Judges 8:3

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 8:1-3

No sooner were the Midianites, the common enemy, subdued, than, through the violence of some hot spirits, the children of Israel were ready to quarrel among themselves; an unhappy spark was struck, which, if Gideon had not with a great deal of wisdom and grace extinguished immediately, might have broken out into a flame of fatal consequence. The Ephraimites, when they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon as general, instead of congratulating him upon his successes and addressing him... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 8:3

God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb ,.... A high honour this conferred upon you, and with which you may be well contented: and what was I able to do in comparison of you ? what he had done in defeating and pursuing the army of Midian, in slaying and taking any of them prisoners, was nothing in comparison of what they had done; nay, he signifies that he was not capable of doing anything worth mentioning without them; the glory of finishing this conquest... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:3

Then their anger was abated - A soft answer turneth away wrath. He might have said that he could place but little dependence on his brethren when, through faint-heartedness, 22,000 left him at one time; but he passed this by, and took a more excellent way. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 8:3

Judges 8:3. Then their anger was abated According to that fine maxim of Solomon, “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” 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

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Judges 8:3

God = Elohim delivered His creatures; not Jehovah the Covenant-God. App-4 . anger. Hebrew. ruach, spirit ( App-9 ). Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause) for the angry manifestations of it. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Judges 8:1-3

The resentment of the Ephraimites 8:1-3Gideon had not invited the men of Ephraim to join him when he recruited the tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulon, and Naphtali (Judges 6:35). Presumably he did not invite them at the Lord’s command since he did not need more soldiers. The men of Ephraim took this omission as an insult (Judges 8:1). [Note: See John H. Paterson, "The Touchy Tribe," Toward the Mark 16:6 (November-December 1987):110-13.] The leaders of this tribe protested Gideon’s action, ". .... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Judges 8:1-32

1. The story of Gideon 6:1-8:32Paul Tanner pointed out that the Gideon narrative consists of five primary structural sections."The first section (Judges 6:1-10) provides the introduction and setting before Gideon’s debut, the second section (Judges 6:11-32) gives the commissioning of Gideon as deliverer of Israel, the third section (Judges 6:33 to Judges 7:18) presents the preparation for the battle, the fourth section (Judges 7:19 to Judges 8:21) recounts the defeat of the Midianite army, and... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 8:1-35

The Pursuit of the Kings. Gideon’s Subsequent Career and Death1. Cp. Judges 12. Ephraim claimed to be the leading tribe; later the name was often used as a synonym for the northern kingdom. The natural jealousy of the tribe was appeased by Gideon’s ready wit; one might have suspected that, making such claims as these, they would not have left Gideon to take the initiative.2. Gleaning and vintage] note the contrast between these. Abi-ezer] Gideon substitutes this for his own name. 4. Having... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Judges 8:3

(3) Then their anger was abated towards him.—The soft answer turned away wrath (Proverbs 15:1). The word for anger is mach, “wind,” or “spirit”—anger expressed by fierce breathing through the nostrils, “the blast of the terrible ones” (Isaiah 25:4). (Comp. Ecclesiastes 10:4 : “If the spirit (ruach) of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.”) “Gideon’s good words were as victorious as his sword.”—Bp. Hall. read more

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