EXPOSITION
Came to Jordan. The narrative goes back to Judges 7:24, to follow up the personal history of Gideon, from which the writer had been diverted to relate the result of Gideon's message to the Ephraimites, which is told in Judges 7:24 and Judges 7:25, and Judges 8:1-7 (see Judges 7:25, note; Judges 2:1-7, note).
Succoth. On the east side of Jordan, as appears plainly from the narrative in Genesis 33:17, Genesis 33:18; for we read there that Jacob journeyed from Mount Gilead to Mahanaim, thence to Penuel, and from Pe-nuel to Succoth, so called from the booths or tabernacles which he made for his cattle; and that after leaving Succoth he came to the city of Shechem (called Shalem)," in the land of Canaan," showing that Succoth was not in the land of Canaan. In Joshua 13:27 we are also distinctly told that Succoth was in the trans-Jordanic tribe of Gad (which lay south of the Jabbok), in the valley of the Jordan, where its proximity to Mahanaim (Joshua 13:26, Joshua 13:30) shows it to be the same place as Jacob's Succoth, which was also near the Jabbok (Genesis 32:22). The identification of Succoth with any modern representative is very uncertain. Jerome mentions a trans-Jordanic place named Sochoth, in the region of Beth-shan, or Scythe-polls; and Burkhardt also mentions a place described by him as "the ruins of Sukkot," two hours from Bysan (Beth-shan), and on the cast of Jordan. But this, as well as the Sakut of Robinson and Van de Velde, on the west of Jordan, about ten miles south of Beth-shan, is too far north for the Suceoth of Jacob, which is shown to be the same as the Succoth of Gideon by the connection of the latter with Penuel (Joshua 13:8), and which, as above noticed, is shown to be the same as the Succoth of Joshua 13:1-6. by its proximity to Mahanaim. We must await some further light before we can decide the exact position of Succoth.
And the princes of Succoth, etc. Nothing could be more selfish, cowardly, and unpatriotic, than the conduct of the chief men of Succoth. Instead of aiding Gideon in his gallant enterprise for the deliverance of his country, they refused even food to his weary followers, for fear of the possibility of incurring the anger of the Midianites in ease Gideon should fail. Their conduct and that of the men of Penuel is perhaps one among many indications how little real union there was between the tribes on the opposite sides of the Jordan (see Judges 5:16, Judges 5:17).
I will tear your flesh, etc. These words breathe a fierce and vindictive spirit; such, however, as cannot surprise us m the age and country of which we arc reading (cf. Judges 8:9 and Judges 8:21). The provocation, it must be allowed, was very great, but still the spirit was very different from that which dictated the prayer under far greater provocation, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Thorns of the wilderness. The nature of the punishment here threatened, and the execution of which is related in Judges 8:16, is uncertain. The word here rendered tear means literally to thresh,. Hence some suppose that the punishment here spoken of was a severe kind of capital punishment inflicted by threshing instruments with sharp iron points, called here "thorns of the wilderness," and "briers (though some again understand literally thorns and briers); and they compare 2 Samuel 12:31, where the word rendered harrows means threshing instruments, as also Isaiah 28:27; Isaiah 41:15. But others, as Bertheau, Keil, and Delitzsch, do not think it was a capital punishment at all, and take the word thresh figuratively in the sense of punishing severely, and think that literal thorns and thistles were the implements of punishment.
He went up thence to Penuel. When Jacob was returning from Padan-aram to Canaan he reached Penuel first, and Succoth afterwards (Genesis 32:30; Genesis 33:17). Gideon, travelling in the opposite direction from Canaan, naturally reaches Succoth first, and Penuel afterwards. Going from Succoth to Penuel too, he went up out of the Jordan valley towards the mountains on the east. Penuel appears to have been a place of importance, since Jeroboam repaired its fortifications with a view of retaining his hold on trans-Jordanic Israel (1 Kings 12:25). The tower here mentioned shows it was a strong place, but its exact situation is unknown.
Karkor. Or, rather, the Karkor. We are still on unknown ground. The situation assigned to it by Eusebius and Jerome, as being the same as a castle called Carcaria, near Petra, is quite out of the question, as being greatly too far south. As an appellative it suggests the idea of a walled-in space (kir = a wall; kir-kir = a space walled all round; cf. the Latin carcer, a prison); possibly an enclosed sheep or cattle fold on a large scale (see Numbers 32:36 : "built .. folds for sheep"), affording some protection to the Midianite soldiers.
