Judges 6:1

MIDIANITE OPPRESSION, Judges 6:1-10.

1. Israel did evil Though, on account of their sins, the kings of Mesopotamia, Moab, and Hazor successively overran and oppressed the land, and though, after long years of servitude and sorrow, they repented and had deliverance from God, they profited not by their bitter experiences. Again and again they did evil, and thereby brought upon their own necks the yoke of other heathen powers.

The hand of Midian The Midianites were descendants of Abraham and Keturah, (Genesis 25:2,) and dwelt in the country east and southeast of the Moabites and Ammonites. They were a nomadic people, and roamed over a vast tract of country. Among them Moses found a home when he fled from Pharaoh, and Horeb and a part of the Sinaitic peninsula seem to have been possessed by them. Exodus 2:15; Exodus 3:1. But when the Israelites approached the borders of Canaan, and had conquered Sihon and Og, the Midianites contiguous to the Moabites joined with the latter in seeking their overthrow. Numbers 22:4; Numbers 22:7. They were a wily people, and did much to injure Israel, (Numbers 25:8;) and one of the last acts of Moses was to make war with them and utterly defeat and spoil them. Numbers 31:1-12. Now after a lapse of two hundred years they had recovered strength, and God used them as the rod of his anger to scourge his guilty people.

Seven years Though this oppression was not as long as previous ones, it was more severe.