Judges 8:22-23 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 8:22-28

Here is, I. Gideon's laudable modesty, after his great victory, in refusing the government which the people offered him. 1. It was honest in them to offer it: Rule thou over us, for thou hast delivered us, Jdg. 7:22. They thought it very reasonable that he who had gone through the toils and perils of their deliverance should enjoy the honour and power of commanding them ever afterwards, and very desirable that he who in this great and critical juncture had had such manifest tokens of God's... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:22

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 government of them, and which they proposed to settle in his posterity for ages to come; for, as a judge in Israel, he had a sort of rule and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:23

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 prophet, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; for after his death neither Jether his eldest son, nor any of the rest of his legitimate... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:22

Rule thou over us , both thou , and thy son , and thy son ' s son - That is, Become our king, and let the crown be hereditary in thy family. What a weak, foolish, and inconstant people were these! As yet their government was a theocracy; and now, dazzled with the success of a man who was only an instrument in the hands of God to deliver them from their enemies, they wish to throw off the Divine yoke, and shackle themselves with an unlimited hereditary monarchy! An... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:23

The Lord shall rule over you - Few with such power at their command would have acted as Gideon. His speech calls them back to their first principles, and should have excited in them both shame and contrition. How different is this speech from that of Oliver Cromwell when the commons offered him the crown of England! read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 8:22

Judges 8:22. Rule thou over us Not as a judge, for as such he already ruled over them, but as a king; both thou and thy son, &c. Let the kingdom be hereditary to thee and to thy family. For thou hast delivered us This miraculous and extraordinary deliverance by thy hands deserves no less from us. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 8:23

Judges 8:23. I will not rule over you As a king. He rejected their offer, because he looked upon God as their king, who appointed what deputy he pleased to govern them; and because he considered this proposal as an effort, or at least as tending to alter that form of government which God had instituted and had given them no authority to change. The Lord shall rule over you In a special manner, as he hath hitherto done by judges. These God particularly appointed and directed in all the... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Judges 8:1-35

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

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Judges 8:22

GIDEON DECLINED THE KINGSHIP; BUT ASKED FOR GOLD (Judges 8:22-28)"And the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son; for thou hast saved us out of the hand of Midian. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: Jehovah shall rule over you. And Gideon said unto them, I would make a request of you, that ye would give me every man the ear-rings of his spoil. (For they had golden ear-rings, because they... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Judges 8:22

Judges 8:22. Rule thou over us— The Israelites, forgetful of the peculiar government under which they were, wished to be ruled, like their neighbour-nations, by a king, and therefore entreat Gideon to assume the sceptre; but he, more wise than they, absolutely refuses them; and at the same time, in the most noble manner, reminds them that God was their king: The Lord will rule over you. read more