PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible — Judges
Gill, John, 1697-1771 · 137,835 words · 348 reading sections
Judges 8:3
Judges 8:3 Ver. 3. God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb,.... A high honour this conferred upon you, and with which you may be well contented: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? what he had done in defeating and pursuing the army of Midian, in slaying and taking any of t…
135 wordsSECTION 122Judges 8:4
Judges 8:4 Ver. 4. And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over..... That river; See Gill on "Jud 7:25" he and three hundred men that were with him, at the defeat of the Midianites in the valley of Jezreel; so that neither at that nor in the pursuit of them hitherto, had he lost one man: faint, yet pursuing [them]: the…
107 wordsSECTION 123Judges 8:5
Judges 8:5 Ver. 5. And he said to the men of Succoth,.... The inhabitants of that place, the principal men of it, which lay in his way as he was pursuing the Midianites in their flight to their own country; for this was a city on the other side Jordan, and in the tribe of Gad and was inhabited by Israelites, Jos 13:27…
314 wordsSECTION 124Judges 8:6
Judges 8:6 Ver. 6. And the princes of Succoth said,.... The chief magistrates of the place made answer, one in the name of the rest; for the word said is in the singular number: are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hands; that is, are they taken prisoners, and handcuffed, or their hands bound behind them,…
228 wordsSECTION 125Judges 8:7
Judges 8:7 Ver. 7. And Gideon said,.... In answer to the princes of Succoth: therefore when the Lord hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand; of which he made no doubt, having the promise of God that he would deliver the host of Midian into his hand, on which his faith rested; and having it in great part per…
189 wordsSECTION 126Judges 8:8
Judges 8:8 Ver. 8. And he went up thence to Penuel,.... A place not far from Succoth, and to which also Jacob gave name, from the Lord's appearing to him there face to face, Ge 32:30 but here was nothing of God in this place now: and spoke unto them likewise; desired bread for his men, as he had of the inhabitants of…
90 wordsSECTION 127Judges 8:9
Judges 8:9 Ver. 9 And he spoke also unto the men of Penuel,.... In a threatening way, as he had spoken to the men of Succoth: saying, when I come again in peace: having conquered all his enemies, and delivered Israel from their bondage, and restored peace and prosperity to them, of which he had no doubt: I will break…
91 wordsSECTION 128Judges 8:10
Judges 8:10 Ver. 10. Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor..... Jerom {u} under this word says, there was in his time a castle called Carcuria, a day's journey from Petra, which was the metropolis of Idumea; but whether the same with this is not clear: and their host with them, about fifteen thousand men; to which nu…
195 wordsSECTION 129Judges 8:11
Judges 8:11 Ver. 11. And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwell in tents,.... That is of the Arabians and Kedarenes, who dwelt in tents for the sake of feeding their flocks, as the Targum and Jarchi; he did not pursue them in the direct road, but went a roundabout way, where these people dwelt, that he might sur…
234 wordsSECTION 130Judges 8:12
Judges 8:12 Ver. 12. And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled,.... Their host being smitten and thrown into confusion by the sudden approach of Gideon's army; and who probably attacked them in somewhat like manner as before, blowing their trumpets, and calling out the sword of the Lord and of Gideon; which were such terrifyin…
104 wordsSECTION 131Judges 8:13
Judges 8:13 Ver. 13. And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle,.... To Penuel and Succoth, to chastise them for their ill treatment of him and his men: before the sun was up; by which it appears that it was in the night that he fell upon the host at Karkor, which must be the night following; it could not be th…
290 wordsSECTION 132Judges 8:14
Judges 8:14 Ver. 14. And caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him,.... Just before he came to the city, he spied a young man which belonged to it, and laid hold on him, and inquired of him about the chief magistrates of the city, who they were, what their names, and their places of abode: and he …
231 wordsSECTION 133Judges 8:15
Judges 8:15 Ver. 15. And he came unto the men of Succoth,.... Entered the city, and bespoke the inhabitants of it in the following manner: and said, behold, Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me; as not in his hands, and never would be, he being with his three hundred men an unequal match to them with 15,00…
193 wordsSECTION 134Judges 8:16
Judges 8:16 Ver. 16. And he took the elders of the city,.... All of them, especially those of them who had been most guilty, and had them to a proper place, where they might be made public examples of: and thorns of the wilderness, and briers; which were near at hand, and soon cut up, for which he gave orders to prop…
289 wordsSECTION 135Judges 8:17
Judges 8:17 Ver. 17. And he beat down the tower of Penuel,.... As he threatened he would, Jud 8:9 whether this was before or after he had chastised the elders of Succoth, is not clear; one would think by the course he steered going from Succoth to Penuel, as he went, he should come to Penuel first at his return; howev…
