׃...