Bible Commentaries

host = camp.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4. lest, &c. This is the real reason of this direction.

mount Gilead. What was more natural than that the half tribe of Manasseh on the west side of Jordan should so name a mount in their tribe in compliment to the famous mount on the east side? (Genesis 31:21-26; Genesis 37:25. Numbers 32:1, Numbers 32:40. Deuteronomy 3:15. Joshua 17:1). Gideon was of that tribe. Probably "the wood of Ephraim", on east side; so named here out of compliment to the half tribe on west side (2 Samuel 18:6).

twenty = probably 20 + 2,000 = 2,020. Compare Judges 12:6. 1 Samuel 6:19. If there remained 10,000, there must have been 10,000 + 2,020 = 12,020; and, as only 300 remained, 9,700 must have gone away at the second testing. Only 1,000 of each tribe = 12,000, sent out to fight in Numbers 31:4, Numbers 31:5.

lappeth: i.e. without kneeling down as idolaters were accustomed to do (1 Kings 19:18. 2 Chronicles 29:9. See note on Esther 3:2.

as = according as.

the People. So the 300 are called.

Amalekites. See note on Exodus 17:16.

children = sons.

grasshoppers = locusts.

as the sand, &c. Figure of speech Paroemia.

behold . . . Behold . . . lo. Figure of speech Asterismos (three times). App-6.

a dream. See note on Genesis 20:3.

God = ha-"Elohim here (= the God), because in connection with Midianites, His creatures. Not Jehovah, App-4.

lamps = torches, which smoulder till waved in the air.

The sword. These words are supplied by Figure of speech Ellipsis from Judges 7:20. But some codices, with Aram, and Syriac, read these words in the text. Literally "For Jehovah and for Gideon".

mount = hill country.

two princes. Compare Psalms 83:11. Isaiah 10:26.