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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Judges 7 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/judges/7.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/judges/7.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/judges/7-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../judges/">Judges</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/6.htm" title="Judges 6">◄</a> Judges 7 <a href="../judges/8.htm" title="Judges 8">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld">VII.</span><p>1. The two camps. <a href="/context/judges/7-2.htm" title="And the LORD said to Gideon, The people that are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, My own hand has saved me.">Judges 7:2-3</a>. Gideon is bidden to dismiss all who are afraid. <a href="/context/judges/7-4.htm" title="And the LORD said to Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for you there: and it shall be, that of whom I say to you, This shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and of whomsoever I say to you, This shall not go with you, the same shall not go.">Judges 7:4-8</a>. The remaining ten thousand are tested by the way in which they drink at the fountain of Harod, and only 300 are left. <a href="/context/judges/7-9.htm" title="And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said to him, Arise, get you down to the host; for I have delivered it into your hand.">Judges 7:9-14</a>. The Lord encourages Gideon by suffering him to overhear the narration of a dream in the camp of the Midianites, <a href="/context/judges/7-15.htm" title="And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD has delivered into your hand the host of Midian.">Judges 7:15-18</a>. Gideon’s stratagem with lamps and torches. <a href="/context/judges/7-19.htm" title="So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came to the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.">Judges 7:19-21</a>. Panic and slaughter in the host of Midian. <a href="/context/judges/7-22.htm" title="And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, to Tabbath.">Judges 7:22-23</a>. Their disastrous flight, and their pursuit by the Israelites. <a href="/context/judges/7-24.htm" title="And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters to Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters to Bethbarah and Jordan.">Judges 7:24-25</a>. Capture of Oreb and Zeeb.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-1.htm">Judges 7:1</a></div><div class="verse">Then Jerubbaal, who <i>is</i> Gideon, and all the people that <i>were</i> with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.</div>(1) <span class= "bld">Jerubbaal, who is Gideon.</span>—Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, Esther, Daniel, St. Paul, &c, are other instances of Scriptural characters who have two names.<p><span class= "bld">Beside.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">above. </span>It would have been foolish and dangerous to encamp on the plain.<p><span class= "bld">The well of Harod.</span>—The name “Harod” means “trembling,” with an obvious allusion to the timidity of the people (<span class= "ital">chareed, </span><a href="/judges/7-3.htm" title="Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.">Judges 7:3</a>), to which there may be again an allusion in <a href="/1_samuel/28-5.htm" title="And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.">1Samuel 28:5</a>. The name is here used by anticipation. It occurs here only, though two <span class= "ital">Harodites </span>are mentioned in <a href="/2_samuel/23-25.htm" title="Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,">2Samuel 23:25</a>; and the same fountain is obviously alluded to in <a href="/1_samuel/29-1.htm" title="Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel.">1Samuel 29:1</a>. From the fact that Gideon’s camp was on Mount Gilboa there can be little doubt that Harod must be identified with the abundant and beautiful fountain at the foot of the hill now known as <span class= "ital">Ain Jalûd, </span>or “the spring of Goliath,” from a mistaken legend that this was the scene of the giant’s death; or possibly from a mistaken corruption of the name Harod itself. There is another reading, “Endor” (comp. Ps. 82:10).<p><span class= "bld">By the hill of Moreh.</span>—Bertheau renders it, “stretching from the hill of Moreh into the valley.” The only hill of this name which we know from other sources is that at Shechem (<a href="/genesis/12-6.htm" title="And Abram passed through the land to the place of Sichem, to the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.">Genesis 12:6</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/11-30.htm" title="Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goes down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the desert over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?">Deuteronomy 11:30</a>), but that is twenty-five miles south of Mount Gilboa. There can be no doubt that Moreh is here used for Little Hermon, now Jebel ed-Duhy. The Vulgate renders it “of a lofty hill,” perhaps to avoid a supposed difficulty. The word Moreh means “archer,” and Little Hermon may have been called “the Archer’s Hill,” from the bowmen of the Amalekites.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-2.htm">Judges 7:2</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that <i>are</i> with thee <i>are</i> too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">The people that are with thee are too many for me.