Judges 8:5-21

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:6

Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand - They feared to help Gideon, lest, if he should be overpowered, the Midianites would revenge it upon them; and they dared not trust God. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:7

I will tear your flesh - What this punishment consisted in I cannot say; it must mean a severe punishment: as if he had said, I will thresh your flesh with briers and thorns, as corn is threshed out with threshing instruments; or, Ye shall be trodden down under the feet of my victorious army, as the corn is trodden out with the feet of the ox. Succoth was beyond Jordan, in the tribe of Gad. Penuel was also in the same tribe, and not far distant from Succoth. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:9

I will break down this tower - Probably they had not only denied him, but insultingly pointed to a tower in which their chief defense lay; and intimated to him that he might do his worst, for they could amply defend themselves. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:10

Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor - If this were a place, it is nowhere else mentioned in Scripture. Some contend that קרקר karkor signifies rest; and thus the Vulgate understood it: Zebah and Zalmunna requiescebant , rested, with all their army. And this seems the most likely, for it is said, Judges 8:11 , that Gideon smote the host, for the host was secure. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:13

Returned from battle before the sun was up - This does not appear to be a proper translation of החרס מלמעלה milmaaleh hechares . It should be rendered from the ascent of Chares: this is the reading of the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Arabic. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:14

He described unto him the princes of Succoth - The young man probably gave him the names of seventy persons, the chief men of Succoth, who were those who were most concerned in refusing him and his men the refreshment he requested. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:16

He taught the men of Succoth - Instead of וידע he taught, Houbigant reads וידש he tore; and this is not only agreeable to what Gideon had threatened, Judges 8:7 , but is supported by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. The Hebrew text might have been easily corrupted in this place by the change of ש shin into ע ain , letters very similar to each other. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:18

What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor ? - We have no antecedent to this question; and are obliged to conjecture one: it seems as if Zebah and Zalmunna had massacred the family of Gideon, while he was absent on this expedition. Gideon had heard some confused account of it, and now questions them concerning the fact. They boldly acknowledge it, and describe the persons whom they slew, by which he found they were his own brethren. This determines him to avenge... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:20

He said unto Jether his first-born - By the ancient laws of war, prisoners taken in war might be either slain, sold, or kept for slaves. To put a captive enemy to death no executioner was required. Gideon slays Zebah and Zalmunna with his own hand. So Samuel is said to have hewn Agag in pieces, 1 Samuel 15:33 . Benaiah slew Joab, 1 Kings 2:25 . Saul orders his guards to slay the priests who had contributed to the escape of David, 1 Samuel 22:17 ; and David caused one of his... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:21

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said , Rise , thou , and fall upon us - It was disgraceful to fall by the hands of a child; and the death occasioned by the blows of such a person must be much more lingering and tormenting. Some have even employed children to despatch captives. Civilis, a Roman knight, headed a revolt of the Gauls against Rome, in the year of the city 824. Of him Tacitus says, Hist. lib. iv., c. 61: Ferebatur parvulo filio quosdam captivorum sagittis jaculisque puerilibus... read more

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