257
The thought is beautifully carried out in one of the Hymns of St. Joseph of the Studium (translated by Dr.
Neale in his Hymns of the Eastern Church).
258
"And they camped upon the spring Harod, and the camp of Midian was to him from the noffrth, from the
height of Moreh in the valley" (Judges 7:1).
259
So literally; possibly referring to circuitous routes.
260
Gilead was probably another name for Gilboa. Cassel suggests that it may stand for Manasseh.
261
First the Divine promise, and then the Divine command to our faith (Judges 7:7). So it is always.
262
Josephus (Ant. v. 6, 3) holds, that the three hundred were the most fainthearted. But it is surely
unreasonable to suppose that, when all who feared had been dismissed, the most fainthearted should in the
end have been chosen.
263
Cassel attempts to find a special meaning in the comparison: "as a dog licketh," as referring to a kind of
dog (of which the ancients and the Talmud speak), which was wont, when the crocodile was asleep, to
throw itself into its gullet and to kill it.
264
This seems to be the real meaning of Judges 7:8, whether or not it be deemed needfufl to emendate the
text.
265
So we understand the expression: "And the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley."
266
Judges 7:11: "The end of the advance-guard;" the latter seems to be the meaning of Cfhamushim. See
Joshua 1:14.
267
So that the upper part was downwards.
268
"The Elohim," emphatically, with the article.
269
It is interesting to notice, that both classical and modern history record similar night-surprises, with
ensuing panic and slaughter, though, of course, not of the miraculous character of this narrative.
270
In Judges 8:13 the rendering should be, "from the ascent of Heres," probably a mountain -road by which
he came - instead of "before the sun was up."
271
The notice in 8:14 (literally rendered), that the lad "wrote down for him" the names o f the princes, is
interesting as showing the state of education at the time even in so remote a district.
272
We gather that this took place either in Jezreel or at Ophrah from the circumstance that Gideon's son had
joined him: 8:20.
273
It is well known that the Midianites delighted in that kind of ornaments. We recognize in this, even to the
present day, the habits of the Bedawin. If we bear in mind that the host of Midian consisted of 150,000 men,
the weight of gold will by no means appear excessive.
274
The Rabbis find here tribal jealousies against Ephraim, within whose territory were Shiloh and the
tabernacle.