</span>—This must have put the faith of Gideon to a severe trial, since the Midianites were 135,000 in number (<a href="/judges/8-10.htm" title="Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword.">Judges 8:10</a>), and Gideon’s forces only 32,000 (<a href="/judges/7-4.htm" title="And the LORD said to Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down to the water, and I will try them for you there: and it shall be, that of whom I say to you, This shall go with you, the same shall go with you; and of whomsoever I say to you, This shall not go with you, the same shall not go.">Judges 7:4</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Lest Israel vaunt themselves.</span>—See <a href="/deuteronomy/8-17.htm" title="And you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.">Deuteronomy 8:17</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-3.htm">Judges 7:3</a></div><div class="verse">Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever <i>is</i> fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">Whosoever is fearful and afraid.</span>—This proclamation is in exact accordance with <a href="/deuteronomy/20-8.htm" title="And the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.">Deuteronomy 20:8</a> (and the other general directions in that chapter). It is there founded on the psychological observation that cowardice is exceedingly contagious, so that the presence of timid men in an army is a source of direct danger. The same rule was rigidly observed by the faithful Judas Maccabæus (<a href="//apocrypha.org/1_maccabees/3-56.htm" title="But as for such as were building houses, or had betrothed wives, or were planting vineyards, or were fearful, those he commanded that they should return, every man to his own house, according to the law.">1 Maccabees 3:56</a>). Epaminondas, for the same reason, made the same proclamation before the battle of Leuctra. In this instance there was the further reason given in the previous verse. “The ancients had observed that even when there are many legions it is always the few that win the battle” (Tac. <span class= "ital">Ann. xiv.</span> 36).<p><span class= "bld">Depart early.</span>—The Hebrew word <span class= "ital">tsaphar </span>occurs here only. The Chaldee explains it by <span class= "ital">tsiphra, </span>“in the morning;” and Abarband says that this injunction was given in order that they might not incur shame when they retired. The rendering “hastily” is explained to mean “like a bird” (<span class= "ital">tsippor</span>)<span class= "ital">. </span>Keil, connecting it with an Arabic root, makes it mean “slink away by bye-paths.” It seems to involve a shade of contempt—“Let him take himself off.” (<span class= "ital">Trolle </span>sich: Cassel.)<p><span class= "bld">From mount Gilead.</span>—This expression has caused great difficulty, but the Hebrew cannot mean <span class= "ital">“to </span>mount Gilead,” nor yet “<span class= "ital">beyond </span>mount Gilead.” The only tenable solution of the difficulty is, (1) to alter the text into “mount Gilboa” (Clericus), or from <span class= "ital">meehar, </span>“from mount,” to <span class= "ital">maheer, </span>“speedily” (Michaelis); or (2) to suppose that “mount Gilead” was a rallying-cry of the Manassites in general, for Gilead was a son of Abiezer (<a href="/numbers/26-30.htm" title="These are the sons of Gilead: of Jeezer, the family of the Jeezerites: of Helek, the family of the Helekites:">Numbers 26:30</a>, where Jeezer is merely an error); and hence was derived the name “Gilead” of the trans-Jordanic district which fell to the half-tribe of Manasseh (<a href="/context/joshua/17-5.htm" title="And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, beside the land of Gilead and Bashan, which were on the other side Jordan;">Joshua 17:5-6</a>). If this be a true conjecture, the phrase “let him depart from mount Gilead” means “let him leave the camp of Manasseh.” One more conjecture is that Gilead is an ancient name for Gilboa (Schwarz).<p><span class= "bld">There returned of the people twenty and two thousand.</span>—No detail could more decisively show the terror struck into them by the sight of the Midianite host. They looked on them with the same alarm with which the Greeks, before Marathon, used to gaze on the Persian dress. It must not, however, be supposed that all the defaulters went straight to their homes. Doubtless many of them took part in the pursuit which made the victory decisive.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-4.htm">Judges 7:4</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people <i>are</i> yet <i>too</i> many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, <i>that</i> of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">The people are yet too many.</span>—A fresh trial of faith; but small numbers were essential for the method of victory by which God intended that the deliverance should be achieved.<p><span class= "bld">Unto the water.</span>—i.e., to the spring of Harod.<p><span class= "bld">I will try them.</span>—The LXX. render it (<span class= "ital">Cod. Vat.</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>“I will <span class= "ital">purge </span>them,” as gold from dross, and this is the literal sense of the word (<a href="/isaiah/1-25.htm" title="And I will turn my hand on you, and purely purge away your dross, and take away all your tin:">Isaiah 1:25</a>; <a href="/isaiah/48-10.htm" title="Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.">Isaiah 48:10</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-5.htm">Judges 7:5</a></div><div class="verse">So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue.</span>—Josephus (<span class= "ital">Antt. v.