{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"JDG","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Judges","commonName":"Judges","introduction":"JUDGES is the title given to the next book, from its containing the history of those non-regal rulers who governed the Hebrews from the time of Joshua to that of Eli, and whose functions in time of peace consisted chiefly in the administration of justice, although they occasionally led the people in their wars against their public enemies. The date and authorship of this book are not precisely known. It is certain, however, that it preceded the Second Book of Samuel (compare Jdg 9:35 with Sa2 11:21), as well as the conquest of Jerusalem by David (compare Jdg 1:21 with Sa2 5:6). Its author was in all probability Samuel, the last of the judges (see Jdg 19:1; Jdg 21:25), and the date of the first part of it is fixed in the reign of Saul, while the five chapters at the close might not have been written till after David's establishment as king in Israel (see Jdg 18:31). It is a fragmentary history, being a collection of important facts and signal deliverances at different times and in various parts of the land, during the intermediate period of three hundred years between Joshua and the establishment of the monarchy. The inspired character of this book is confirmed by allusions to it in many passages of Scripture (compare Jdg 4:2; Jdg 6:14 with Sa1 12:9-12; Jdg 9:53 with Sa2 11:21; Jdg 7:25 with Psa 83:11; compare Jdg 5:4-5 with Psa 7:5; Jdg 13:5; Jdg 16:17 with Mat 2:13-23; Act 13:20; Heb 11:32). \n\n\n\nNext: Judges Chapter 1\n\n","order":7,"numberOfChapters":21,"sha256":"56260de6c5810f72e979e5068c899bbb72504cad0530fdc66620a70283946904","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JDG/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JDG","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":21,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JDG/21.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JDG","chapter":21},"totalNumberOfVerses":242},"chapter":{"number":6,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["made . . . dens . . . in the mountains and caves--not, of course, excavating them, for they were already, but making them fit for habitation.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["A PROPHET REBUKES THEM. (Jdg 6:7-10)\n\nthe Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel--The curse of the national calamity is authoritatively traced to their infidelity as the cause.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["AN ANGEL SENDS GIDEON TO DELIVER THEM. (Jdg 6:11-16)\n\nthere came an angel of the Lord--He appeared in the character and equipments of a traveller (Jdg 6:21), who sat down in the shade to enjoy a little refreshment and repose. Entering into conversation on the engrossing topic of the times, the grievous oppression of the Midianites, he began urging Gideon to exert his well-known prowess on behalf of his country. 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. \n\nan oak--Hebrew, \"the oak\"--as famous in after-times. \n\nOphrah--a city in the tribe of Manasseh, about sixteen miles north of Jericho, in the district belonging to the family of Abiezer (Jos 17:2). \n\nhis son Gideon threshed wheat by the wine-press--This incident tells emphatically the tale of public distress. The small quantity of grain he was threshing, indicated by his using a flail instead of the customary treading of cattle--the unusual place, near a wine-press, under a tree, and on the bare ground, not a wooden floor, for the prevention of noise--all these circumstances reveal the extreme dread in which the people were living.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?--Gideon's language betrays want of reflection, for the very chastisements God had brought on His people showed His presence with, and His interest in, them.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might . . . have not I sent thee?--The command and the promise made Gideon aware of the real character of his visitor; and yet like Moses, from a sense of humility, or a shrinking at the magnitude of the undertaking, he excused himself from entering on the enterprise. And even though assured that, with the divine aid, he would overcome the Midianites as easily as if they were but one man, he still hesitates and wishes to be better assured that the mission was really from God. 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. The request was reasonable, and it was graciously granted [Jdg 6:18].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["GIDEON'S PRESENT CONSUMED BY FIRE. (Jdg. 6:17-32)\n\nDepart not hence, I pray thee, until I . . . bring forth my present--Hebrew, my mincha, or \"meat offering\"; and his idea probably was to prove, by his visitor's partaking of the entertainment, whether or not he was more than man.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["Gideon went in, and made ready a kid; . . . the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot--(See on Gen 18:7). 