Judges 7:24

And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) Throughout all mount Ephraim.—He had not ventured to summon these haughty clansmen before his victory was assured.

Take before them the waters.—i.e., “intercept their flight unto Beth-barah and Jordan.” The “waters” are probably the marshes formed by streams which flow from the watershed of the hills of Ephraim into the Jordan.

Beth-barah.—“House of the waste,” not, as Jerome says, “of the well.” It can hardly be the Bethabara (house of the passage) of John 1:28, which seems to be too far south.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:23-25 Two chief commanders of the host of Midian were taken and slain by the men of Ephraim. It were to be wished that we all did as these did, and that where help is needed, that it were willingly and readily performed by another. And that if there were any excellent and profitable matter begun, we were willing to have fellow-labourers to the finishing and perfecting the same, and not, as often, hinder one another.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The waters - The streams which run from the mountain district of Ephraim into the Jordan in the district of Beth-shan, forming great pools and marshes, which the Midianites fleeing south would have to cross before they could reach the Jordan fords.

All the men of Ephraim - They had taken no previous part in the rising against Midian: nor had Gideon, of the smaller tribe of Manasseh, presumed before to summon his more powerful and arrogant brethren of the great tribe of Ephraim (see Joshua 17:14-18).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24, 25. Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim—The Ephraimites lay on the south and could render seasonable aid.

Come … take before them the waters unto Beth-barah—(See on [220]Jud 3:28). These were the northern fords of the Jordan, to the east-northeast of wady Maleh.

the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together … unto Beth-barah—A new conflict ensued, in which two secondary chiefs were seized and slain on the spots where they were respectively taken. The spots were named after these chiefs, Oreb, "the Raven," and Zeeb, "the Wolf"—appropriate designations of Arab leaders.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Take before them the waters unto Beth-barah, i.e. the passes over those waters to which they are like to come.

And Jordan; the fords of Jordan, which river they must pass over into their own country.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Gideon sent messengers throughout all Mount Ephraim,.... To raise the inhabitants of it, who lay nearer Jordan, to which the Midianites would make, in order to intercept them in their flight; or however get possession of the fords of Jordan before them, and hinder their passage over it:

saying, come down against the Midianites; for though he had routed them, and they were fled before him, yet he had not men enough with him to destroy them; and besides, as they had their camels to ride on, and he and his men only on foot, they could not come up with them:

and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan; namely, all the fords and passages over Jordan, reaching from the lake of Gennesaret to Bethbarah, the same with Bethabara, John 1:28 which was a passage over Jordan; or these waters were, as Kimchi thinks, distinct from those of Jordan; and were waters that lay in the way of the flight of the Midianites, before they came to Bethbarah, their passage over Jordan; and Jarchi thinks they were waters, which divided between Syria and the land of Canaan, which is not likely; others think the waters are the same with Jordan, and render the words, "take the waters" --even Jordan (o); gain the passes over that before them, and so prevent their escape to their own land:

then all the men of Ephraim; that is, great numbers of them, whose hearts were inclined to, and whose situation lay best for this service:

gathered themselves together; in a body, at some place of rendezvous appointed:

and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan; took possession of all the passes, and guarded them, as Gideon directed.

(o) "Nempe Jordanis aquas", Junius & Tremellius; "nempe Jordanem", Piscator.

Geneva Study Bible

And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the {m} waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan.

(m) Meaning, the passages or the fords so they could not escape.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. Gideon sends a message (cf. Jdg 6:35) to the Ephraimites in the country S. of the battlefield, urging them to seize the fords, and so to meet the Midianites as they come flying down the Jordan valley. Cf. Jdg 3:27 f., Jdg 12:5 f.

