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The Incursions And Oppressions Of The Midianites. Gideon, The Judge Who Refuses To Be King
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The Midianites invade the land seven years. Israel cries to Jehovah, and is an swered through a prophet, who reminds them of their sins
Jdg_6:1-10
[2 Jdg_6:4.— îִçְéָä : Dr. Cassel, Lebensmitteln, “means of life.” So also Keil: “They left no provisions (produce of the field) in Israel, and neither sheep, nor cattle, nor ass.” Dr. Cassel, in a foot-note, gives a simple reference to 2Ch_14:12 (13), where, however, the word unquestionably means anything “alive.” Bertheau adopts that meaning here; but cf. Jdg_17:10.—Tr.]
Jdg_6:2. And the sons of Israel made them the grottoes which are in the mountains, and the caves and the strongholds. The word for grottoes is îðְçָøåֹú , and an entirely satisfactory description of them is given by Wetzstein (Hauran, p. 45): “At some rocky, elevated, and dry place, a shaft was sunk obliquely into the earth; and at a depth of about twenty-five fathoms, streets were run off, straight, and from six to eight paces wide, in the sides of which the dwellings were excavated. At various points these streets were extended to double their ordinary width, and the roof was pierced with airholes, more or less numerous according to the extent of the place. These airholes are at present called, rôsen plural rawâsin(windows).” From this may be seen how accurately Raschi and Kimchi explained the above word, when they made it mean “caves with air-holes like windows.” The remark of R. Tanchum is likewise correct, that watchmen were employed, who gave alarm signals when the enemy approached. As soon as these were given, the ploughmen and herds hurried quickly into the earth, and were secure. Commonly, says Wetzstein, these excavations had a second place of exit; and consequently, in a region whose inhabitants are liable to constant attacks from the desert (he speaks of the Hauran), are regarded as strongholds. Quite appropriate, apparently, is the rendering of that Greek version which translates îִðְäָøָä by ìÜíäñá , an inclosed space, a fold, stable. In later times, eastern monks, who lived in such grottoes, called the cloister itself ìÜíäñá .
Jdg_6:3-4. Till thou come unto Gaza. They were expeditions for plunder and devastation, such as the Bedouin tribes of the present day are still accustomed to undertake against hostile communities. Their general direction was towards the plain. The invaders, however, did not content themselves with ruining the growing crops from east to west, but also scoured the land towards the south. Gaza, moreover, formerly as in later times, was the great bazaar of stolen wares, brought together there by the Bedouins from their expeditions (Ritter, xiv. 924).
Jdg_6:5. As locusts (Sept. ἄêñéò , cf. Il. 21. 12) for multitude: a comparison suggestive both of their numbers and of the effects of their presence. The Midianite devastation was like that by locusts. In Hauran, says Wetzstein, various plagues are found; the locust is bad, but the worst are the Bedouins (p. 43). A Bedouin said to him: “The Ruwala have become like the hosts of God,” i.e., numerous as the locusts, for these are called Gunud Allah (Hauran, p. 138).—Camels without number. In such extravagant hyperbolisms the speech of Orientals has always abounded. When Burk-hardt asked a Bedouin, who belonged to a tribe of three hundred tents, how many brothers he had, throwing a handful of sand into the air, he replied, “equally numberless.” The invaders’ object was not to gather the harvest, but only to destroy. What they needed, they had with them—cattle, tents, and camels.
Jdg_6:6-10. And the sons of Israel cried unto Jehovah. When the people were brought low ( åַéִּøַּì ), they repented. Distress teaches prayer. With Israel repentance went hand in hand with the remembrance of their former strength. They lose themselves when they lose their God; they find themselves when they turn to Him. This the prophet sets before them. The words put into the mouth of the unknown preacher, reproduce the old penitential discourse. In various but similar forms that discourse ever reappears; for it rests on Mosaic warnings and declarations whose truth all the fortunes of Israel confirm. For the first time, however, the verb éָøֵà , to fear, elsewhere used only with reference to God, is here connected with heathen gods; but only to point out the fact that disobedient Israel has yielded to idol gods the reverence which it owed to the eternal God. When such rebukes are gladly heard by the people, deliverance is near at hand. When they believe themselves to have deserved such admonitions and punishments, they again believe God. In accepting the judge, we secure the deliverer. Such is the historical experience of all ages.