</span> 6, § 4) says that Gideon led them down to the spring in the fiercest heat of the noonday, and that he judged those to be the bravest who flung themselves down and drank, and those to be the cowards who lapped the water hastily and tumultuously. Theodoret also thinks that the Divine aid was shown by the fact that the greatest cowards were chosen. This may have been a Jewish legend (Hagadah); but it seems more reasonable to suppose that greater self-control would be shown by stooping and drinking the water out of the hand than by flinging themselves at full length to drink, which would be the natural instinct of a thirsty man. Rashi says that those who went down on their knees to drink were secret <span class= "ital">idolators, </span>who had “bowed the knee to Baal” (<a href="/1_kings/19-18.htm" title="Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.">1Kings 19:18</a>).<p><span class= "bld">As a dog lappeth.</span>—Some commentators fancy that this is an allusion to Egyptian dogs, who, out of fear for the Nile crocodiles, only venture to lap the water while they are running along the banks.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-6.htm">Judges 7:6</a></div><div class="verse">And the number of them that lapped, <i>putting</i> their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">That lapped, putting their hand to their mouth.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">licked with their hand to their mouth.</span><p><span class= "bld">All the rest of the people</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>9,700 men.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-7.htm">Judges 7:7</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the <i>other</i> people go every man unto his place.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Every man unto his place.</span>—i.e., home, as in <a href="/numbers/24-11.htm" title="Therefore now flee you to your place: I thought to promote you to great honor; but, see, the LORD has kept you back from honor.">Numbers 24:11</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-8.htm">Judges 7:8</a></div><div class="verse">So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all <i>the rest of</i> Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets.</span>—The E.V. here differs from most of the ancient versions (<span class= "ital">e.g., </span>the LXX., the Chaldee, the Vulgate, &c.), which render it, “And they (the 300) took the provisions and trumpets of the people (the 9,700) in their hands.” This is also the explanation of Rabbi Kimchi, Levi Ben Gerson, &c. Provisions would be scarce in the neighbourhood of so vast a host, and it would be the desire of all that the brave 300 should be well supplied. The reason for taking 300 rams’ horns would soon appear; and, indeed, but for this verse we might well wonder how each of the 300 came to have a horn of his own. Their “pitchers” were probably those in which the provisions had been carried.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-9.htm">Judges 7:9</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">I have delivered it into thine hand.</span>—Comp. <a href="/judges/4-14.htm" title="And Deborah said to Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand: is not the LORD gone out before you? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.">Judges 4:14</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-10.htm">Judges 7:10</a></div><div class="verse">But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host:</div>(10) <span class= "bld">To go down.</span>—If thou fear to make the attack at once, without still further encouragement. Let it be borne in mind that the courage required by Gideon and his men was in many respects far beyond that of the much more vaunted 300 at Thermopylæ—(1) because they were to <span class= "ital">attack, </span>not to defend; (2) because they were to attack a host in the plain, not to hold a narrow valley; (3) because they had not a large number of allies and attendants with them, as the 300 Spartans had (Grote’s <span class= "ital">Greece, </span>v. 103, 121).<p><span class= "bld">Phurah thy servant.</span>—The name Phurah means “branch”; the word for “servant” is literally <span class= "ital">boy, </span>but here means the armour-bearer. The classical reader will recall the night-raid of Diomedes and Odysseus into the camp of the Thracians at Troy (<span class= "ital">Il. x.</span> 220, <span class= "ital">et seqq.</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-11.htm">Judges 7:11</a></div><div class="verse">And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that <i>were</i> in the host.</div>(11)<span class= "bld">And thou shalt hear what they say.</span>—This was the kind of omen known by the Jews as the Bath Kol, or “Daughter of a Voice.” For a similar instance see <a href="/1_samuel/14-6.htm" title="And Jonathan said to the young man that bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.">1Samuel 14:6</a> (Jonathan and his armour-bearer). The word is used in slightly different senses. Sometimes it means a voice from heaven (<a href="/matthew/3-17.htm" title="And see a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.">Matthew 3:17</a>, &c): such voices from heaven are described in the Talmud; sometimes it means the first chance words which a man hears after being bidden to look out for them as a Divine intimation; sometimes it means an actual echo (see Hamburger’s <span class= "ital">Talmud. W</span>ö<span class= "ital">rterb., s.5</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p>It was one of the four recognised modes of Divine direction (viz., prophets, dreams, Urim, and the Bath Kol, <a href="/context/1_samuel/28-6.htm" title="And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.">1Samuel 28:6-15</a>), but stood lowest of the four. It was also known to the Greeks, among whom the oracle sometimes bade a man to take as his answer the first casual words which he heard spoken on leaving the Temple.