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. The broth was for immediate use; the other, brought in a hand-basket was intended to be a future supply to the traveller. The miraculous fire that consumed it and the vanishing of the stranger, not by walking, but as a spirit in the fire, filled Gideon with awe. A consciousness of demerit fills the heart of every fallen man at the thought of God, with fear of His wrath; and this feeling was increased by a belief prevalent in ancient times, that whoever saw an angel would forthwith die. The acceptance of Gideon's sacrifice betokened the acceptance of his person; but it required an express assurance of the divine blessing, given in some unknown manner, to restore his comfort and peace of mind.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him--The transaction in which Gideon is here described as engaged was not entered on till the night after the vision.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["Take thy father's . . . second bullock--The Midianites had probably reduced the family herd; or, as Gideon's father was addicted to idolatry, the best may have been fattened for the service of Baal; so that the second was the only remaining one fit for sacrifice to God. \n\nthrow down the altar of Baal that thy father hath--standing upon his ground, though kept for the common use of the townsmen. \n\ncut down the grove that is by it--dedicated to Ashtaroth. With the aid of ten confidential servants he demolished the one altar and raised on the appointed spot the altar of the Lord; but, for fear of opposition, the work had to be done under cover of night. A violent commotion was excited next day, and vengeance vowed against Gideon as the perpetrator. \"Joash, his father, quieted the mob in a manner similar to that of the town clerk of Ephesus. It was not for them to take the matter into their own hands. The one, however, made an appeal to the magistrate; the other to the idolatrous god himself\" [CHALMERS].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":33,"content":["THE SIGNS. (Jdg 6:33-39)\n\nall the Midianites . . . pitched in Jezreel--The confederated troops of Midian, Amalek, and their neighbors, crossing the Jordan to make a fresh inroad on Canaan, encamped in the plains of Esdraelon (anciently Jezreel). The southern part of the Ghor lies in a very low level, so that there is a steep and difficult descent into Canaan by the southern wadies. Keeping this in view, we see the reason why the Midianite army, from the east of Jordan, entered Canaan by the northern wadies of the Ghor, opposite Jezreel.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":34,"content":["the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon--Called in this sudden emergency into the public service of his country, he was supernaturally endowed with wisdom and energy commensurate with the magnitude of the danger and the difficulties of his position. His summons to war was enthusiastically obeyed by all the neighboring tribes. On the eve of a perilous enterprise, he sought to fortify his mind with a fresh assurance of a divine call to the responsible office. The miracle of the fleece was a very remarkable one--especially, considering the copious dews that fall in his country. The divine patience and condescension were wonderfully manifested in reversing the form of the miracle. Gideon himself seems to have been conscious of incurring the displeasure of God by his hesitancy and doubts; but He bears with the infirmities of His people.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Judges Chapter 7\n\n"]}],"introduction":"THE ISRAELITES, FOR THEIR SINS, OPPRESSED BY MIDIAN. (Jdg 6:1-6)\n\nand the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian--Untaught by their former experiences, the Israelites again apostatized, and new sins were followed by fresh judgments. Midian had sustained a severe blow in the time of Moses (Num. 31:1-18); and the memory of that disaster, no doubt, inflamed their resentment against the Israelites. They were wandering herdsmen, called \"children of the East,\" from their occupying the territory east of the Red Sea, contiguous to Moab. The destructive ravages they are described as at this time committing in the land of Israel are similar to those of the Bedouin Arabs, who harass the peaceful cultivators of the soil. Unless composition is made with them, they return annually at a certain season, when they carry off the grain, seize the cattle and other property; and even life itself is in jeopardy from the attacks of those prowling marauders. The vast horde of Midianites that overran Canaan made them the greatest scourge which had ever afflicted the Israelites.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JDG/6.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JDG","chapter":6},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JDG/7.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JDG","chapter":7},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JDG/5.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JDG","chapter":5},"numberOfVerses":11}