158 wordsSECTION 136Judges 8:18
Judges 8:18 Ver. 18. Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna,.... Not at Penuel or Succoth, but when he had brought them into the land of Canaan, and perhaps to his own city Ophrah: what manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? Mount Tabor, to which these men had betaken and hid themselves, in some caves and dens …
282 wordsSECTION 137Judges 8:19
Judges 8:19 Ver. 19. And he said, they were my brethren, even the sons of my mother,.... His brethren by his mother's side, but not by his father's side; or the phrase the sons of my mother is added, to show that he did not mean brethren in a large sense, as all the Israelites were, but in a strict sense, being so ne…
3,519 wordsSECTION 138Judges 9:1
Judges 9:1 INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 9 This chapter contains an account of the craft and cruelty of Abimelech, by which he got himself made king of the Shechemites, Jud 9:1 of the parable of Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, concerning the trees, in which he exposes their folly in making Abimelech king, and foretells …
273 wordsSECTION 139Judges 9:2
Judges 9:2 Ver. 2. Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem,.... Which, though the Targum calls the inhabitants of the place, Ben Melech better interprets it the lords of Shechem, as the phrase will bear to be rendered; for it is more likely he would have this first whispered and suggested to the princ…
388 wordsSECTION 140Judges 9:3
Judges 9:3 Ver. 3. And his mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of the men of Shechem all these words,.... Got them together in some certain place, and laid before them all that Abimelech had suggested to them, and spake in his favour to them: and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, he is …
113 wordsSECTION 141Judges 9:4
Judges 9:4 Ver. 4. And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baalbirith,.... The temple of their idol; of this name See Gill on "Jud 8:33", out of the money which had been dedicated to his service by freewill offering, or out of a bank which they deposited there for greater safety, and perhaps out…
307 wordsSECTION 142Judges 9:5
Judges 9:5 Ver. 5. And he went to his father's house at Ophrah,.... Which, according to Bunting {a}, was ten miles from Shechem: and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, upon one stone: in which he was assisted by the ruffians he had hired with seventy pieces of silver; these were laid one …
248 wordsSECTION 143Judges 9:6
Judges 9:6 Ver. 6. And all the men of Shechem gathered together,.... Upon the return of Abimelech, after he with his banditti had committed the execrable murder of his brethren: and all the house of Millo; which was either the men of a place near to Shechem, or of his brother's family, or of some grand leading family…
226 wordsSECTION 144Judges 9:7
Judges 9:7 Ver. 7. And when they told it to Jotham,.... Or when it was told him that Abimelech was made king in Shechem by some of his friends: he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim; a mount near Shechem; it hung over the city, as Josephus says {c}, and so a very proper place to stand on and deliver a speech …
264 wordsSECTION 145Judges 9:8
Judges 9:8 Ver. 8. The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them,.... This is an apologue or fable, and a very fine and beautiful one; it is fitly expressed to answer the design, and the most ancient of the kind, being made seven hundred years before the times of Aesop, so famous for his fables, and exceed…
214 wordsSECTION 146Judges 9:9
Judges 9:9 Ver. 9. But the olive tree said unto them,.... In reply to the request of the trees: should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man; by "fatness" oil is meant, pressed out of the fruit of the olive tree, and which was much made use of both in the burning of the lamps in the tabernacle, …
228 wordsSECTION 147Judges 9:10
Judges 9:10 Ver. 10. And the trees said to the fig tree,.... Another useful and fruit bearing tree, and to which also good men are sometimes compared, see So 2:13, come thou, and reign over us: which Jarchi applies to Deborah, but may be better applied to one of Gideon's sons, who, though they had not a personal offe…
102 wordsSECTION 148Judges 9:11
Judges 9:11 Ver. 11. And the fig tree said unto them,.... Rejecting the offer made: should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit; for such the fruit of the fig tree is, sweet and good: so Julian {d} the emperor shows from various authors, Aristophanes, Herodotus, and Homer, that nothing is sweeter than figs, excep…
100 wordsSECTION 149Judges 9:12
Judges 9:12 Ver. 12. Then said the trees unto the vine,.... Another emblem of good and useful men; and it may be observed, that Jotham takes no notice of any trees but fruitful ones till he comes to the bramble, and them only such as were well known, and of the greatest use, in the land of Judea, as olives, figs, and …
167 wordsSECTION 150Judges 9:13
Judges 9:13 Ver. 13. And the vine said unto them,.... By way of denial and refusal, as the other two: shall I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man; which being used in the drink offerings was acceptable to God, and of a sweet savour to him, Nu 15:7 and being drank by than, revives, refreshes, and makes glad, whe…