the waters, as far as Beth-barah, and also Jordan (marg.)] As the text stands, the waters are distinguished from Jordan; hence Moore suggests that the waters refer to the Wadi Fâr‘a, a perennial stream which empties itself into the Jordan near the ford of Dâmiyeh; but the stream is not large enough to offer any serious obstacle, it would not be worth holding: the waters most naturally mean those of the Jordan; and also Jordan will then be either a gloss added to explain the waters, or a mistake for upon the Jordan, as the Peshitto reads; ‘upon’ = ‘on the bank of,’ as in Jdg 5:19, Numbers 22:5, Deuteronomy 3:12, etc. Beth-barah has not been discovered; the context implies that it lay S. of the Ephraimite country near the Jordan. The Verss. give the pronunciation Beth-bçrah, as if meaning ‘house of the well.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - Mount Ephraim. Rather, the hill country, of Ephraim. For some reason Gideon had not invited the Ephraimites to join in the war before (Judges 8:1); but now, seeing the extreme importance of seizing the fords of Jordan, so as to stop the escape of the Midianites, he sent messengers in all haste to the men of Ephraim, who accordingly "took the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan." The waters seem to mean a number of streams running from the hill country of Ephraim into the Jordan, and which had to be crossed by the Midianites before they could reach the Jordan fords. The site of Beth-barah is unknown. It is not thought to be the same as Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptising (John 1:28). Beth-barah must have been on the west of Jordan. Judges 7:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In order to cut off the retreat of the enemy who was flying to the Jordan, Gideon sent messengers into the whole of the mountains of Ephraim with this appeal to the Ephraimites, "Come down (from your mountains into the lowlands of the Jordan) to meet Midian, and take the waters from them to Bethbarah and the Jordan," sc., by taking possession of this district (see Judges 3:28). "The waters," mentioned before the Jordan and distinguished from it, must have been streams across which the flying foe would have to cross to reach the Jordan, namely, the different brooks and rivers, such as Wady Maleh, Fyadh, Jamel, Tubs, etc., which flowed down from the eastern side of the mountains of Ephraim into the Jordan, and ran through the Ghor to Bethbarah. The situation of Bethbarah is unknown. Even Eusebius could say nothing definite concerning the place; and the conjecture that it is the same as Bethabara, which has been regarded ever since the time of Origen as the place mentioned in John 1:28 where John baptized, throws no light upon the subject, as the situation of Bethabara is also unknown, to say nothing of the fact that the identity of the two names is very questionable. The Ephraimites responded to this appeal and took possession of the waters mentioned, before the Midianites, who could only move slowly with their flocks and herds, were able to reach the Jordan. They then captured two of the princes of the Midianites and put them to death: one of them, Oreb, i.e., the raven, at the rock Oreb; the other, Zeeb, i.e., the wolf, at the wine-press of Zeeb. Nothing further is known about these two places. The rock of Oreb is only mentioned again in Isaiah 10:26, when the prophet alludes to this celebrated victory. So much, however, is evident from the verse before us, viz., that the Midianites were beaten by the Ephraimites at both places, and that the two princes fell there, and the places received their names from that circumstance. They were not situated in the land to the east of the Jordan, as Gesenius (on Isaiah 10:26), Rosenmller, and others infer from the fact that the Ephraimites brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon ליּרדּן מעבר (Judges 7:25), but on the western side of the Jordan, where the Ephraimites had taken possession of the waters and the Jordan in front of the Midianites. ליּרדּן מעבר does not mean "from the other side of the Jordan," but simply "on the other side of (beyond) the Jordan," as in Joshua 13:32; Joshua 18:7; 1 Kings 14:15; and the statement here is not that the Ephraimites brought the heads from the other side to Gideon on the west of the river, but that they brought them to Gideon when he was in the land to the east of the Jordan. This explanation of the words is required by the context, as well as by the foregoing remark, "they pursued Midian," according to which the Ephraimites continued the pursuit of the Midianites after slaying these princes, and also by the complaint brought against Gideon by the Ephraimites, which is not mentioned till afterwards (Judges 8:1.), that he had not summoned them to the war. It is true, this is given before the account of Gideon's crossing over the Jordan (Judges 8:4), but in order of time it did not take place till afterwards, and, as Bertheau has correctly shown, the historical sequence is somewhat anticipated.