Judges 8
1 Gideon pacifies the Ephraimites.
4 Succoth and Penuel refuse to deliver Gideon's army.
10 Zebah and Zalmunna are taken.
13 Succoth and Penuel are destroyed.
17 Gideon revenges his brethren's death on Zebah and Zalmunna.
22 He refuses government.
24 His ephod the cause of idolatry.
28 Midian subdued.
29 Gideon's children, and death.
33 The Israelites' idolatry and ingratitude.
Ephraimites <0376> [the men.]
Why <04100> [Why, etc. Heb. What thing is this thou hast done unto us? sharply. Heb. strongly.]
accomplished <06213> [What.]
leftover grapes <05955> [Is not the.]
That is, the Ephraimites have performed more important services than Gideon and his men had achieved.
Abiezer's <044> [Abiezer.]
God <0430> [God.]
<07307> [Then.]
<07307> [anger. Heb. spirit.]
exhausted <05889> [faint.]
Succoth <05523> [Succoth.]
loaves <03603> [loaves.]
thresh <01758> [tear. Heb. thresh.]
return <07725> [I come.]
tear <05422> [I will break.]
Karkor <07174> [Karkor.]
If this were the name of a place, it is no where else mentioned. Some contend that {karkor} signifies rest; and the Vulgate renders it {requiescebant,} "rested". This seems the most likely; for it is said (ver. 11) that Gideon "smote the host: for the host was secure."
peoples <01121> [children.]
peoples ... hundred <03967 05307> [fell an hundred, etc. or, an hundred and twenty thousand, every one drawing a sword]
Nobah <05025> [Nobah.]
Nobah took its name from an Israelite who conquered it; and is said by Eusebius to have been, in his time, a forsaken place eight miles south from Heshbon. Jogbehah was probably near it.
surprised <0983> [secure.]
captured <03920> [took.]
surprised <02729> [discomfited. Heb. terrified.]
pass <04608> [before.]
The words {milm„ƒleh haichaires} should, most probably be rendered "from the ascent of Chares;" which is the reading of the LXX. Syriac, Arabic, and Houbigant.
captured <03920> [caught.]
wrote down <03789> [described. Heb. writ.]
insulted <02778> [upbraid.]
leaders <02205> [the elders.]
thorns <06975> [thorns.]
threshed <03045> [taught. Heb. made to know.]
Instead of {wyyodÆ’,} Houbigant, Le Clerc, and others read {wyyadosh,} "and he tore or threshed;" and this is not only agreeable to what Gideon threatened (ver. 7), but is supported by the LXX. Vulgate, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. The Hebrew text might easily have been corrupted simply by the change of [ShÅ’yn,] {shin,} into ['Ayin,] {ayin,} letters very similar to each other.
Tabor <08396> [Tabor.]
like ... Each one <03644 0259> [As thou art.]
looked like <08389> [resembled. Heb. according to the form of, etc.]
Gideon ..... strike ........... So <06965 06293> [Rise thou.]
It was disgraceful to fall by the hands of a child; and death by the blows of such a person must be much more lingering and tormenting. Some have employed children to dispatch captives.
killed <02026> [slew.]
crescent-shaped ornaments <07720> [ornaments. or, ornaments like the moon.]
Rule ...... son .... grandson <04910 01121> [Rule thou.]
rule ........ rule ....... rule <04910> [I will.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
Each .... give ... an <05414 0376> [give me.]
Ishmaelites <03459> [because.]
seventeen hundred <0505> [a thousand.]
Taking the shekel at half an ounce, the sum of the gold ear-rings was 73 lbs. 4oz. and worth about Å“3,300 sterling.
jewelry <05188> [collars. or, sweet jewels. purple.]
necklaces <06060> [chains.]
ephod <0646> [an ephod.]
Ophrah <06084> [Ophrah.]
prostituted <02181> [a whoring.]
snare <04170> [a snare.]
Midian <04080> [was Midian.]
forty years <0705 08141> [forty years.]
Jerub-Baal <03378> [Jerubbaal.]
home <01004> [in his own house.]
seventy <07657> [threescore.]
fathered <03409 03318> [of his body begotten. Heb. going out of his thigh. many wives.]
concubine <06370> [concubine.]
<07760> [called. Heb. set. Abimelech.]
Ophrah <06084> [Ophrah.]
Gideon <01439> [as soon.]
prostituted <02181> [went.]
Baal-Berith <01170> [Baal-berith.]
Literally, "the lord of the covenant."
remain <02142> [remembered.]
treat .................. done <06213> [shewed.]
Jerub-Baal <03378> [Jerubbaal.]
Rather, Jerubbaal Gideon; as we say, Simon Peter; or call a person by his Christian and surname. Gideon was a mighty man of valour, a true patriot, evidently disinterested and void of ambition. He loved his country, and hazarded his life for it; but refused the kingdom, when offered to him and his heirs. The act of making the ephod was totally wrong; yet, probably it was done with no reprehensible design.