<p><span class= "bld">The armed men.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">ranks by, five, </span>the word (<span class= "ital">chamooshim</span>) rendered “harnessed” in <a href="/exodus/13-18.htm" title="But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.">Exodus 13:18</a>, “armed” in <a href="/joshua/1-14.htm" title="Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but you shall pass before your brothers armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them;">Joshua 1:14</a>. Probably here the word means “foreposts,” or “sentries”; and the Vulgate renders it “vigiliae.” The LXX. curiously render it “<span class= "ital">to </span>the beginning,” (or in other MSS.) “to part of <span class= "ital">the fifty,” </span>following a wrong punctuation.<p><span class= "bld">That were in the host.</span>—Probably “the host” was in some respects more like a temporary nomad migration, such as is so common among all wandering tribes. If so, it would not be by any means entirely composed of “armed men,” but would, like the Persians under Xerxes, trail with it a vast mass of camp followers, &c., who would probably be encamped in the centre with the baggage.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-12.htm">Judges 7:12</a></div><div class="verse">And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels <i>were</i> without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Like grasshoppers.</span>—Comp. <a href="/judges/6-5.htm" title="For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.">Judges 6:5</a>; <a href="/context/numbers/22-4.htm" title="And Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.">Numbers 22:4-5</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Their camels.</span>—Which constitute the chief wealth of Arab tribes. “The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah” (<a href="/isaiah/60-6.htm" title="The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the LORD.">Isaiah 60:6</a>).<p><span class= "bld">As the sand.</span>—See <a href="/joshua/11-4.htm" title="And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is on the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many.">Joshua 11:4</a>, and frequently in the Bible. (See <a href="/genesis/22-17.htm" title="That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is on the sea shore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;">Genesis 22:17</a>; <a href="/isaiah/48-19.htm" title="Your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.">Isaiah 48:19</a>, &c.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-13.htm">Judges 7:13</a></div><div class="verse">And when Gideon was come, behold, <i>there was</i> a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Behold, I dreamed a dream.</span>—Since dreams, no less than the Bath Kol, were recognised channels for Divine intimations (<a href="/genesis/41-12.htm" title="And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret.">Genesis 41:12</a>; <a href="/numbers/12-6.htm" title="And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream.">Numbers 12:6</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/28-6.htm" title="And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.">1Samuel 28:6</a>; <a href="/joel/2-28.htm" title="And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:">Joel 2:28</a>, &c.), Gideon would feel doubly assured.<p><span class= "bld">A cake.</span>—The Hebrew word <span class= "ital">tsalol </span>(or <span class= "ital">tselil </span>in the Keri, or margin) is a word which occurs nowhere else. Rabbis Kimchi and Tanchun derive it from <span class= "ital">tsalal, </span>“he tinkled” (as in <span class= "ital">tselselim </span>and other names for musical instruments), or “he overshadowed.” Neither derivation yields any sense. The Chaldee, Syriac, and Rashi render it “a cake baked on coals,” and so, too, the LXX. (since such is the meaning of <span class= "ital">magie</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>the Vulgate (<span class= "ital">panis subcinericius</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>and Josephus (<span class= "ital">maza krithinē</span>)<span class= "ital">; </span>this seems to be the true sense. Ewald makes it mean “a dry rattling crust.” Niebuhr tells us that the desert Arabs thrust a round lump of dough into hot ashes, then take it out and eat it. (<span class= "ital">Arab., </span>p. 52.)<p><span class= "bld">Of barley bread.</span>—Josephus helps us to see the significance of the symbol by adding, “which men can (hardly) eat for its coarseness.” It must be remembered that the Israelites had been reduced to such poverty by these raids that the mass of them would have nothing to subsist on but common barley bread such as that used to this day, with bitter complaints, by the Fellahîn of Palestine. Among the Greeks also <span class= "ital">“</span>barley bread” was proverbial as a kind of food hardly fit to be eaten, although such was the poverty which the Saviour bore for our sakes that it seems to have been the ordinary food of Him and His apostles (<a href="/john/6-9.htm" title="There is a lad here, which has five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?">John 6:9</a>). “A cake of barley bread” would, therefore, naturally recall the thought of the Israelites, who were no doubt taunted by their enemies with being reduced to this food; just as Dr. Johnson defined oats as “food for horses in England, and for men in Scotland.” Thus, in <a href="/1_kings/4-28.htm" title="Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they to the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.">1Kings 4:28</a>, the “barley” is only for the horses and dromedaries. “If the Midianites were accustomed to call Gideon and his band ‘eaters of barley bread,’ as their successors, the haughty Bedouins, often do to ridicule their enemies, the application would be the more natural” (Thomson, <span class= "ital">Land and Book, </span>p. 447). Josephus makes the soldier say that, as barley is the vilest of all seed, so the Israelites were the vilest of all the people of Asia.