Judges 8:17-35

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 8:4-17

In these verses we have, I. Gideon, as a valiant general, pursuing the remaining Midianites, and bravely following his blow. A very great slaughter was made of the enemy at first: 120,000 men that drew the sword, Jdg. 7:10. Such a terrible execution did they make among themselves, and so easy a prey were they to Israel. But, it seems, the two kings of Midian, being better provided than the rest for an escape, with 15,000 men got over Jordan before the passes could be secured by the... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 8:18-21

Judgment began at the house of God, in the just correction of the men of Succoth and Penuel, who were Israelites, but it did not end there. The kings of Midian, when they had served to demonstrate Gideon's victories, and grace his triumphs, must now be reckoned with. 1. They are indicted for the murder of Gideon's brethren some time ago at Mount Tabor. When the children of Israel, for fear of the Midianites, made themselves dens in the mountains (Jdg. 6:2), those young men, it is likely, took... read more

Matthew Henry

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

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 8:29-35

We have here the conclusion of the story of Gideon. 1. He lived privately, Jdg. 8:29. He was not puffed up with his great honours, did not covet a palace or castle to dwell in, but retired to the house he had lived in before his elevation. Thus that brave Roman Who was called from the plough upon a sudden occasion to command the army when the action was over returned to his plough again. 2. His family was multiplied. He had many wives (therein he transgressed the law); by them he had seventy... 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

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

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