Judges 8:34

29-35 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....

Verse Judges 8:34. _REMEMBERED NOT THE LORD THEIR GOD_] They attributed their deliverance to some other cause, and did not give him the glory of their salvation....

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

AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL REMEMBERED NOT THE LORD THEIR GOD,.... Or, as the Targum, the worship of the Lord their God; they forgot him, and forsook him, which showed base ingratitude: WHO HAD DELIVERED THEM OUT OF THE HANDS OF THEIR ENEMIES ON EVERY SIDE; not only out of the hands of Midian, but all other nations round about them, as Edom, Moab, Ammon, c. not one attempting to oppress them....

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;...

_Israel Turns from God Judges 8:33-35_ 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. _17._ What was Baal-berith and where was his temple? Judges 8:33 Baal-berith was the god of Berith, where his temple was located. He was worshiped in Shechem, where the covenant was made. After Gideon died, the Israelites turned their back on God. They worshiped many false gods, but they evidently made Baa

HISTORY OF THE JUDGES (JUDGES 3:5 TO JUDGES 16:31) On this, the main section of the book, see Intro. § 2 and List of Oppressions and Judges. The larger part of the book is concerned with six of the Judges, one of whom is not properly a Judge at all (Abimelech), and in the case of another (Samson) isolated forays are recorded, but no actual deliverance. 7-11. Chushan-rishathaim and Othniel....

LIFE WITHOUT LAW JUDGES _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 8 V1 The people in Ephraim’s *tribe asked Gideon, ‘Why have you done this to us? Why did you not call us when you went to fight the people from Midian?’ They complained loudly to him. V2 But he answered, ‘I have not done very much, if one compares me with you. Your actions were more useful than what my whole *tribe has done. V3 By God’s power, you killed Midian’s leaders Oreb and Zeeb. I was not able to do much, if one compares me with you.’ After they heard these words, they were not angry any more. In chapter 8, we learn that we should be careful. And we should remember the good things that other people have done. Ephraim’s *tribe wanted a quarrel. Perhaps they did not like the fact that Gideon had not called them to fight. Perhaps

REMEMBERED NOT THE LORD THEIR GOD. — According to Judges 9:46, they looked on Baal as their _Elohim,_ and forgot that Jehovah was the one God. There was always this tendency to syncretism, as a half-way step towards idolatry. Zephaniah (Judges 1:5) mentions them “that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham” (_i.e.,_ Moloch), and the Samaritans “feared the Lord and served their own gods” (2 Kings 17:33)....