Judges 6:1–8:35
Sources
Reformed ConsensusReformation Study BibleGeneva Bible Notes (1599)John Trapp (1647)John Gill (1748)Matthew Henry (1714)Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBarnes (1832)Cross-References (TSK)Reformed Consensus
Israel's covenant unfaithfulness drives the Midianite oppression of Judges 6–8, yet God's sovereign grace interrupts the deserved silence by raising up Gideon — the least member of the weakest clan in Manasseh — demonstrating that deliverance originates entirely in divine election, not human merit. The progressive reduction of the army from thirty-two thousand to three hundred is no military strategy but a theological statement: God jealously guards His own glory, ensuring that no flesh may boast in His presence (1 Cor. 1:29). Gideon's repeated requests for signs reveal a faith that is real yet trembling, and the Lord's patient condescension in granting the fleece-confirmations teaches that God does not despise bruised reeds, though such sign-seeking should not be normative for the covenant community. The victory at the waters of Harod and the rout of Midian are attributed explicitly to "the sword of the LORD and of Gideon" — a formulation that preserves both divine sovereignty and creaturely instrumentality in the classic Reformed understanding of concurrence. Yet the narrative closes in tragedy: Gideon's ephod becomes a snare, his many wives and the son Abimelech sow the seeds of future apostasy, reminding readers that even the most Spirit-empowered deliverer is not the final Judge Israel needs, and that the whole cycle points forward to the one Mediator who does not fail.
Reformation Study Bible
Gideon was the greatest of the judges. The following facts bear out this judgment. (a) His story is the longest in the book. (b) The Lord is more visibly active in his story than in any of the others. (c) The Angel of the Lord appeared to him, but to no other judge (wv. 11-24). (d) Centuries later Isaiah remembers Gideon's defeat of Midian as a signifi- cant victory (Is. 9:4; 10:26). (e) He is listed first in Samuel's list of deliver- ers (“Jerubbaal,’ 1 Sam. 12:11). (f) He is paralleled with Moses (6:11-24 note). (g) The people sought to make him king (8:22-23). (h) He lived like a king (8:26-27, 30, 32). Yet for all this, Gideon failed badly at one point. Gideon made a gold ephod that drew him and others into sin (8:27). In his greatness and in his deficiency, Gideon pointed to the need for a bet- ter deliverer, a king who would truly keep the covenant. In this way he points to Christ. } | Midian overpowered. None of the other stories in Judges devotes such attention to the details of the oppression as this one. Homes, crops, and livestock were subject to the covenant curse (Deut, 28;30-33, 38-42), The Midianite oppression was so great that Isaiah mentioned it centuries later (Is. 9:4; 10:26). | was brought very low. Lit. “made small” The covenant’curse was a reversal of God's promise to Abraham (Gen. 15:5; 22:17; Deut. 28:62; Ps, 107:38-39), cried out. See 2:19; 3:9. | a prophet. The prophets constantly reminded the people of their covenant obligations. The words of this unnamed prophet (wv. 8-10) are virtually identical to the words of the Angel of the Lord in 2:1-3. | brought... delivered... drove them ...gave you. Remembering these saving actions of God is the first part of covenant keeping. In Israel religious apostasy was linked to forgetting God's saving acts, and His law. | This is the heart of the Gideon narrative. His call is similar to Moses call (Ex. 3); he asks the question that is central to the book’s mes- sage (v. 13); and his search for faith begins with signs (6:1-8:32 note). The search for and need for a covenant-keeping deliverer like the prophet Moses is the focus of Judges. | angel of the Lorp came. See 2:1; 13:3. | why. This question is central to the Book of Judges. The Angel did not answer the question, since the prophet had already answered it (wv. 8-10; Deut. 28:47-52; 29:24-27; 31:17-18). Some of the psalms ask a sim- ilar question (Ps. 44:20; 74:9-11). | Go in this might of yours. See v. 34; 7:2, 7. God would be his strength, though Gideon did not yet know it. | weakest. When asked about kingship, Saul used similar words (1 Sam. 9:21). | | have seen... face. See 13:22; Deut. 5:24; Is. 6:5; 1 Tim. 6:16. | This episode in Gideon's life reveals how he came to be known as Jerubbaal. His immediate father’s idolatry is tragic in light of what Gideon says about “our fathers’ in v. 13. 