<p><span class= "bld">Tumbled.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">was rolling itself.</span><p><span class= "bld">Unto a tent.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">into the tent, </span>which doubtless means (as Josephus says) the tent-royal—the tent of Zebah and Salmanah.<p><span class= "bld">Smote it.—</span>Perhaps the dream involved that it also (as Josephus says) “threw down the tents of all the soldiers.”<p><span class= "bld">Overturned it, that the tent lay along.</span>—The latter words are involved in the first verb, and are only added for emphasis in accordance with the full picturesque Hebrew style. (Comp. “A bullock that hath horns and hoofs;” “I am a widow woman, and my husband is dead,” &c.) This leisurely stateliness of description is found again and again in the Bible. (See my <span class= "ital">Origin of Language, </span>p. 168, and<span class= "ital"> Brief Greek Syntax, </span>p. 200.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-14.htm">Judges 7:14</a></div><div class="verse">And his fellow answered and said, This <i>is</i> nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: <i>for</i> into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon.</span>—The sort of dread which revealed itself by this instant interpretation of the dream shows that Israel Was formidable even in its depression, doubtless because the nations around were well aware of the Divine aid by which they had so often struck terror into their enemies. The fact that this Bath Kol echoed the promise which Gideon had already received (<a href="/judges/7-9.htm" title="And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said to him, Arise, get you down to the host; for I have delivered it into your hand.">Judges 7:9</a>) would give it additional force.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-15.htm">Judges 7:15</a></div><div class="verse">And it was <i>so</i>, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">The interpretation thereof.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">its breaking. </span>The word is a metaphor from breaking a nut—<span class= "ital">enucleation.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-16.htm">Judges 7:16</a></div><div class="verse">And he divided the three hundred men <i>into</i> three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Into three companies.</span>—See <a href="/judges/9-43.htm" title="And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field, and looked, and, behold, the people were come forth out of the city; and he rose up against them, and smote them.">Judges 9:43</a>. This division of the attacking force was a common stratagem. We find it in <a href="/job/1-17.htm" title="While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell on the camels, and have carried them away, yes, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.">Job 1:17</a>—“the Chaldæans made out three bands “—and it was adopted by Saul against the Ammonites (<a href="/1_samuel/11-11.htm" title="And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the middle of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.">1Samuel 11:11</a>), and by David against Absalom (<a href="/2_samuel/18-2.htm" title="And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also.">2Samuel 18:2</a>). (Comp. <a href="/genesis/14-15.htm" title="And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.">Genesis 14:15</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">A trumpet.</span>—Hearing the sound of three hundred rams’ horns, the Midianites would naturally suppose that they were being attacked by three hundred <span class= "ital">companies.</span><p><span class= "bld">Pitchers.</span>—The Hebrew word is <span class= "ital">caddim, </span>which is connected with our <span class= "ital">cask</span>—the Greek, <span class= "ital">kados. </span>They were of earthenware (<a href="/context/judges/7-19.htm" title="So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came to the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.">Judges 7:19-20</a>), (LXX., <span class= "ital">hydrias</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>and hence the Vulgate rendering (<span class= "ital">lagenas</span>) is mistaken.<p><span class= "bld">Lamps.</span>—The LXX., perhaps, chose the word <span class= "ital">lampadas </span>from its resemblance to <span class= "ital">lappîdîm</span>—a principle by which they are often guided. <span class= "ital">Lampadas, </span>however, here means not “lamps,” but (as the margin gives it) “firebrands,” or “torches.” The best illustration is furnished by a passage in Lane’s <span class= "ital">Modern Egyptians </span>(I., Judges 4), where he tells us that the zabit or agha of the police in Cairo carries with him at night “a torch, which burns, soon after it is lighted, without a flame, excepting when it is waved through the air, when it suddenly blazes forth: it therefore answers the same purpose as our dark lantern. The burning end is sometimes concealed in a small pot or jar, or covered with something else when not required to give light.” These torches are simply of wood dipped in turpentine or pitch, which are not easily extinguished.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-17.htm">Judges 7:17</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be <i>that</i>, as I do, so shall ye do.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">Look on me.