42 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Gideon went in,.... Into his own house, or his father's: and made ready a kid; boiled it, as appears by the broth he brought, at least part of it was so dressed; and perhaps it was only some part of one that he brought, since a whole one was too much to be set before one person, and if even he himself intended to eat with him: and unleavened...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the angel of God said unto him,.... Instead of sitting down and partaking of the entertainment made for him, he bid him do as follows: take the flesh, and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock; not as a table to eat it from, but as an altar to offer it upon; and which rock and altar might be typical of Christ, who sanctities every...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand,.... With which he walked, appearing as a traveller, and which was one reason of Gideon's providing for his refreshment, before he proceeded on in his journey: and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; did not strike the rock with it, as Moses did with his rod, to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when Gideon perceived he was an angel of the Lord,.... By the miracle wrought, and the manner of his departure: Gideon said, alas! O Lord God; woe to me, what will become of me, or befall me, I shall surely die: for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face; and whom he had reason to believe was the Lord himself, a divine Person,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto him,.... Either by a secret impulse upon his spirit, or by a voice from heaven; and even, as Kimchi observes, the angel, after he ascended, might cause this voice to be heard, seeing him in great fear, because he knew he was an angel; and which is another proof of this angel being Jehovah himself, the eternal Word: peace be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord,.... On the top of the rock where he had laid his provisions, and which had been consumed by fire issuing out of it, as a token of divine acceptance, and as an assurance of his destroying the Midianites as easily and quickly as the fire had consumed them, and therefore had great encouragement to erect...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass the same night,.... The night which followed the day in which the angel appeared to Gideon as he was threshing: that the Lord said unto him; perhaps in a dream, since it was in the night: take thy father's young bullock: or "the bullock, the ox" (p); a bullock which was a large grown ox, and was not only his father's property,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And build an altar to the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock,.... Where the provisions were laid, and out of which came forth fire that consumed them; and where the altar, called by the name of Jehovahshalom, had been built by him, near it very probably; and there might be room enough for both upon the top of the rock; for this seems to be a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Gideon took ten men of his servants,.... Not only whom he could command, but could confide in, and whom he knew would cheerfully engage in this work, being like himself, who had not bowed the knee to Baal; and as there was much work to do, and it required dispatch, such a number was necessary; since he had not only the altar of Baal to throw...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the men of the city arose early in the morning,.... And came to the place where the altar of Baal, his grove and image, were, to pay their morning devotions to him: behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built; upon the new altar that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they said one to another, who hath done this thing?.... They were struck with amazement, and could not devise who could be so daring and wicked as to do such an action: and when they inquired and asked; one and another, everyone present, or they could think of as proper to inquire of; they were very diligent and industrious to find it out; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the men of the city said unto Joash,.... The principal inhabitants of the place met together, and in a body went to Joash their chief magistrate, to have justice done in this case: bring out thy son, that he may die; they do not ask to have the cause tried by him, to hear what proof they had of the fact, or what Gideon had to say in his own...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Joash said unto all that stood against him,.... Against his son; that were his accusers and adversaries, and required him to be given up to them, that they might put him to death: will ye plead for Baal? what, Israelites, and plead for Baal! or what need is there for this, cannot he plead for himself? will ye save him? what, take upon you to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal,.... That is, Joash called his son Gideon by that name; who, some think, is the same with Jerombalus, the priest of the god Jevo, or Jehovah; from whom Sanchoniatho, an ancient Phoenician writer, as Philo Byblius says (w), received the principal things in his history respecting the Jews: saying, let...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then all the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east,.... The Arabians, Judges 6:3 were gathered together; not as being alarmed with this fact of Gideon in destroying the altar of Baal, and so came to avenge it; but it was their usual time of gathering together to come into Canaan, being harvest time, as appears by Gideon...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon,.... Not the spirit of prophecy, as Maimonides (x), who calls this spirit the first degree of prophecy, but a spirit of fortitude and courage, as the Targum; the Spirit of God filled him, or, as in the Hebrew text, "clothed" (y) him with zeal, strength, and might, moved and animated him to engage with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he sent messengers through all Manasseh,.... Of which tribe he was; not only he called by the trumpet that part of the tribe, the Abiezrites, who were within the sound of it, but the rest of the tribe at a greater distance from him he sent messengers to, acquainting them with his design, and inviting them to his assistance. Some think this...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Gideon said unto God,.... Not to a prophet of God who was there, of whom he asked the following signs to be done, as Ben Gersom, but to God in prayer, as Abarbinel: if thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said; not that he doubted of it, but was willing to have a confirmation of his faith; and perhaps his view was more for the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor,.... On the floor where he was threshing, where the angel first appeared to him, and which lay exposed to the open air, so that the dew might easily fall upon it: and if the dew be on the fleece only; the dew that falls from heaven in the night, when he proposed it should lie on the floor till...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it was so,.... The Lord condescended to work this miracle for the confirmation of his faith, and for the encouragement of those that were with him; the fleece was wet with the dew of heaven, and all the ground about it dry: for he rose up early in the morning; being eagerly desirous of knowing whether his request would be granted, and how it...