And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up,
And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres.
And Gideon son of Joash turneth back from the battle, at the going up of the sun,
And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle, from the ascent of Heres.
Judges — The post-conquest slide into cyclical apostasy. Twelve judges delivering Israel from successive oppressors, a pattern repeating seven times, and an appendix whose violence diagnoses a nation with no king.
Voices5
And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle,....
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
Before the sun was up - The translation of the words is doubtful, because of the rarity of the word rendered sun (חרס cheres). Many suppose it to be the name of a mountain pass, and render it from the ascent of Heres.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical
Gideon returned from battle before the sun was up--He seems to have returned by a nearer route to Succoth, for what is rendered in our version "before the sun was up," means "the heights of Heres, the sun-hills."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed
Before the sun was up - By which it might be gathered, that he came upon them in the night, which was most convenient for him who had so small a number with him; and most likely to terrify them by the remembrance of the last Night's sad work.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical
Are the hands, &c. - Art thou so foolish, to think with thy three hundred faint and weary soldiers, to conquer and destroy an host of fifteen thousand Men? Thus the bowels of their compassion were shut up against their brethren. Surely they were worshippers of Baal, or in the interest of Midian.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
