Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Then Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table.

“Threescore and ten kings--So great a number will not appear strange, when it is considered that anciently every ruler of a city or large town was called a king.”

Now the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah in the Negev near Arad.

“If he might not himself, his posterity did accept the invitation of Moses (Nu 10:32) to accompany the Israelites to Canaan.”

And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.

“An attentive consideration of them, therefore, is of the greatest importance to a right understanding of the strange and varying phases of Israelitish history, from the death of Joshua till the establishment of the monarchy.”

And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer.

“But the original word is rendered in some versions "both-handed," a view countenanced by 1Ch 12:2. by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab--the yearly tribute, which, according to Eastern fashion, would be borne with ostentatious ceremony and…”

Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak

“Ehud made him a dagger . . . and he did gird it . . . upon his right thigh--The sword was usually worn on the left side; so that Ehud's was the more likely to escape detection.”

She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor…

“Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded?--a Hebrew form of making an emphatic communication. Go and draw toward mount Tabor--an isolated mountain of Galilee, northeast corner of the plain of Esdraelon.”

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone before you?”

“Barak went down from mount Tabor--It is a striking proof of the full confidence Barak and his troops reposed in Deborah's assurance of victory, that they relinquished their advantageous position on the hill and rushed into the plain in face of the iron chariots they…”

Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of…

“Sisera fled . . . to the tent of Jael--According to the usages of nomadic people, the duty of receiving the stranger in the sheik's absence devolves on his wife, and the moment the stranger is admitted into his tent, his claim to be defended…”

But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera.

“Then Jael took a nail of the tent--most probably one of the pins with which the tent ropes are fastened to the ground. Escape was almost impossible for Sisera. But the taking of his life by the hand of Jael was murder.”

On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song:

“Then sang Deborah and Barak . . . on that day--This noble triumphal ode was evidently the composition of Deborah herself.”

You who ride white donkeys, who sit on saddle blankets, and you who travel the road, ponder

“Speak--that is, join in this song of praise. white asses--Those which are purely white are highly prized, and being costly, are possessed only by the wealthy and great. Ye that sit in judgment--has been rendered, "ye that repose on tapestries."”

the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel.

“The wells which are at a little distance from towns in the East, are, in unsettled times, places of danger. But in peace they are scenes of pleasant and joyous resort.”

Then the hooves of horses thundered—the mad galloping of his stallions.

“Then were the horse hoofs broken by the means of the prancings--Anciently, as in many parts of the East still, horses were not shod. The breaking of the hoofs denotes the hot haste and heavy irregular tramp of the routed foe.”

Sisera’s mother looked through the window; she peered through the lattice and lamented: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? What has delayed the clatter of his chariots?’

“In these verses a sudden transition is made to the mother of the Canaanite general, and a striking picture is drawn of a mind agitated between hope and fear--impatient of delay, yet anticipating the news of victory and the rewards of rich booty.”

“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?

“Gideon, in replying, addresses him at first in a style equivalent (in Hebrew) to "sir," but afterwards gives to him the name usually applied to God. an oak--Hebrew, "the oak"--as famous in after-times.”

Gideon answered, “If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that it is You speaking with me.

“He resembles Moses also in the desire for a sign; and in both cases it was the rarity of revelations in such periods of general corruption that made them so desirous of having the fullest conviction of being addressed by a heavenly messenger.”

So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour.

“The flesh seems to have been roasted, which is done by cutting it into kobab, that is, into small pieces, fixed on a skewer, and put before the fire.”

Now, therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’”

“Now therefore . . ., proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful . . . let him return--This proclamation was in terms of an established law (De 20:8).”

And as Gideon arrived, a man was telling his friend about a dream.

“The circumstance of the cake, too, was very significant. Barley was usually the food of the poor, and of beasts; but most probably, from the widespread destruction of the crops by the invaders, multitudes must have been reduced to poor and scanty fare.”

But the leaders of Succoth asked, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your army?”

“It was insolent because it implied a bitter taunt that Gideon was counting with confidence on a victory which they believed he would not gain; and it was time-serving, because living in the near neighborhood of the Midianite sheiks, they dreaded the future vengeance of…”

And Gideon went up by way of the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, taking them by surprise.

“Jogbehah is supposed to be Ramoth-gilead; and, therefore, the Midianites must have found refuge at or near Abela, "Abel-cheramim," "the plain of the vineyards."”

Next, Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” “Men like you,” they answered, “each one resembling the son of a king.”

“It is noticed now for the first time when their fate was about to be determined. each one resembled the children of a king--An Orientalism for great beauty, majesty of appearance, uncommon strength, and grandeur of form.”

But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.”

“But Gideon knew too well, and revered too piously the principles of the theocracy, to entertain the proposal for a moment.”

Then he added, “Let me make a request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his plunder.”

“Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you--This was the contribution of an earring (singular). As the ancient Arabians (Ishmaelites and Midianites being synonymous terms, Ge 37:25, 28) were gorgeously adorned with barbaric pearl and gold, an immense amount of such valuable…”

From all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown.

“Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, . . . Ophrah--That no idolatrous use was in view, nor any divisive course from Shiloh contemplated, is manifest from Jud 8:33.”