Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 6:2
And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: [and] because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which [are] in the mountains, and caves, and strongholds.
2. the hand prevailed ] A formula of Rd; cf. Jdg 3:10.
dens ] This translation is a guess from the context. The mention of caves prepares the way for 11b; for strong holds cf. 1Sa 23:14; 1Sa 23:19; 1Sa 23:29 etc. Under pressure from the Philistines at a later time similar refuges were used, 1Sa 13:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The word rendered dens is only found in this passage. It is best explained of ravines hollowed out by torrents, which the Israelites made into hiding-places.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. Made them the dens which are in the mountains] Nothing can give a more distressing description of the state of the Israelites than what is here related. They durst not reside in the plain country, but were obliged to betake themselves to dens and caves of the mountains, and live like wild beasts, and were hunted like them by their adversaries.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In which they might secure their persons and provisions from the hands of the Midianites.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. made . . . dens . . . in themountains and cavesnot, of course, excavating them, for theywere already, but making them fit for habitation.
Jud6:7-10. A PROPHETREBUKES THEM.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel,…. They were too strong for them, and overcame them, and brought them into subjection to them, and no wonder, when the Lord delivered them into their hand:
and because of the Midianites; because of their usage of them, their manner of coming upon them yearly, and pillaging and plundering their substance, as after related:
the children of Israel made them dens which are in the mountains; the word for “dens” has the signification of light in it, and are so called either by an antiphrasis, because they were dark, or, as Kimchi thinks, because they had a window at the top of them, which let in the light a but Ben Gersom conjectures they were torches, which gave a great light, and when they that held them saw from the mountains the Midianites, by these torches they made a signal to the Israelites to take care and hide themselves and their substance:
and caves, and strong holds; the caves were for the poorer sort, and the strong holds for the richer to retire to with their goods; though, according to Jarchi, the latter were no other than fences they made in woods, by cutting down trees, and setting them round about them, perhaps much the same as the thickets, 1Sa 13:6.
a So David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 90. 3. or “because men flowed and flocked to them for safety”; so Buxtorf.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(2) The hand of Midian prevailed.See Jdg. 3:10. This oppression is wholly different from that with which we have been dealing in the last chapter. That was the last great attempt of the old inhabitants to recover their lost country; this is a foreign invasion.
The dens which are in the mountains.The word mineharoth, rendered dens (LXX., mandrai), occurs here only. Rashi and Kimchi render it, caves lighted from above, deriving it from neharah, light (Job. 3:4). They were probably thinking of the subterranean galleries like those found by Wetzstein in the Hauran (p. 45). R. Tanchum and others take it to mean fire-signals. But the more probable derivation is nahar, a river, and then the meaning is torrent-gullies, which they easily converted into places of concealment, since the limestone hills of Palestine abound in caves. Josephus understood it to mean mines and caverns (Antt. v. 6. 1). (Comp. 1Sa. 13:6 : When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. Heb. 11:38 : in dens and caves of the earth.) Three places of hiding are mentioned: (1) The mineharoth, perhaps catacombs and galleries in the rocks, which, as the article shows, were pointed out long afterwards. (2) Craggy peaks, like Rimmon, Magada, &c. (3) Limestone caves, here first mentioned, and afterwards often used, like the Corycian cave in Greece during the Persian invasion, and the caves of the Asturias in Spain during the occupation of the Moors. It was returning to the old troglodyte habits of the Horites and Phoenicians (Stanley, i. 340). These caves were used, long afterwards, by the brigands whom Herod and the Romans found it so hard to extirpate.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. The dens which are in the mountains The recesses, fissures, and hollow places which had been worn by the water-courses in the mountain sides.
Caves Such as abound all through the hill country of Palestine.
Strong holds Mountain fastnesses not easily accessible to the foe. It seems that the Midianites cared not to exterminate the Israelites, but to occupy their rich pastures.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, and because of Midian the children of Israel made themselves storage holes which are in the mountains, and caves and defence points.’
The Midianites and their allies would time and again suddenly, silently and swiftly descend on Israel, robbing, raping and looting, and the Israelites thus prepared themselves places in the mountains where they could hide provisions and when necessary find refuge and defend themselves, away from the marauding camels. Compare Isa 2:18-20. The mountainous areas of Israel abound with such natural caves and dens which could be turned to this kind of use.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Reader! do not fail to remark with me how conscious guilt breeds fear. Is this Israel, victorious Israel, that skulks away, and from a contemptible people whom their fathers had overrun and almost destroy ed. See Num 31:7 . But alas! is it not so with all God’s Israel? Dearest Jesus! how doth a sense of my manifold departures from thee induce fear and timidity in my heart. And what confidence doth the enemy make of it, to create shyness in my trust in thee? I feel at such seasons the whole force of that scripture: Psa 40:12 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jdg 6:2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: [and] because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which [are] in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.
Ver. 2. Made them the dens which are in the mountains. ] These served for shelters, places of refuge and strength, until the last desolation of the Jews. See 1Sa 13:6 .
And caves, and strongholds.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
and = the.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the hand: Lev 26:17, Deu 28:47, Deu 28:48
prevailed: Heb. was strong
dens: Dr. Shaw says, that a great way on each side Joppa, on the sea coast, there is a range of mountains and precipices; and in these high situations are generally found the dens, holes, or caves, which are so frequently mentioned in Scripture; and which were formerly the lonesome retreats of the distressed Israelites. 1Sa 13:6, 1Sa 14:11, Heb 11:38, Rev 6:15
Reciprocal: Num 31:7 – the males Jos 10:16 – in a cave 1Sa 31:7 – they forsook the cities 2Sa 7:10 – as beforetime 1Ki 8:33 – because they have 1Ch 10:7 – then they Job 30:6 – dwell Isa 2:10 – Enter Jer 41:9 – because of Gedaliah Jer 48:28 – leave Jer 49:8 – dwell Eze 33:27 – in the caves
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6:2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: {a} [and] because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which [are] in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.
(a) For fear of the Midianites, they fled into the dens of the mountains.