117 wordsSECTION 151Judges 9:14
Judges 9:14 Ver. 14. Then said all the trees unto the bramble,.... Perceiving they could not prevail upon any of the useful and fruitful trees to take the government of them, they unite in a request to a bramble, scarce to be called a tree, and however a very barren and fruitless one, yea, hurtful and distressing: co…
129 wordsSECTION 152Judges 9:15
Judges 9:15 Ver. 15. And the bramble said unto the trees,.... Accepting of their offer at once: if ye in trust anoint me king over you; suspecting they were not hearty and cordial in their choice and call to the kingly authority over them: then come and put your trust in my shadow; promising protection to them as hi…
262 wordsSECTION 153Judges 9:16
Judges 9:16 Ver. 16. Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king,.... If they had done this conscientiously, and in the uprightness of their hearts, to take such a base man, and a murderer, and make him their king, which Jotham doubted, and put it in this manner to them, tha…
134 wordsSECTION 154Judges 9:17
Judges 9:17 Ver. 17. For my father fought for you,.... In the valley of Jezreel, and at Karkor, where with three hundred men he routed and destroyed an army of 135,000: and adventured his life far: which, according to our version, may seem to have respect to his going over Jordan, and following the Midianites, fleein…
156 wordsSECTION 155Judges 9:18
Judges 9:18 Ver. 18. And ye are risen up against my father's house this day,.... Which was an instance of great ingratitude in them, after such services done for them, and favours received by them: and have slain his sons, seventy persons on one stone; excepting one, himself, and he was intentionally slain, their des…
358 wordsSECTION 156Judges 9:19
Judges 9:19 Ver. 19. If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and his house this day,.... If they could in their consciences think and believe they had done well, and acted the faithful and upright part by him and his family, which he left with them to consider of: then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and le…
6,038 wordsSECTION 157Judges 10:1
Judges 10:1 INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 10 This chapter gives an account of two judges of Israel, in whose days they enjoyed peace, Jud 10:1, after which they sinning against God, came into trouble, and were oppressed by their enemies eighteen years, and were also invaded by an army of the Ammonites, Jud 10:6, when they c…
567 wordsSECTION 158Judges 10:2
Judges 10:2 Ver. 2. And he judged Israel twenty three years, and died,.... He did not take upon him to be king, as Abimelech did, but acted as a judge, in which office he continued twenty three years, and faithfully discharged it, and died in honour: and was buried in Shamir; the place where he executed his office. I…
83 wordsSECTION 159Judges 10:3
Judges 10:3 Ver. 3. And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite,.... Who was of the half tribe of Manasseh, on the other side Jordan, which inhabited the land of Gilead, and who is the first of the judges that was on that side Jordan; it pleased God, before the government was settled in a particular tribe, to remove it from…
166 wordsSECTION 160Judges 10:4
Judges 10:4 Ver. 4. And he had thirty sons that rode upon thirty ass colts,.... Which to ride on in those times was reckoned honourable, and on which judges rode in their circuit, Jud 5:10 and such might be these sons of Jair, who were appointed under him to ride about, and do justice in the several parts of the count…
227 wordsSECTION 161Judges 10:5
Judges 10:5 Ver. 5. And Jair died, and was buried in Camon. A city of Gilead, as Josephus {u} calls it; Jerom {w}, under this word Camon, makes mention of a village in his times, called Cimana, in the large plain six miles from Legion to the north, as you go to Ptolemais; but, as Reland {x} observes, this seems not to…
111 wordsSECTION 162Judges 10:6
Judges 10:6 Ver. 6. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord,.... After the death of the above judges they fell into idolatry again, as the following instances show: and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth; as they had before, See Gill on "Jud 2:11" see Gill on "Jud 2:13" and, besides these, also …
115 wordsSECTION 1631Ki 11:5
1Ki 11:5 and the gods of the Philistines; as Dagon the god of Ashdod, Beelzebub the god of Ekron, Marnas the god of Gaza, and Derceto the goddess of Ashkalon: and forsook the Lord, and served not him; not even in conjunction with the above deities, as Jarchi and others observe; at other times, when they worshipped ot…
106 wordsSECTION 164Judges 10:7
Judges 10:7 Ver. 7. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,.... His anger burned like fire, he was exceedingly incensed against them, nothing being more provoking to him than idolatry, as after mentioned: and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon; that i…
132 wordsSECTION 165Judges 10:8
Judges 10:8 Ver. 8. And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel,.... The Philistines on one side, and the children of Ammon on the other; meaning either that year in which Jair died, as Jarchi; or the first year they began to bring them into bondage, as R. Isaiah: "and from that year", as Kimchi and …
214 wordsSECTION 166Judges 10:9
