639 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you,.... Not that he declined the government of them as a judge, to which he was raised of God, but as a king, for which he had no authority and call from God; the choice of a king belonging to him, and not to the people: neither shall my son rule over you; which Abarbinel thinks he spake as a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you,.... Which he thought they would scarcely deny, and it was now a fair opportunity to make it, since they had offered him a crown, or to be king over them: and the favour he asked was, that you would give me every man the earrings of his prey; or, "an earring of his prey"; for it is in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they answered, we will willingly give them,.... Or, "in giving we will give" (d); give them with all their hearts, most freely and cheerfully: and they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey; every man one, which would amount to no more than three hundred; though perhaps those who joined in the pursuit might...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the weight of the golden earrings he requested was one thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold,.... Which, as Schcuchzer (e) computes, was eight hundred and ten ounces, five drachms, one scruple, and ten grains, of the weight of physicians; but as reckoned by Moatanus (f) amounted to eight hundred and fifty ounces, and were of the value of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Gideon made an ephod thereof,.... That is, of some of this gold; for such a quantity could never have been expanded on an ephod only, even taking it not for a linen ephod, but such an one as the high priest wore, made of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with curious work, together with a curious girdle of the same...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel,.... By the hand of Gideon humbled and brought under, their power over Israel was broken, and they delivered out of their hands: so that they lifted up their heads no more; in a proud and haughty manner to insult them, and in an hostile way to invade and oppress them; such a blow was given them...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Jerubbaal the son of Joash,.... That is, Gideon, Jerubbaal being another name of his; see Judges 6:32 went and dwelt in his own house; which was at Ophrah, as appears from Judges 9:5 the war being ended, he disbanded his army, and retired to his own house; not that he lived altogether a private life there, but as a judge in Israel.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Gideon had seventy sons of his body begotten,.... Not after his victories, for it is plain he had children before; mention is made of Jether, his firstborn, as a youth able to draw a sword, and slay with it, Judges 8:20 but this was the number of all his sons, both before and after, and a large number it was; and the phrase "of his body...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And his concubine that was in Shechem,.... Which was not an harlot, but a secondary or half wife; such were generally taken from handmaids, and of the meaner sort, and were not in such esteem as proper wives, had not the management of household affairs, only a share in the bed, and their children did not inherit. This concubine of Gideon's seems...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age,.... Having lived it seems forty years after his war with Midian, blessed with a large family, much wealth and riches, great credit and esteem among his people, and in favour with God and men: and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites; a city which belonged...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again,.... from God, and the pure worship of him, to idolatry: and went a whoring after Baalim; the gods of the Phoenicians and Canaanites, the several Baals of other nations, the lords many which they served; these they committed spiritual whoredom with; that is,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Neither showed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely Gideon,.... But, on the contrary, great unkindness and cruelty, slaying his seventy sons, as related in the following chapter: according to all the goodness which he had showed unto Israel; in exposing his life to danger for their sake, in delivering them out of the hands of their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Judges 9 This chapter contains an account of the craft and cruelty of Abimelech, by which he got himself made king of the Shechemites, Judges 9:1 of the parable of Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, concerning the trees, in which he exposes their folly in making Abimelech king, and foretells the ruin of them both, Judges 9:7 of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, unto his mother's brethren,.... It seems that though the mother of Abimelech lived at Shechem, he was taken and brought up in his father's house at Ophrah, where he was when he died; and from hence he came to Shechem, to pay a visit to his uncles there; whether his mother was now living, is not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem,.... Which, though the Targum calls the inhabitants of the place, Ben Melech better interprets it the lords of Shechem, as the phrase will bear to be rendered; for it is more likely he would have this first whispered and suggested to the principal men of the city, before the common people...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And his mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of the men of Shechem all these words,.... Got them together in some certain place, and laid before them all that Abimelech had suggested to them, and spake in his favour to them: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, he is our brother; being fond of kingly government, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baalbirith,.... The temple of their idol; of this name [See comments on Judges 8:33], out of the money which had been dedicated to his service by freewill offering, or out of a bank which they deposited there for greater safety, and perhaps out of a superstitious notion of its being...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he went to his father's house at Ophrah,.... Which, according to Bunting (a), was ten miles from Shechem: and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, upon one stone: in which he was assisted by the ruffians he had hired with seventy pieces of silver; these were laid one after another upon one and the same stone, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the men of Shechem gathered together,.... Upon the return of Abimelech, after he with his banditti had committed the execrable murder of his brethren: and all the house of Millo; which was either the men of a place near to Shechem, or of his brother's family, or of some grand leading family in Shechem; or it may mean the town hall, where...