6:25, 26 pull down the altar. See Deut. 12:3. | due order. That is, according to the prescriptions of the Law of Moses. | If he is a god. See 10:14. | Gideon sought confidence through signs (v. 17), which the Lord did not refuse to give him (cf. Luke 1:18-20). | Spirit of the Lor. See 3:10 and note; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14. | If you will save. Even though the Spirit had come upon him, Gideon still struggled with faith (6:27 note). | The drastic reduction of troops demonstrated God's power to save Israel and brought Him glory. It also challenged Gideon and encouraged Israel to trust him. | Look at me. These words are similar to those of Gideon's son Abimelech (9:48-49). | Israel's lack of unity is apparent in the difficulties between Gideon, Ephraim, Succoth, and Penuel. | at the rock of Oreb. See Is. 10:26. | The conflict here between Ephraim and Gideon is similar to the conflict between Ephraim and Jephthah; see 12:1-6. | Gideon has problems with the men of Succoth and Penuel and ultimately punished both for failing to help him in his pursuit of the Midianite leaders, | Rule over us. Gideon was such an outstanding judge that the peo- kind of king could be, Abimelech was an anti-deliverer, an oppressor of ple wished to make him king. | the Loro will rule. This verse, like 1 Sam, 8:7-9, says that kingship in Israel was a mistake. Yet Judges demonstrates that it had become nec- essary. With no king, society disintegrated (21:25). | give me the earrings. Though Gideon rejected kingship, he acted like a king (v. 30). | ephod. The genuine ephod of the high priest was employed for seeking the Lord’s will (1 Sam. 23:9-11; 30:7, 8). whored after it. Gideon, the greatest of the judges until Samuel, gave the people occasion to sin (2:17 and notes). a snare to Gideon and to his family. Gideon's father had been an idol- ater (6:25), and now Gideon fell into the same sin. | Abimelech. Gideon names the son of his concubine “Abimelech” ("my father is king”) notwithstanding all Gideon's claims to the contrary. See wy, 23, 24. | Baal-berith. Lit. “Baal (lord) of the covenant” This god was a coun- terfeit of the God who truly was the Lord of the covenant. See 9:4 note, | The Abimelech story demonstrates the disaster the wrong the people, and a breaker of the covenant. His story raises the question of who should be king (9:2, 8-20, 28, 29). In light of this question, it is sig- nificant that Abimelech and Saul resemble each other in important ways (9:23 note; 9:54 note). This would imply that Saul was:the same sort of king that Abimelech was. The message to the readers of Judges was that they should no more want Ish-bosheth the son of Saul to be their king, than Israel had wanted Abimelech, the son of Gideon. | did not remember. Remembering God and His works of salvation is a first step in covenant obedience (2:10 note). | they did not show steadfast love. See 9:5, 16-19. 9:1 Abimelech. See 8:31 note.
Geneva Bible Notes (1599)
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
John Trapp (1647)
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the children of Israel did evil. — This was the bad fruit of their forty years’ peace. "Ease slayeth the foolish." Proverbs 1:32 , marg. See Trapp on " Judges 4:1 " Into the hand of Midian. — Who once outwitted them and vexed them with their wiles, Numbers 25:17 now with their inroads: ever full of malignity against the Israelites, though they were of the posterity of Abraham by Keturah, and had been better taught by Jethro, a priest and prince of God amongst them.