</span>—He showed all the three hundred the way in which he wished them, at a given signal, to break the pitchers, wave the torches, and shout. The signal would be given by the one hundred whom he himself headed.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-18.htm">Judges 7:18</a></div><div class="verse">When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that <i>are</i> with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, <i>The sword</i> of the LORD, and of Gideon.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">for Jehovah and for Gideon </span>(LXX., <span class= "greekheb">Τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ τῷ Γεδεων</span>; Vulg., <span class= "ital">clangite et conclamate Domino et Gedeoni</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>but the particle <span class= "ital">le </span>often has the meaning <span class= "ital">of</span>, as in “a Psalm to David,” which is found at the beginning of many Psalms. Our version here understands the word “sword” (<span class= "ital">chereb</span>) from <a href="/judges/6-20.htm" title="And the angel of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.">Judges 6:20</a>, as is also done in some MSS. of the LXX. It is better to omit it. The watchword and war-cry, then, resembles that given by Cyrus to his soldiers—“Zeus, our ally and leader” (<span class= "ital">Cyrop. iii.</span> 28). The mention of his own name was only for the purpose of terrifying the enemy (<a href="/judges/7-14.htm" title="And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand has God delivered Midian, and all the host.">Judges 7:14</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-19.htm">Judges 7:19</a></div><div class="verse">So Gideon, and the hundred men that <i>were</i> with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that <i>were</i> in their hands.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">The middle watch.</span>—The Jews anciently divided the night, from 6 P.M. to 6 A.M., into three watches (<a href="/exodus/14-24.htm" title="And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked to the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,">Exodus 14:24</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/11-11.htm" title="And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the middle of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.">1Samuel 11:11</a>). The subsequent division into four watches of three hours each was borrowed from the Romans (<a href="/matthew/14-25.htm" title="And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.">Matthew 14:25</a>; <a href="/mark/6-48.htm" title="And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary to them: and about the fourth watch of the night he comes to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed by them.">Mark 6:48</a>). At the beginning of the middle watch—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>soon after 10 at night—would be the time at which the host would be buried in their first sleep.<p><span class= "bld">They had but newly set the watch.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">scarcely</span>—or. “just in rousing they roused the watch.” The attack took place at the moment of confusion caused by changing the watch.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-20.htm">Judges 7:20</a></div><div class="verse">And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow <i>withal</i>: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">The trumpets in their right hands . . .</span>—Thus they were comparatively defenceless, though, if they had any armour at all, doubtless they could still hold the shield on the left arm, while the sword was girded on the thigh. The effect of the sudden crash and glare and shout upon the vast unwieldy host of the Bedouins may be imagined. Startled from sleep in a camp which, like Oriental camps, must have been most imperfectly protected and disciplined, they would see on every side blazing torches, and hear on every side the rams’ horns and the terrible shout of the Israelites. (Comp. Tac. <span class= "ital">Ann. i.</span> 68.) The instant result was a wild panic, such as that which seized the camp of the Persians at Platæe. The first thought which would rise in their minds would be that there was some treachery at work among the motley elements of the camp itself. Even a well-disciplined camp is liable to these outbursts of panic. One such occurred among the Greeks in the camp of the Ten Thousand during their retreat. To shame these groundless alarms, Klearchus next morning caused a reward to be proclaimed for any one who would give information “who had let the ass loose;” and this seems to have been a standing joke to shame Greek soldiers from such panics (Xen. <span class= "ital">Anab. ii.</span> 2, 20). Several stratagems similar to that of Gideon are recorded in history. Polyænus, in his book on the “Art of War,” tells us that Diœtas, when attacking Heræa, “ordered the trumpeters to stand apart, and sound a charge opposite to many quarters of the city; and that the Heræans, hearing the blasts of many trumpets from many directions, thinking that the whole region was crowded with enemies, abandoned the city.” Frontinus also tells us that the Tarquinians and Faliscans tried to frighten the Romans with torches, and Minucius Rufus terrified the Scordisci by trumpets blown among the rocks (<span class= "ital">Strateg. </span>ii. 3). Hannibal on one occasion escaped from Fabius Maximus by tying torches to the heads of cattle, and having them driven about the hills. The Druids waved torches to repel the attack of Suetonius Paulinus on the island of Mona (Tac. <span class= "ital">Ann. xiv.