[Bp. Hall: During the former tyranny, Deborah was permitted to judge Israel under a palmtree; under this, not so much as private habitations will be allowed to Israel. Then, the seat of judgment was in sight of the sun; now, their very dwellings must be secret under the earth. They that rejected the protection of God, are glad to seek to the mountains for shelter; and as they had savagely abused themselves, so they are fain to creep into dens and caves of the rocks, like wild creatures, for safeguard. God had sown spiritual seed amongst them, and they suffered their heathenish neighbors to pull it up by the roots; and now, no sooner can they sow their material seed, but Midianites and Amalekites are ready by force to destroy it. As they inwardly dealt with God, so God deals outwardly by them; their eyes may tell them what their souls have done; yet that God whose mercy is above the worst of our sin, sends first his prophet with a message of reproof, and then his angel with a message of deliverance. The Israelites had smarted enough with their servitude, yet God sends them a sharp rebuke. It is a good sign when God chides us; his round reprehensions are ever gracious forerunners of mercy; whereas, his silent connivance at the wicked argues deep and secret displeasure; the prophet made way for the angel, reproof for deliverance, humiliation for comfort.—Henry: Sin dispirits men, and makes them sneak into dens and caves. The day will come, when chief captains and mighty men will call in vain to rocks and mountains to hide them.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
Jdg_6:3— åְòָìåּ òָìָéå : literally, “came up upon him,” or, “came up against him.” Dr. Cassel supplies ùָׂøֵäåּ after æָøַò , and accordingly makes “him” refer to “field.” But although this rendering suits the connection admirably well, it cannot be supposed that the Hebrew writer would have left the accusative after æָøַò unexpressed if he had intended to refer back to it by means of a pronoun, especially when the latter could so readily be referred to another noun. åòָìåּ òָìָéå . simply adds the idea of hostility, which the preceding òָìָä left unexpressed. In like manner, òֲìֵéäֶí , in the next verse, explains that the “encamping” was “against” Israel—had hostile purposes is view.—Tr.]
[Jdg_6:4.— îִçְéָä : Dr. Cassel, Lebensmitteln, “means of life.” So also Keil: “They left no provisions (produce of the field) in Israel, and neither sheep, nor cattle, nor ass.” Dr. Cassel, in a foot-note, gives a simple reference to 2Ch_14:12 (13), where, however, the word unquestionably means anything “alive.” Bertheau adopts that meaning here; but cf. Jdg_17:10.—Tr.]
A Madian near the Arabian Gulf is mentioned by Abulfeda; cf. Geogr., ed. Paris, p. 86; Arnold, in Herzog’s Realencykl., i. 463.
[Keil: “The power of the Midianites and their confederates bore so heavily on the Israelites, that these ‘made for themselves the clefts which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds,’ those, namely, which were afterwards (at the time when our Book was written) everywhere to be found in the land, and in times of war offered secure places of refuge. This is indicated by the definite article before îִðְäָøåִú and the other substantives. The words, ‘they made for themselves,’ are not at variance with the fact that in the limestone mountains of Palestine there exist many natural caves. For, on the one hand, hey do not affirm that all the caves found in the land were made at that time by the Israelites, nor on the other does òָùׂä , to make, exclude the use of natural caves for purposes of safety, since it applies not only to the digging and laying out of new caves, but also to the fitting up of natural ones. … For the rest, these clefts, caves, and strongholds, were to serve, not merely as hiding-places for the fugitive Israelites, but much more as places of concealment and security for their property and the necessaries of life. For the Midianites, like genuine Bedouins, were more intent on plunder and pillage, and the desolation of the country, than on the destruction of the people.”—Tr.]
On Gaza, cf. the Com. on Jdg_16:1.
[See Thomson, The Land and the Book, ii. 163; Kitto Daily Bible Illustrations, Moses and the judges, p. 340, etc.—Tr.]
[Bertheau: “Since the expeditions of eastern tribes follow the same plan at every repetition, and since, according to Jdg_6:33, they encamped in the valley of Jezreel, and moreover made their incursion with their herds and camels, it is evident that they must have entered the country by the one great connecting road between the East and Palestine, which crosses the depression of the Jordan near Bethshean, and issues into the plain of Jezreel. The extension of their inroads thence, is indicated by the fact that Gaza, at the southwestern extremity of the land, is named as the limit of their advance.” Cf. Dr. Cassel’s remarks on Jdg_6:11, p. 111.—Tr.]