Judges 8:4

_AND GIDEON CAME TO JORDAN, AND PASSED OVER, HE, AND THE THREE HUNDRED MEN THAT WERE WITH HIM, FAINT, YET PURSUING THEM._ Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over - much exhausted, but eager to continue the pursuit until the victory was consummated....

4-12 Gideon's men were faint, yet pursuing; fatigued with what they had done, yet eager to do more against their enemies. It is many a time the true Christian's case, fainting, and yet pursuing. The world knows but little of the persevering and successful struggle the real believer maintains with his sinful heart. But he betakes himself to that Divine strength, in the faith of which he began his conflict, and by the supply of which alone he can finish it in triumph....

Verse Judges 8:4. _FAINT, YET PURSUING_] The Vulgate paraphrases this, _et_ _prae lassitudine, fugientes persequi non poterant_; "and, through fatigue, unable to pursue the fugitives....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 8:4 CAME TO JORDAN. The narrative goes back to Judges 7:24, to follow up the personal history of Gideon, from which the writer had been diverted to relate the result of Gideon's message to the Ephraimites, which is told in Judges 7:24 and Judges 7:25, and Judges 8:1 (see Judges 7:25, note; Judges 2:1, note)....

AND GIDEON CAME TO JORDAN, AND PASSED OVER..... That river; Judges 7:25 he and three hundred men that were with him, at the defeat of the Midianites in the valley of Jezreel; so that neither at that nor in the pursuit of them hitherto, had he lost one man: FAINT, YET PURSUING [THEM]: they were faint with being up all night, and continually blowing their trumpets; and had been upon the pursuit of their enemies ever since the defeat; and yet, though they were so faint, they did not leave off the pursuit, but were eager at it....

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

THE PURSUIT ON THE EAST OF JORDAN. This section is not continuous with the preceding one. The men of Israel, who were gathered together after the battle (Judges 7:23), and the Ephraimites, who were so eager to prove what they could do, are heard of no more. Gideon is again alone with his 300 (Judges 8:4); the men of Succoth and Penuel, ignorant of any battle or rout, think his campaign against the Midianites a hopeless affair; and when he at length reaches the enemy he finds them secure, apparently having neither been, nor expecting to be, disturbed (11). Plainly we have here a different tradition. Judges 8:4. For faint and (not - yet-') pursuing the LXX has faint and hungry, which suits the next verse, where there is a request

and _passed over_ To obtain this sense the text, which lit. = _passing over_, must be altered; the marg. may be disregarded. _the three hundred_ So in the other document Judges 7:2-8; the number was evidently a fixed element in the tradition. _faint_ AND _pursuing_ LXX. A and Luc. _faint and hungry_, perhaps a correction in view of the demand for bread in Judges 8:5....

DISCOURSE: 269 FAINT, YET PURSUING Judges 8:4. _Faint, yet pursuing._ THERE are those who speak of Gideon as a type of Christ. But, excepting as a deliverer raised up in an extraordinary manner to Israel, there is scarcely sufficient correspondence between him and our blessed Lord to justify such a representation of him. As an example to the Church in all ages, and especially as illustrating for our benefit the power and efficacy of faith, we can have no hesitation in commending him to your most particular attention: for he is not only set forth in Scripture under that character in common with many other eminent men, but, together with David and Samuel, he is proposed to us as a pattern which we are bound to follow: “Seeing that we are encompassed with such _a cloud of witnesses_, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run with p

_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