John Gill (1748)
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... After the death of Deborah and Barak, during whose life they kept to the pure worship of God, and who, perhaps, lived pretty near the close of the forty years' rest, or of the twenty years from their victory over Jabin; but they dying, the children of Israel fell into idolatry, for that that was the evil they did appears from Judges 6:10 , even worshipping the gods of the Amorites: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years: this was not the Midian where Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, lived, which lay more southward, but that which joined to Moab, and was more eastward. This people had been destroyed by the Israelites in the times of Moses, in their way to the land of Canaan, Numbers 31:1 wherefore they might bear them a grudge, and now took the opportunity to revenge themselves on them, God permitting them so to do for their sins; and though the destruction of this people by Israel was very general, yet as some of them might make their escape, and afterwards return to their own land, and this being about two hundred years ago, might, with others joining them, repeople their country by this time, and become strong and powerful.
Matthew Henry (1714)
Israel's sin was renewed, and Israel's troubles were repeated. Let all that sin expect to suffer. The Israelites hid themselves in dens and caves; such was the effect of a guilty conscience. Sin dispirits men. The invaders left no food for Israel, except what was taken into the caves. They prepared that for Baal with which God should have been served, now God justly sends an enemy to take it away in the season thereof.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
CHAPTER 6 Jud 6:1-6. The Israelites, for Their Sins, Oppressed by Midian. 1. and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian—Untaught by their former experiences, the Israelites again apostatized, and new sins were followed by fresh judgments. Midian had sustained a severe blow in the time of Moses (Nu 31:1-18); and the memory of that disaster, no doubt, inflamed their resentment against the Israelites. They were wandering herdsmen, called "children of the East," from their occupying the territory east of the Red Sea, contiguous to Moab. The destructive ravages they are described as at this time committing in the land of Israel are similar to those of the Bedouin Arabs, who harass the peaceful cultivators of the soil. Unless composition is made with them, they return annually at a certain season, when they carry off the grain, seize the cattle and other property; and even life itself is in jeopardy from the attacks of those prowling marauders. The vast horde of Midianites that overran Canaan made them the greatest scourge which had ever afflicted the Israelites.The Midianites oppress Israel, Judges 6:1-6 . A prophet raised rebukes them, Judges 6:7-10 . An angel calls Gideon to Israelâs deliverance, Judges 6:11-16 ; confirms him by a miracle, Judges 6:17-21 . He builds an altar; calls it Jehovah-shalom; and offereth there. By Godâs command he breaks down the altar of BAAL: his name Jerub-baal, Judges 6:22-32 . The Midianites gather together to fight; and Gideon prepares against them: God strengthens and confirms him by a miracle, Judges 6:33-40 . For although the generality of the Midianites had been cut off by Moses about two hundred years ago, yet many of them doubtless fled into the neighbouring countries, whence afterwards they returned into their own land, and in that time might easily grow to be a very great number; especially when God furthered their increase, that they might be a fit scourge for his people Israel when they transgressed.
Barnes (1832)
Midian - See Genesis 25:2 note. They were remarkable not only for the vast number of their cattle Judges 6:5 ; Numbers 31:32-39 , but also for their great wealth in gold and other metal ornaments, showing their connection with a gold country. (Compare Numbers 31:22 , Numbers 31:50-54 , with Judges 8:24 :26.) At this time they were allies of the Amalekites and of the Arabian tribes called collectively "the children of the East" Judges 6:3 . They seem to have extended their settlements to the east of Jordan, and to have belonged to the larger section of Arabs called Ishmaelites Judges 8:24 .
Cross-References (TSK)
Judges 5:31; Judges 6:2; Judges 2:13; Leviticus 26:14; Deuteronomy 28:15; Nehemiah 9:26; Psalms 106:34; Genesis 25:2; Numbers 25:17; Habakkuk 3:7; Judges 6:1; Judges 6:8; Judges 6:11; Judges 6:17; Judges 6:24; Judges 6:28; Judges 6:33; Judges 6:36; Judges 4:24; Judges 5:11; Judges 4:1; Judges 5:26; Judges 4:14; Joshua 13:21; Numbers 31:9; Numbers 31:10; Joshua 18:9; Judges 6:9; Judges 9:23; Judges 6:12; Judges 6:25