Judges 10:9 Ver. 9. Moreover, the children of Ammon passed over Jordan,.... Not content with the oppression of the tribes on the other side Jordan, which had continued eighteen years, they came over Jordan into the land of Canaan to ravage that, and bring other of the tribes into subjection to them, particularly the t…
172 wordsSECTION 167Judges 10:10
Judges 10:10 Ver. 10. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord,.... In this their distress, seeing nothing but ruin and destruction before their eyes, their land being invaded by such powerful enemies in different quarters; this opened their eyes to a sense of their sins, the cause of it, and brought them to a c…
108 wordsSECTION 168Judges 10:11
Judges 10:11 Ver. 11. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel,.... By a prophet he sent unto them, as Kimchi and Abarbinel, see Jud 6:8, whom Ben Gersom takes to be Phinehas, but he could not be living at this time; or by an angel, a created one, sent on this occasion; or the uncreated one, the Son and Word of G…
176 wordsSECTION 169Judges 10:12
Judges 10:12 Ver. 12. The Zidonians also,.... Who were left in the land to distress them, though there is no particular mention of them, and of the distress they gave them, and of their deliverance from it, which yet is not at all to be questioned: and the Amalekites; both quickly after they came out of Egypt, Ex 17:…
253 wordsSECTION 170Judges 10:13
Judges 10:13 Ver. 13. Ye have forsaken me, and served other gods,.... Since they had been so remarkably saved, time after time, and delivered from so many powerful enemies, which was dreadful ingratitude: wherefore I will deliver you no more; which is not to be understood absolutely, since after this he did deliver t…
80 wordsSECTION 171Judges 10:14
Judges 10:14 Ver. 14. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen,.... For they were their choice, and not what they were obliged to serve through persecution, and by compulsion of others, and whom they needed not, having the Lord Jehovah to be their God; and they are bid not seriously, but in an ironical or sarcast…
102 wordsSECTION 172Judges 10:15
Judges 10:15 Ver. 15. And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, we have sinned,.... By serving other gods particularly; and they seemed to have a true sense of their sin, and their confessions of it to be ingenuous, by what follows: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; inflict what punishment he wo…
129 wordsSECTION 173Judges 10:16
Judges 10:16 Ver. 16. And they put away the strange gods from among them,.... Which was an evidence of the truth of their repentance, and showed their confessions and humiliations to be genuine: and served the Lord; and him only, both in private and public; in the observance of duties, both moral and ceremonial; in a…
215 wordsSECTION 174Judges 10:17
Judges 10:17 Ver. 17. Then the children of Ammon were gathered together,.... By a crier, as Jarchi; they had passed over Jordan, as in Jud 10:9 and had been distressing three of the tribes of Israel on that side; but now being informed, by an herald at arms, that the children of Israel, on the other side Jordan, were …
287 wordsSECTION 175Judges 11:1
Judges 11:1 INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 11 This chapter gives an account of another judge of Israel, Jephthah, of his descent and character, Jud 11:1 of the call the elders of Gilead gave him to be their captain general, and lead out their forces against the Ammonites, and the agreement he made with them, Jud 11:4 of the …
426 wordsSECTION 176Judges 11:2
Judges 11:2 Ver. 2. And Gilead's wife bare him sons,.... It seems that, after the birth of Jephthah, Gilead took him a lawful wife, who bore him sons: and his wife's sons grew up; to the estate of men: and they thrust out Jephthah: out of his father's house, his father in all likelihood being dead, or he would not h…
252 wordsSECTION 177Judges 11:3
Judges 11:3 Ver. 3. Then Jephthah fled from his brethren,.... Being ill used by them, and a man of spirit and courage, and could not bear to be treated with contempt, nor to live in a dependence on others, and therefore sought to make himself another way: and dwelt in the land of Tob; which Kimchi and Ben Gersom thin…
345 wordsSECTION 178Judges 11:4
Judges 11:4 Ver. 4. And it came to pass in process of time,.... Some time after Jephthah had been expelled from his father's house, and he was become famous for his martial genius, and military exploits; or at the close of the eighteen years' oppression of the children of Israel by the Ammonites, or some few days afte…
132 wordsSECTION 179Judges 11:5
Judges 11:5 Ver. 5. And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel,.... Were preparing for it, and had assembled their forces near them, and had began to make some efforts against them: the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob; they did not send messengers to him, but…
93 wordsSECTION 180Judges 11:6
Judges 11:6 Ver. 6. And they said unto Jephthah, come and be our captain,.... The general of their army, to conduct and lead on their forces; they did not propose him to be their king, being convinced by Abimelech's conduct that such a step would be wrong; nor did they say anything of his being their judge, having no …
160 wordsSource & rights
Public domain; John Gill (1697–1771). Source item is marked Public Domain on Internet Archive.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.