Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Judges
Book: Judges
Chapter: 8
Overview:
Gideon pacifies the Ephraimites.
(1-3) Succoth and
Penuel
refuse to relieve
Gideon.
(4-12) Succoth and
Penuel punished.
(13-17) Gideon avenges his brethren.
(18-21) Gideon declines the
government, but gives occasion for
Idolatry.
(22-28) Gideon's
Death,
Israel's ingratitude.
(29-35)
1-3 Those who will not attempt or venture any thing in the
cause of
God, will be the most ready to censure and quarrel with
such as are of a more zealous and enterprising
Spirit. And those
who are the most backward to difficult services, will be the
most angry not to have the credit of them.
Gideon stands here as
a great
Example of self-denial; and shows us that envy is best
removed
By Humility. The Ephraimites had given vent to their
Passion in very wrong
Freedom of speech, a certain sign of a
weak cause: reason runs low when chiding flies high.
4-12 Gideon's men were faint, yet pursuing; fatigued with what
they had done, yet eager to do more against their enemies. It is
many a time the true
Christian's case, fainting, and yet
pursuing. The world knows but little of the persevering and
successful struggle the real believer maintains with his sinful
Heart. But he betakes himself to that Divine strength, in the
Faith of which he began his conflict, and
By the supply of which
alone he can finish it in triumph.
13-17 The active servants of the
Lord meet with more dangerous
opposition from false professors than from open enemies; but
they must not care for the behaviour of those who are Israelites
in name, but Midianites in
Heart. They must pursue the enemies
of their souls, and of the cause of
God, though they are ready
to faint through inward conflicts and outward hardships. And
they shall be enabled to persevere. The less men help, and the
more they seek to hinder, the more will the
Lord assist.
Gideon's warning being slighted, the
Punishment was just. Many
are taught with the briers and thorns of affliction, who would
not learn otherwise.
18-21 The
Kings of
Midian must be reckoned with. As they
confessed themselves guilty of
Murder,
Gideon acted as the
avenger of
Blood, being the next of kin to the persons slain.
Little did they think to have heard of this
So long after; but
Murder seldom goes unpunished in this
Life. Sins long forgotten
By Man, must be accounted for to
God. What
Poor consolation in
Death from the
Hope of suffering less pain, and of dying with
less disgrace than some others! yet many are more anxious
On
these accounts, than concerning the future
Judgment, and what
will follow.
22-28 Gideon refused the government the people offered him.
No
good
Man can be pleased with any honour done to himself, which
belongs only to
God.
Gideon thought to keep up the remembrance
of this victory
By an
Ephod, made of the choicest of the spoils.
But probably this
Ephod had, as usual, a
Teraphim annexed to it,
and
Gideon intended this for an
Oracle to be consulted. Many are
led into false ways
By one false step of a good
Man. It became a
Snare to
Gideon himself, and it proved the ruin of the family.
How soon will ornaments which feed the
Lust of the
Eye, and form
the pride of
Life, as
Well as tend to the indulgences of the
Flesh, bring shame
On those who are fond of them!
29-35 As soon as
Gideon was dead, who kept the people to the
Worship of the
God of
Israel, they found themselves under
No
restraint; then they went after
Baalim, and showed
No kindness
to the family of
Gideon.
No wonder if those who forget their
God, forget their friends. Yet conscious of our own ingratitude
to the
Lord, and observing that of mankind in general, we should
learn to be patient under any unkind returns we meet with for
our
Poor services, and resolve, after the Divine
Example, not to
be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.