Judges 6:3-5

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 6:1-6

We have here, I. Israel's sin renewed: They did evil in the sight of the Lord, Jdg. 5:1. The burnt child dreads the fire; yet this perverse unthinking people, that had so often smarted sorely for their idolatry, upon a little respite of God's judgments return to it again. This people hath a revolting rebellious heart, not kept in awe by the terror of God's judgments, nor engaged in honour and gratitude by the great things he had done for them to keep themselves in his love. The providence of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 6:3

And so it was, when Israel had sown ,.... Their land, and it was grown up, and near being ripe, or quite; for the Midianites gave them no disturbance in the winter, and during seedtime, when they came out of their lurking holes, and manured their land, and sowed it: that the Midianites came up ; into the land of Canaan, from the other side Jordan, where their country lay, and which it seems lay lower than the land of Israel: and the Amalekites, and the children of the east : the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 6:4

And they encamped against them ,.... Formed a camp, from whence they sent out parties to plunder the people; or"they were fixing their tents among them,'as the Vulgate Latin version; and so the Targum,"they dwelt by them,'or fixed their habitations by them; for they seem not to have come as a regular army, but as a sort of banditti to pillage, and plunder, and destroy the fruits of the earth; and the Midianites and Arabians dwelt in tents chiefly: and destroyed the increase of the earth ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 6:5

For they came up with their cattle, and their tents ,.... Brought their flocks and their herds with them, to eat up the increase of the earth, and their tents, which they pitched and removed from place to place, for the convenience of feeding their cattle, and while they cut down the fruit of the earth everywhere, which serves to confirm the sense of the Targum and Vulgate Latin version of Judges 6:5 . and they came as grasshoppers for multitude ; or "as locusts" F3 כדי ארבה ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 6:3

Children of the East - Probably those who inhabited Arabia Deserta, Ishmaelites. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 6:4

Encamped against them - Wandering hordes of Midianites, Amalekites, and Ishmaelites came, in the times of harvest and autumn, and carried away their crops, their fruit, and their cattle. And they appear to have come early, encamped in the plains, and watched the crops till they were ready to be carried off. This is frequently the case even to the present day. Till thou come unto Gaza - That is, the whole breadth of the land, from Jordan to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 6:5

They came up with their cattle and their tents - All this proves that they were different tribes of wanderers who had no fixed residence; but, like their descendants the Bedouins or wandering Arabs, removed from place to place to get prey for themselves and forage for their cattle. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Judges 6:4

Gaza indicates the extreme point south to which they spread their devastations, crossing the Jordan near Bethshan (Scythopolls), and entering by the valley of Jezreel, and sweeping along the whole of the maritime plain or Shephelah. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Judges 6:5

Grasshoppers - Rather locusts (compare Exodus 10:4-6, Exodus 10:14-15; Joel 1:0; Joel 2:0; Psalms 78:46) read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 6:3-5

Judges 6:3-5. The children of the east Probably the Ishmaelites, or Arabians, especially the eastern part of them. Unto Gaza That is, from the east, on which side they entered, to the west, where Gaza was, near the Mediterranean sea. So that they destroyed the whole land. Without number That is, so many that it was not easy to number them. And not in a regular army to engage, but in a confused swarm, to plunder the country. Yet Israel, being forsaken of God, had not spirit to make... read more

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