639 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb,.... A high honour this conferred upon you, and with which you may be well contented: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? what he had done in defeating and pursuing the army of Midian, in slaying and taking any of them prisoners, was nothing in comparison of what...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over..... That river; [See comments on 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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said to the men of Succoth,.... The inhabitants of that place, the principal men of it, which lay in his way as he was pursuing the Midianites in their flight to their own country; for this was a city on the other side Jordan, and in the tribe of Gad and was inhabited by Israelites, Joshua 13:27 it had its name from the booths or tents...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the princes of Succoth said,.... The chief magistrates of the place made answer, one in the name of the rest; for the word said is in the singular number: are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hands; that is, are they taken prisoners, and handcuffed, or their hands bound behind them, and put into the hands of Gideon, to do with them...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Gideon said,.... In answer to the princes of Succoth: therefore when the Lord hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand; of which he made no doubt, having the promise of God that he would deliver the host of Midian into his hand, on which his faith rested; and having it in great part performed already, most firmly believed the full...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he went up thence to Penuel,.... A place not far from Succoth, and to which also Jacob gave name, from the Lord's appearing to him there face to face, Genesis 32:30 but here was nothing of God in this place now: and spoke unto them likewise; desired bread for his men, as he had of the inhabitants of Succoth: and the men of Penuel answered him...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ver. 9 And he spoke also unto the men of Penuel,.... In a threatening way, as he had spoken to the men of Succoth: saying, when I come again in peace: having conquered all his enemies, and delivered Israel from their bondage, and restored peace and prosperity to them, of which he had no doubt: I will break down this tower; pointing to it and which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor..... Jerom (u) under this word says, there was in his time a castle called Carcuria, a day's journey from Petra, which was the metropolis of Idumea; but whether the same with this is not clear: and their host with them, about fifteen thousand men; to which number Gideon and his three hundred men were very...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwell in tents,.... That is of the Arabians and Kedarenes, who dwelt in tents for the sake of feeding their flocks, as the Targum and Jarchi; he did not pursue them in the direct road, but went a roundabout way, where these people dwelt, that he might surprise the host of the kings of Midian at an...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled,.... Their host being smitten and thrown into confusion by the sudden approach of Gideon's army; and who probably attacked them in somewhat like manner as before, blowing their trumpets, and calling out the sword of the Lord and of Gideon; which were such terrifying sounds to them, that they fled at once: he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle,.... To Penuel and Succoth, to chastise them for their ill treatment of him and his men: before the sun was up; by which it appears that it was in the night that he fell upon the host at Karkor, which must be the night following; it could not be the same night in which he had defeated them in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him,.... Just before he came to the city, he spied a young man which belonged to it, and laid hold on him, and inquired of him about the chief magistrates of the city, who they were, what their names, and their places of abode: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he came unto the men of Succoth,.... Entered the city, and bespoke the inhabitants of it in the following manner: and said, behold, Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me; as not in his hands, and never would be, he being with his three hundred men an unequal match to them with 15,000; but he had taken them, and brought them with him,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he took the elders of the city,.... All of them, especially those of them who had been most guilty, and had them to a proper place, where they might be made public examples of: and thorns of the wilderness, and briers; which were near at hand, and soon cut up, for which he gave orders to proper persons: and with them he taught the men of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he beat down the tower of Penuel,.... As he threatened he would, Judges 8:9 whether this was before or after he had chastised the elders of Succoth, is not clear; one would think by the course he steered going from Succoth to Penuel, as he went, he should come to Penuel first at his return; however, he demolished their tower in which they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna,.... Not at Penuel or Succoth, but when he had brought them into the land of Canaan, and perhaps to his own city Ophrah: what manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? Mount Tabor, to which these men had betaken and hid themselves, in some caves and dens there: see Judges 6:2 and these kings some little...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said, they were my brethren, even the sons of my mother,.... His brethren by his mother's side, but not by his father's side; or the phrase the sons of my mother is added, to show that he did not mean brethren in a large sense, as all the Israelites were, but in a strict sense, being so nearly related as his mother's children: as the Lord...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said unto Jether, his firstborn, up, and slay them,.... Being the near kinsman of his father's brethren, whom these kings had slain, was a proper person to avenge their blood on them; and the rather Gideon might order him to do it, for the greater mortification of the kings, to die by the hand of a youth; and for the honour of his son, to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, rise thou and fall upon us,.... Since they must die, they chose rather to die by the hand of so great a man and valiant a commander as Gideon, which was more honourable than to die by the hand of a youth: for as the man is, so is his strength; signifying, that as he was a stout able man, he had strength sufficient to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon,.... Some time after his return, the chief men of Israel having met in a body, and consulted matters among themselves, sent a deputation to Gideon with an offer of the government of them: rule thou over us, both thou and thy son, and thy son's son also; by which they meant, that he would take the kingly...