Matthew Henry on 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 8:10. 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 Ephraimites, and made towards their own country. Gideon thinks he does not fully execute his commission to save Israel if he let them escape. He is not content to chase them out of the country, but he will chase th…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Judges 8:14
he described--wrote the names of the seventy princes or elders. It was from them he had received so inhospitable a treatment.
John Gill on Judges 8:14
And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him,.... Just before he came to the city, he spied a young man which belonged to it, and laid hold on him, and inquired of him about the chief magistrates of the city, who they were, what their names, and their places of abode:
and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even seventy seven men; by which it appears that this was no inconsiderable city to have so many princes and elders in it; these the young man described to Gideon, what sort of men they were, what their names, and where they dwelt: or "he wrote unto him" (y); wrote down their names, and what part of the city they dwelt in; or Gideon…
Read the whole note in the consoleKeil & Delitzsch on Judges 8:13-21
Punishment of the Towns of Succoth and Pnuel, and Execution of the Captures Kings of Midian.
Jdg 8:13-14
Gideon returned victorious from the war, החרס מלמעלה, "from by the ascent (or mountain road) of Hecheres," a place in front of the town of Succoth, with which we are not acquainted. This is the rendering adopted by the lxx, the Peshito, and the Arabic; but the rest of the early translators have merely guessed at the meaning. The Chaldee, which has been followed by the Rabbins and Luther, has rendered it "before sunset," in utter opposition to the rules of the language; for although cheres is a word used poetically to denote the sun, מעלה cannot mean the setting of the sun. Aquila and Symm…
