Judges 8:4

And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) And Gideon came to Jordan.—This verse resumes the narrative of Judges 7:23. The intermediate verses are an episode, and they are only here introduced by anticipation, in order to close the notice about the tribe of Ephraim.

And passed over.—Literally, passing over; but the English Version is correct as to the meaning, and it may be regarded as certain that Succoth was to the east of Jordan.

Faint, yet pursuing.—It may be doubted whether the usual application of these words is accurate. The LXX. render them, “fainting and hungry,” and the Vulg., “and for weariness they could not overtake the fugitives.” Literally it is, faint and pursuing, where the and is explanatory. “Exhausted and pursuing,” 1 e., exhausted with pursuing (Keil). “In 1815 Mehemet All pursued the Arabs with such haste as to find himself without provisions, and had to be content with a few dates; but the result was a great success” (Ritter xii. 932).

Benson Commentary

Jdg 8:4. Gideon came to Jordan and passed over — Or rather, had passed over, for he went over Jordan before Oreb and Zeeb were taken; but this is not mentioned till now, that what concerned the Ephraimites might be related all together, without interruption. And the three hundred men — with him — Who here show the same noble spirit, fortitude, contempt of ease, and regard to what they were engaged in, which Gideon manifested; for though they were faint with hunger, and much fatigued through what they had done, yet they were eager to do still more against the enemies of their country, and therefore persisted to pursue them. Thus our spiritual warfare must be prosecuted with what strength we have, though we may have but little. This is frequently the true Christian’s case: like Gideon and his men, he is faint, yet pursuing.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:4-12 Gideon's men were faint, yet pursuing; fatigued with what they had done, yet eager to do more against their enemies. It is many a time the true Christian's case, fainting, and yet pursuing. The world knows but little of the persevering and successful struggle the real believer maintains with his sinful heart. But he betakes himself to that Divine strength, in the faith of which he began his conflict, and by the supply of which alone he can finish it in triumph.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A civil war with the great tribe of Ephraim would soon have turned Israel's victory into mourning. Gideon therefore soothes their wounded pride by confessing that Ephraim had done more, though they had joined him so late in the day, than he had been able to effect in the whole campaign. The grape-gleaning of Ephraim was better than the whole vintage of Abi-ezer.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over—much exhausted, but eager to continue the pursuit till the victory was consummated.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Passed over, or, had passed over: when he passed over, See Poole "Judges 7:25".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over..... That river; See Gill on Judges 7:25 he and three hundred men that were with him, at the defeat of the Midianites in the valley of Jezreel; so that neither at that nor in the pursuit of them hitherto, had he lost one man:

faint, yet pursuing them: they were faint with being up all night, and continually blowing their trumpets; and had been upon the pursuit of their enemies ever since the defeat; and yet, though they were so faint, they did not leave off the pursuit, but were eager at it.

Geneva Study Bible

And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. and passed over] To obtain this sense the text, which lit. = passing over, must be altered; the marg. may be disregarded.

the three hundred] So in the other document Jdg 7:2-8; the number was evidently a fixed element in the tradition.

faint and pursuing] LXX. A and Luc. faint and hungry, perhaps a correction in view of the demand for bread in Jdg 8:5.

4–21. The pursuit on the east of Jordan

This section is clearly not the continuation of the verses which immediately precede (see p. 68); if its antecedents are to be found in the foregoing narrative at all, we may suppose that after the panic and flight described in Jdg 7:16-22, the main body of the Midianites escaped across the Jordan, and with their camels (Jdg 8:21; Jdg 8:26) easily outstripped their pursuers, insomuch that the men of Succoth and Penuel (Jdg 8:6; Jdg 8:8), and they themselves (Jdg 8:11), believed that they were safely out of Gideon’s reach. On the other hand, it must be admitted that the section itself presupposes a raid into Gideon’s own district, where his brothers were murdered (Jdg 8:18), rather than the panic and flight described in Jdg 7:16-22; possibly, therefore, we have here a fragment from some independent source. In Jdg 8:10 b there seems to be an attempt made to harmonize the narrative with what has gone before.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - 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 vers. 24 and 25, and Judges 8:1-3 (see Judges 7:25, note; Judges 2:1-6, note). Judges 8:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Pursuit and Complete Overthrow of the Midianites. - That the Midianites whom God had delivered into his hand might be utterly destroyed, Gideon pursued those who had escaped across the Jordan, till he overtook them on the eastern boundary of Gilead and smote them there.

Judges 8:4-5

When he came to the Jordan with his three hundred men, who were exhausted with the pursuit, he asked the inhabitants of Succoth for loaves of bread for the people in his train. So far as the construction is concerned, the words from עבר to ורדפים form a circumstantial clause inserted as a parenthesis into the principal sentence, and subordinate to it: "When Gideon came to the Jordan, passing over he and the three hundred men ... then he said to the men of Succoth." "Exhausted and pursuing," i.e., exhausted with pursuing. The vav is explanatory, lit. "and indeed pursuing," for "because he pursued." The rendering πεινῶντες adopted by the lxx in the Cod. Alex. is merely an arbitrary rendering of the word רדפים, and without any critical worth. Gideon had crossed the Jordan, therefore, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Succoth. Succoth was upon the eastern side of the valley of the Jordan (Joshua 13:27), not opposite to Bethshean, but, according to Genesis 33:17, on the south side of the Jabbok (Zerka).