The ornaments - See marg. and compare Isaiah 3:18. The custom of adorning the necks of their camels with gold chains and ornaments prevailed among the Arabs so late as the time of Mahomet. read more
Judges 8:18. What manner of men were they, &c. In outward shape and quality. Whom ye slew at Tabor? Whither he understood his brethren had fled for shelter upon the approach of the Midianites, and where he learned that some Israelites had been slain, whom he suspected to be them. We have no mention of this slaughter before, and here the account of it is so short, that we can only form conjectures. It is evident, however, that these kings had slain Gideon’s brethren; but in what... read more
Judges 8:19. If ye had saved them alive, &c. For, as they were not Canaanites, he was not obliged by any command of God to put them to death: but as they had killed his brethren, and that, it seems, in cold blood, he was, by God’s law, the avenger of their death, being their near kinsman. read more
Judges 8:20. He said unto Jether, Up, and slay them Some think he said this to animate his son to the use of arms for his God and country, and that he might have a share in the honour of the victory. It must be observed, that it was not unusual or disgraceful for great persons to do execution upon offenders in ancient times; no more than it was to sentence them to death: and therefore they had not, as now, public executioners; but Saul commanded such as waited on him to kill the priests;... read more
Judges 8:21. Rise thou, and fall upon us They thought it better to die by the hand of Gideon, who was as eminent for his strength as his dignity, and would despatch them with more speed than a stripling could. read more
Deliverance under Gideon (7:1-8:35)God allowed Gideon only three hundred men to launch the attack against the Midianites, so that Israel might know that victory was not by military power but by God’s power (7:1-8). A Midianite soldier’s dream showed that an unnatural fear had come upon the Midianites. When he dreamt that a poor man’s loaf of barley overthrew a rich man’s tent, he thought that poverty-stricken Israel would overthrow Midian’s army. The Midianites could, in fact, have wiped out... read more
ornaments = crescent-shaped ornaments used still on necks of horses and camels. read more
THE EXECUTION OF THE TWO KINGS"Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king. And he said, They were my brethren, the sons of my mother: as Jehovah liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you. And he said unto Jether his first-born, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword; for he feared, because he was yet a youth. Then Zebah and Zalmunna... read more
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Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Judges 8:20
It was Gideon’s place to act the part of the “avenger of blood” Numbers 35:12; Deuteronomy 19:6. The fierce manners of the age break out in the slaying of the captives (compare 1 Samuel 15:32-33), and in Gideon’s attempt to initiate his youthful son Jether in the stern work of slaying his country’s enemies. read more