Judges 8:28

_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._ Thus was Midian subdued. 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 (Psalms 83:11)....

22-28 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!...

Verse Judges 8:28. _FORTY YEARS IN THE DAYS OF GIDEON._] The Midianites were so completely humbled that they could make head no more against Israel during the forty years in which the government of Gideon lasted....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 8:22, JUDGES 8:23 RULE THOU, etc. The gratitude of Israel to their great deliverer, added to a sense that it would be for their own security, and to a desire, already perhaps beginning to he felt, to be like the nations around them (1 Samuel 8:5), naturally led to the offer, "Rule thou over us." But the time predicted by Moses (Deuteronomy 17:14, Deuteronomy 17:15) was not yet come. And so Gideon returned an answer replete with moderation an

THUS WAS MIDIAN SUBDUED BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,.... By the hand of Gideon humbled and brought under, their power over Israel was broken, and they delivered out of their hands: SO THAT THEY LIFTED UP THEIR HEADS NO MORE; in a proud and haughty manner to insult them, and in an hostile way to invade and oppress them; such a blow was given them that they could not recover themselves, nor do we read of any effort of theirs ever after, or of their giving or attempting to give any disturbance to Israel, or any other nation: AND THE COUNTRY WAS IN QUIETNESS FORTY YEARS IN THE DAYS OF GIDEON; that is, the land of Canaan; it was free from wars with Midian, or any other people, and enjoyed undisturbed peace and tranquillity. According to Bishop Usher m, this was the fortieth year from the rest restored by Deborah and Barak; and, according to Abarbinel and others, these forty years are to b...

CHAPTER 8 INTERNAL STRIFE, GIDEON'S FAILURE AND END _ 1. The strife (Judges 8:1)_ 2. The complete deliverance (Judges 8:10) 3. Gideon's failure and end (Judges 8:22) 4. Israel's failure after Gideon (Judges 8:33) Internal strife follows. The two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, were slain (Judges 7:25). Oreb means “raven” and Zeeb means “wolf.” Oreb, the raven, is slain on the rock and Zeeb, the wolf, at the winepress. The raven, the bird which represents darkness and evil, is the type of corruption; the wolf is the destroyer o

GIDEON REFUSES A KINGDOM, AND ERECTS AN EPHOD. Long before the Israelites had any human kings. Yahweh was regarded as their Divine King, and Gideon, like Samuel (1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 10:19; 1 Samuel 12:12; 1 Samuel 12:17; 1 Samuel 12:19), expresses the view that the Divine kingship leaves _no_ room for a human sovereignty. This view became prevalent in the eighth century B.C., when a succession of wicked kings was ruining the northern kingdom (Hosea 8:4;...

CHILDREN. sons. LIFTED UP THEIR HEADS NO MORE. made no more attempts to vex. WAS IN QUIETNESS. See note on Judges 3:11....

_Gideon refuses the kingship: he sets up an ephod: conclusion_ 22 _.the men of Israel_ Not the 300 of Judges 8:4, but the men who formed the army Judges 7:14; Judges 9:55, the Israelites drawn from Ephraim, Manasseh, and the neighbouring tribes Judges 7:23. Thus Judges 8:22 are probably not the sequel of Judges 7:4-21, nor of Judges 7:1-3, for the Ephraimites shewed anything but a dispositio

_Gideon Captures and Slays Midian's Kings Judges 8:1-28_ 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. 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 An