Gideon went up. See Judges 8:8, note. Implying that his direction was eastward away from the Jordan valley. Nobah was in the half-tribe of Manasseh. Nobah, who gave his name to the city, which was before called Kenath, seems to have been of the family of Machir (Numbers 32:42). Jogbehah was in the tribe of Gad (Numbers 32:35). These two cities appear to have been on the eastern frontier of their respective tribes, but the exact site of them is utterly unknown. It is a conjecture that possibly Kunawat may be Nobah, retaining its ancient name of Kenath. East of these cities was the desert, inhabited by nomads dwelling in tents, where Karkor was, and where Zebah and Zalmunna had encamped out of reach, as they thought, of their pursuers. But Gideon, falling suddenly upon them, routed the host, and took the two kings prisoners (see Psalms 83:11).
He discomfited. Rather, as in the margin, he terrified. Those who were not killed in the first onslaught, when "he smote the host," were so terrified that they fled without further resistance, and many probably escaped, as all Gideon's efforts were directed to the capture of the two kings.
HOMILETICS
Faint, yet pursuing.
We do wrong in looking to the Scriptures only for spiritual lessons; they teach us also lessons of conduct in the affairs of this life. And it is a matter of great moment that we should conduct ourselves well and wisely in all the business of life. That lessons of worldly wisdom are not beneath the scope of Holy Scripture the whole Book of Proverbs teaches us, as does Solomon's prayer (2 Chronicles 1:10) for wisdom to rule well and judge right!y, and the whole body of the law of Moses. The biographies of remarkable men given in the historical books teach us the same thing if we would use them rightly. But the exaggerated habit of allegorising and spiritualising the Old Testament has somewhat interfered with their usefulness in this respect.
I. The lesson which this portion of Gideon's history seems to teach us is THE VALUE OF PERSEVERANCE; of doing thoroughly whatever we take in hand, of going through with it to the end, and not leaving off till it is completed. Joash king of Israel was rebuked by Elisha the prophet on his death-bed because he only smote upon the ground thrice, and then stayed, satisfied with an imperfect result. The example of Gideon shows us one who was not satisfied with imperfect results, who had formed a complete conception of what he had to do, and did it. He was not stopped in his career by either successes or difficulties. True, he had driven the children of the east across the Jordan. There had been a great slaughter at the rock Oreb, the kings were fugitives; the power of Midian was broken. Some might think enough had been done. But Gideon no doubt had the future as well as the present moment in view. The wrongs and misery of his country during the Midianite oppression, seven long years of grinding, cruel servitude, were fresh in his memory. He would not have the plain of Jezreel again the prey to those locusts from the east. And so Midian must be crushed. But could his strength and the strength of his 300 hold out any longer? The long and hurried march, the hand-to-hand fights, the heat, their hunger and thirst, the weight of their arms, which they had doubtless taken in lieu of the pitchers and trumpets, had nearly exhausted their powers; even their own countrymen would not help them; they were weary and faint; might they not now stop and rest? No, their work was not complete; so, though faint, they must still pursue. Methinks that as we read this stirring tale of energy and perseverance we must feel ashamed of our own faint-heartedness; we must feel rebuked at our own readiness to succumb to hindrances, or to be content with half successes; we must resolve that we will put a little more energy into our own daily work, or extraordinary tasks, and that, in spite of weariness and discouragement, in the face of hindrances and opposition, we will persevere and carry through to the end whatever work we have in hand, of which we are convinced that it is right to do it. This is the first lesson given to us by Gideon—faint, yet pursuing.
II. But we may no doubt also spiritualise the lesson, AND APPLY IT TO OUR SPIRITUAL WARFARE, AND TO THE STRUGGLES OF THE SOUL FOR THE MASTERY OVER SIN. Here the importance of doing our work thoroughly, and persevering, in spite of successes and hindrances alike, till our task is complete, is certainly not less than in the affairs of this life. In resisting temptations, in resolutely subduing fleshly lusts and unruly appetites which war against the soul, in determined self-conquests, in perfecting holiness in the fear of God, in encountering the opposition of the world, and the contradictions of sinners, and the wiles and assaults of the devil, we must expect to be often faint. It is so easy to give up the struggle, to be content with imperfect results, to seek for rest and ease in giving up the close pursuit which we had begun. But this is not the spirit of Gideon. If we would be in our spiritual warfare such as he was in his conflict against his earthly foes, even when we are faint and weary we must be still pursuing; we must persevere to the end, and never slack our hands nor rest our feet till we have gained a complete and final victory through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be glory for ever.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR
Faint, yet pursuing.
