Judges 8:5-21

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:13

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 valley of Jezreel; though Vatablus thinks this battle was begun and finished in one night; but there were, according to this history, so many... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:14

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 elders thereof, even seventy seven men ; by which it appears that this was no inconsiderable city to have so many princes and elders in it;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:15

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, and perhaps spared them for this very reason, to let them see they were in his hands, and now calls upon them to behold them with their own... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:16

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 Succoth ; either the inhabitants of the place, as distinct from the elders, whose punishment he taught them to be cautious not to follow such... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:17

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 trusted: and slew the men of the city ; perhaps they might, as Kimchi conjectures, resist when he went about to beat down their tower; on which... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:18

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 time before the battle had taken them, and slew them, of which it seems Gideon had notice; and some of his brethren being not to be found, he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:19

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 liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you ; for not being Canaanites, he was not obliged by the law of God to put them to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:20

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 be the slayer of two kings, and to inure him to draw his sword against the enemies of Israel, and embolden him to do such exploits: but the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:21

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 dispatch them at once, which his son had not, and therefore they must have died a lingering and painful death: wherefore as they consulted... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:5

Give , I pray you , loaves of bread - As Gideon was engaged in the common cause of Israel, he had a right to expect succor from the people at large. His request to the men of Succoth and Penuel was both just and reasonable. read more

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