</span> 30). An Arab chief (Bel-Arab) in the eighteenth century used trumpets in exactly the same manner as Gideon did on this occasion, and with the same success (Niebuhr, <span class= "ital">Beschr. von Arabien, </span>p. 304). Ewald alludes to similar stratagems in Neapolitan and Hungarian wars, the latter so recently as 1849 (<span class= "ital">Gesch. </span>ii. 503).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-21.htm">Judges 7:21</a></div><div class="verse">And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">Ran, and cried, and fled.</span>—They ran about to discover the meaning of the trumpet-blast. Their “cries” were either the wail of despair (Vulg., <span class= "ital">ululantes</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>or a number of confused shouts and words of command (LXX., <span class= "ital">esêmainan</span>)<span class= "ital">; </span>their flight would be a natural result of the hopeless terror and confusion which prevailed. The word, however, in the Kethibh, or written text, is <span class= "ital">yanîsoo, </span>which means “caused to fly”—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>“carried off their tents,” &c.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-22.htm">Judges 7:22</a></div><div class="verse">And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, <i>and</i> to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">Blew the trumpets.</span>—They continued to blow incessantly, to add to the panic.<p><span class= "bld">The Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow.</span>—We have an exact parallel to this in the mutual slaughter of the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites, when stricken with a similar panic before the army of Jehoshaphat, in <a href="/context/2_chronicles/20-21.htm" title="And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endures for ever.">2Chronicles 20:21-22</a>; and on a smaller scale in the camp of the Philistines at Gibeah (1 Samuel 14). The tremendous tragedy of their flight can only be appreciated by the vivid impression which it made on the national imagination (<a href="/isaiah/9-4.htm" title="For you have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.">Isaiah 9:4</a>; <a href="/isaiah/10-26.htm" title="And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a whip for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was on the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.">Isaiah 10:26</a>). In <a href="/context/psalms/83-13.htm" title="O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.">Psalm 83:13-14</a>, it is compared to the whirling flight of dry weeds before a rush of flame and wind, recalling the Arab imprecation, “May you be whirled like the akukb (‘wild artichoke,’ ‘a wheel,’ ‘a rolling thing’) before the wind, until you are caught in the thorns or plunged into the sea” (Thomson, <span class= "ital">Land and Book, </span>Judges 36).<p><span class= "bld">Beth-shittah.</span>—It should be rather, <span class= "ital">Beth hash-shit-tah, </span>“the house of the acacia”—a place named from the trees which are still abundant in that neighbourhood, just as we have such names as Burntash, Seven-oaks, Nine Elms, &c. (Comp. Abel-Shittim, <a href="/numbers/33-49.htm" title="And they pitched by Jordan, from Bethjesimoth even to Abelshittim in the plains of Moab.">Numbers 33:49</a>; Joshua 21.) If <span class= "ital">Beth hash-shittah </span>was the village <span class= "ital">Shultah, </span>with which Robinson (<span class= "ital">Bibl. Reg., </span>3:219) identifies it, some of the host must have fled northwards. It is improbable that it was another name for Beth-shean, though the LXX. have Bethsead in some MSS. It is, however, by no means unlikely that some of the marauders would fly towards the fords of the Jordan near Bethshean (comp. Jos. <span class= "ital">Antt. v.</span> 6, § 5), as others fled south to the fords near Succoth, which lay to the south of the Jabbok.<p><span class= "bld">In.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">towards, </span>as in the margin.<p><span class= "bld">Zererath.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">Zererah. </span>This is omitted in the Vulgate; the LXX. have the extraordinary reading <span class= "ital">Tagaragatha, </span>or in some MSS. “and he led them.” The final <span class= "ital">th </span>is no part of the name, but the mode of connecting the name with the particle of motion. Zererath is not again mentioned, but the distinction between the Hebrew letters <span class= "ital">r </span>(<span class= "greekheb">ר</span>) and <span class= "ital">d </span>(<span class= "greekheb">ד</span>) is so slight that the reading <span class= "ital">Zeredath </span>may here be correct; and if so, it may be the Zeredath in Ephraim, which was the birthplace of Jeroboam (<a href="/1_kings/11-26.htm" title="And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king.">1Kings 11:26</a>), and the Zaretan of <a href="/joshua/3-16.htm" title="That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up on an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.">Joshua 3:16</a>, <a href="/1_kings/7-46.htm" title="In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan.">1Kings 7:46</a>, which is sixteen miles north of Jericho.<p><span class= "bld">To the border.</span>—Literally, as in the margin, <span class= "ital">to the lip, </span>or <span class= "ital">brink, </span>as in <a href="/genesis/22-17.htm" title="That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is on the sea shore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;">Genesis 22:17</a>; <a href="/exodus/4-30.htm" title="And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.">Exodus 4:30</a>. It does not, however, necessarily prove that Abel-meholah was on the edge of the Jordan valley.