A splendid and really forced march. Humanly speaking, it was the real battle. The grandest qualities were called forth, and the greatest results secured. A picture of the Christian life.
I. GOD OFTEN SUFFERS HIS SERVANTS TO ENDURE HARDSHIP IN DOING HIS WILL.
II. THOSE WHO ARE DOING IMPORTANT SERVICE UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES OF HARDSHIP OUGHT TO BE ENCOURAGED AND SUPPORTED.
III. DUTY AND THE HIGH CALLING OF CHRISTIANS OUGHT TO TRIUMPH OVER WEAKNESS, HARDSHIP, AND OPPOSITION.
IV. THE GREATEST RESULTS OFTEN DEPEND UPON PERSISTENCY EVEN AMIDST DISADVANTAGES.—M.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY
Faint, yet pursuing.
The faintness, of Gideon's troops may illustrate the spiritual faintness of Christians, and the influence of this on their conduct in life.
I. FAINTNESS MAY OVERTAKE US WHILE PURSUING THE CHRISTIAN COURSE.
1. Note the characteristics of this faintness. It is
(1) loss of strength, so that we are not able to attain so much nor to progress so fast as we should otherwise do;
(2) a sense of distress, making every movement a pain, and robbing the Christian life of its bright hopefulness and cheerful enthusiasm.
2. Note the existence of this faintness in the pursuit of the Christian course. Though still pursuing the right way, we may experience faintness. It is not the deviation to bye-path meadow alone which brings distress. We may grow weary in well doing (Galatians 6:9). Therefore
(1) let us not be over confident because we are in the right, and
(2) let us not be dismayed at the experience of faintness, as though this were a sign of spiritual defection.
3. Note the causes of this faintness.
(1) These may be observed in the circumstances of life:—in the length of the course; the great difficulty being not to nerve ourselves for a few heroic actions, but to continue pressing on through the long hot day, through the long weary night:—in the speed of the pursuit; life is a race swift and stern, and the difficulty often is to overtake the duties which accumulate so fast that those who, so to say, "take things easily" must always find themselves behindhand:-in the impediments of the way, leading through tangled thickets of prejudice and rotor, and up craggy heights of noble attainments.
(2) The causes of faintness may also be traced to our own habit and condition: such as want of nourishment—the soul which is always working, and does not seek renewed strength in spiritual feeding upon the bread of life, in prayer, in the reading of Scripture, in meditation, in communion with Christ, will surely grow faint; want of rest—there is a spiritual insomnia, a habit of restless activity, which invariably results in faintness. Christ required rest, and called his disciples apart to rest (Mark 6:31).
II. FAINTNESS NEED NOT STAY US IN THE PURSUIT OF THE CHRISTIAN COURSE. Though the troops of Gideon were faint, they still pursued.
1. Faintness is not death. If our strength is slight, this is a good reason for making the best use of it. If faintness reduce our talents to one, we have no excuse to bury that one.
2. God expects our attainments to be no more than proportionate to our strength. He knows our weakness (Psalms 103:14). He is no hard task-master, expecting us to make bricks without straw; so we need not despair of pleasing God because our faintness permits of but slight service.
3. The real source of victory is not our strength, but God's might. When we are most faint, God's strength made perfect in our weakness may be most effective (2 Corinthians 12:9). The little one may chase a thousand, because God is with him. When we are most faint we are least self-confident, and in our humility and helplessness driven to the mighty for strength, so that our faintness may be the means of leading us to the real strength which alone can accomplish great things.
4. Faintness can be overcome. Faintness is not necessarily the precursor of death. It may be but temporary. We may find in God a sure remedy for spiritual faintness, because "they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31).
5. If we are faithfully pressing on in spite of present faintness, we shall be rewarded with future rest and triumph. Gideon's troops were well recompensed for their brave pursuit. The short race of life will end in a haven of rest, in a home of honour. Let us then be brave and true, remembering that in proportion to the weariness of present toil will be the sweetness of future rest (2 Corinthians 4:16-47).—A.