Judges Chapter 8 verse 18 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 18. - What manner of men, etc. An incident not before related is here brought to light, viz., that on some unknown occasion, possibly as soon as the rising of the Israelites under Gideon became known, or when, as related in Judges 6:2, they had sought to hide themselves in Mount Tabor, but had been caught, Zebah and Zalmunna had put to death Gideon's brothers. We may observe in passing how characteristic this is of a true narrative in which every. thing that happened cannot possibly be related (see Judges 10:11, 12, note). The word here rendered what manner of, i.e. of what sort, means, in every other place in which it occurs, where? and the sense of what sort is only inferred from the answer, As thou art, so were they. But it is not safe thus to change the universal meaning of a common word. It is better to take the words of Gideon, Where are the men whom ye slew at Tabor? as an upbraiding of them for the murder of his brethren, and a threat that where they were their murderers would soon be. The answer of Zebah and Zalmunna, which is not given in its entirety, was no doubt intended to be soothing and deprecatory of Gideon's wrath. They pleaded the necessity they were under in self-defence to slay them; they were men of such royal stature and prowess that their own lives would have been in danger had they spared them. But Gideon turned a deaf ear to their plea. He must avenge the death of his own brothers, his own mother's sons. He would have spared them as prisoners of war (2 Kings 6:22), but he must do his part as goel or avenger (Numbers 35:12). Observe the stress laid on their being not merely his father's sons by another wife, but his own mother's sons, a much more tender relation (cf. Psalm 50:0).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(18) Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna.--They had been kept alive in order to answer the cowardly taunt of the elders of Succoth. There is nothing to show whether they were put to death at Succoth, as Josephus says, or taken to Ophrah (Antt. iv. 7, ? 5). Perhaps Gideon reserved their death for the place where he had once lived with his brothers, whom they had slain.What manner of men were they.--Literally, where (are) the men? Evidently this colloquy is only related in a shortened form, and Gideon's enquiry is rather a taunt or an expression of grief (Job 17:15), to show them that he now meant to act as the goel, or blood-avenger of his brothers. Up till this time these great chiefs seem to have been led in triumph on their camels, in all their splendid apparel and golden ornaments; and they may have thought, with Agag, that the bitterness of death was passed.Whom ye slew at Tabor?--We are left completely in the dark as to the circumstances of this battle, or massacre. In the complete uncertainty as to all the details of the chronology, it is not impossible that Gideon's brothers--at least three or four in number--may have perished in Barak's "battle of Mount Tabor," or in some early struggle of this Midianite invasion, or in the first night battle (Judges 7:22).As thou . . . so they.--A similar phrase occurs in 1Kings 22:4.Resembled the children of a king.--We learn from this reference that Gideon added to his other gifts that tall, commanding presence which always carried weight in early days (1Samuel 10:24; 1Samuel 16:6-7). In Iliad, iii. 170, Priam says: "One so fair I never saw with my eyes, nor so stately, for he is like a king" (??????? ??? ????? ??????). . . .