<p><span class= "bld">Abel-meholah.</span>—“The meadow of the dance.” It was in Ephraim, and was the native place of Elisha (<a href="/1_kings/19-16.htm" title="And Jehu the son of Nimshi shall you anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shall you anoint to be prophet in your room.">1Kings 19:16</a>; see, too, <a href="/1_kings/4-12.htm" title="Baana the son of Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo, and all Bethshean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Bethshean to Abelmeholah, even to the place that is beyond Jokneam:">1Kings 4:12</a>). Eusebius and Jerome place it ten miles south of Bethshean, at Wady Maleb. <span class= "ital">Abel </span>means “a moist, grassy meadow.”<p><span class= "bld">Unto Tabbath.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">upon Tabbath. </span>The name seems to mean “famous,” but the site is unknown, unless it be the remarkable bank called <span class= "ital">Tubukhat Fahil,</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-23.htm">Judges 7:23</a></div><div class="verse">And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">Out of Naphtali.</span>—Doubtless these pursuers were some of those who had left Gideon’s camp before the victory. Those of Naphtali and Asher might pursue the flying Midianites northwards (if Beth-shittah is the same Shultah), and those of Manasseh might pursue those who fled southwards to the lower fords.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-24.htm">Judges 7:24</a></div><div class="verse">And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">Throughout all mount Ephraim.</span>—He had not ventured to summon these haughty clansmen before his victory was assured.<p><span class= "bld">Take before them the waters.</span>—i.e., “intercept their flight unto Beth-barah and Jordan.” The “waters” are probably the marshes formed by streams which flow from the watershed of the hills of Ephraim into the Jordan.<p><span class= "bld">Beth-barah.</span>—“House of the waste,” not, as Jerome says, “of the well.” It can hardly be the Bethabara (house of the passage) of <a href="/john/1-28.htm" title="These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.">John 1:28</a>, which seems to be too far south.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/judges/7-25.htm">Judges 7:25</a></div><div class="verse">And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">Oreb and Zeeb.</span>—The names mean “raven” and “wolf”: but these are common names for warriors among rude tribes, and there is no reason to look on them as names given in scorn by the Israelites. Such names are common among nomads. The capture of these two powerful sheykhs was the result of the second part of the battle, and was not accomplished without a terrible slaughter. See <a href="/context/psalms/73-9.htm" title="They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth.">Psalm 73:9-12</a>, where the word rendered “houses” of God should be “pastures” of God. It is remarkable that in this passage there seems to be almost an identification of the victories of Barak and Gideon, as though they were the result of one great combined movement. In the phrase “became as the dung of the earth” we see that tradition preserved a memory of the fertilisation of the ground by the dead bodies (see Note on <a href="/judges/4-16.htm" title="But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, to Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell on the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.">Judges 4:16</a>; <a href="/judges/5-21.htm" title="The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, you have trodden down strength.">Judges 5:21</a>). The completeness of the victory is also ailuded to in <a href="/isaiah/60-4.htm" title="Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to you: your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side.">Isaiah 60:4</a> : “Thou hast broken the yoke of his burden . . . as in the day of Midian”; and <a href="/isaiah/10-26.htm" title="And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a whip for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was on the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.">Isaiah 10:26</a>. The brief narrative of Judges perhaps hardly enables us to realise the three acts of this great tragedy of Midianite slaughter—at Gilboa, the Fords, and Karkor.<p><span class= "bld">Upon the rock Oreb.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">at the raven’s rock. </span>Only again mentioned in <a href="/isaiah/10-26.htm" title="And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a whip for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was on the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.">Isaiah 10:26</a> : “according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb.” Reland identifies it with Orbo, near Bethshean.<p><span class= "bld">To Gideon on the other side Jordan.</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, beyond the Jordan (“trans fluenta Jordani,” Vulg.). This notice is given by anticipation, for Gideon’s crossing the Jordan is not mentioned till <a href="/judges/8-4.htm" title="And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.">Judges 8:4</a>. The words literally mean <span class= "ital">“from </span>beyond the Jordan,” as the LXX. render them (<span class= "ital">apo peran</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>but this is idiomatic for <span class= "ital">“from </span>one place to another,” as in <a href="/joshua/13-22.htm" title="Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them.">Joshua 13:22</a>, &c-<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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