Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 6:3
And [so] it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;
3. the Amalekites ] Hereditary foes of Israel, Exo 17:8 ff.; see on Jdg 3:13. The children of the East were Bedouin from the desert E. of Moab and Ammon; see Jer 49:28, Eze 25:4; Eze 25:10. These tribes appear again in Jdg 6:33 and Jdg 7:12. There is no reason why they should not have joined the Midianite raids, but they do not belong to the earlier form of the tradition which is concerned with the Midianites only.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 3. Children of the East] Probably those who inhabited Arabia Deserta, Ishmaelites.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The children of the east, i.e. the Arabians, who are commonly called the children of the east, as Gen 29:1; Jdg 8:10,11; Job 1:3; Eze 25:4. Not all the Arabians, for in that were many and divers people; but in the eastern part of Arabia.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And so it was, when Israel had sown,…. Their land, and it was grown up, and near being ripe, or quite; for the Midianites gave them no disturbance in the winter, and during seedtime, when they came out of their lurking holes, and manured their land, and sowed it:
that the Midianites came up; into the land of Canaan, from the other side Jordan, where their country lay, and which it seems lay lower than the land of Israel:
and the Amalekites, and the children of the east: the former were implacable enemies of Israel, and on every occasion would join other nations in oppressing them; and the children of the east were Arabians, as Josephus b expressly affirms:
even they came up against them; all these three sorts of people in a confederacy.
b Antiqu. l. 5. c. 6. sect. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) When Israel had sown.The invasions of these Arab tribes were of the most crushing and irritating kind. Living in idleness and marauding expeditions, they let the Israelites sow their corn, and came themselves to reap and carry it away. They said, Let us take to ourselves the pastures of Godi.e., the rich, blessed pasturesin possession (Psa. 83:12). Alyattes, king of Lydia, treated the people of Miletus in exactly the same way, leaving their houses un-destroyed, solely that they might be tempted to return to them, and plough and sow once more (Herod. i. 17). The same thing goes on to this day. The wretched Fellahn, neglected and oppressed by the effete and corrupt Turkish Government, sow their corn, with the constant dread that they are but sowing it for the Bedouin, who yearly plunder them, unrepressed and unpunished. Hence the squalid towns and villages of the Fellahn abound in huge subterranean places of concealment, in which they stow away their corn, and everything else of value which they possess, to save them from these wild marauders.
The Amalekites.See Jdg. 3:13; Gen. 36:12.
The children of the east.Ben Kedem (Gen. 25:6; Job. 1:3) is a general name for Arabs, as Josephus rightly calls them. From Jdg. 8:26 we can derive a picture of their chiefs in their gorgeous robes and golden ear-rings, mounted on dromedaries and camels, of which the necks were hung with moon-shaped ornaments of gold.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. So it was Constantly for the seven years. Jdg 6:3-6 picture the ordinary state of the land during all this Midianite oppression.
The Amalekites Also a nomadic race, who had dwindled into a band of robbers, and were ready to join with any stronger tribe in a predatory adventure. See on Jdg 3:13, and compare Gen 14:7; Exo 17:8.
Children of the east A general name applied indiscriminately to all the tribes that occupied the deserts east of Palestine. Compare Jdg 8:10.
The east kedem was a term naturally and appropriately given by the early Israelites to the vast range of desert country that lay before them toward the rising sun, as they gazed from the hills on the east of the Jordan.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And so it was, that when Israel had sown, the Midianites used to come up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east. They used to come up against them.’
The land was seen as an easy target with no strong defenders to prevent their marauding. Their aim was partly booty, including cattle and wealth, but partly revenge, for they came to destroy the crops not to make use of them. Another reason for this latter, however, would be to keep the land weak. They ‘came up’ because they came up from the Jordan rift valley.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 6:3. Children of the east Children of Kedem, i.e. Ishmaelites. Hiller. Onomastic, p. 534.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
How hath the Holy Ghost marked with precision, this very state of punishment which the Lord exercises over the sins of his people. See Lev 26:16-17 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jdg 6:3 And [so] it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;
Ver. 3. And so it was, when Israel had sown. ] This was threatened, Deu 28:14-68 but not believed till it befell them, and the proverb Joh 4:37 verified, “One soweth, and another reapeth.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
when Israel: Lev 26:16, Deu 28:30-33, Deu 28:51, Job 31:8, Isa 65:21, Isa 65:22, Mic 6:15
Amalekites: Jdg 3:13
children: Jdg 6:33, Jdg 7:12, Jdg 8:10, Gen 29:1, 1Ki 4:30, Job 1:3
Reciprocal: Gen 13:16 – General Gen 25:6 – east country Num 13:29 – Amalekites Num 24:20 – his latter end Jdg 10:9 – passed Jdg 10:12 – Amalekites 2Ki 13:20 – the Moabites 1Ch 17:10 – And since Job 5:5 – harvest Job 24:6 – They reap Psa 107:39 – oppression Psa 109:11 – strangers Psa 128:2 – thou shalt eat Psa 144:14 – no breaking in Ecc 3:13 – General Isa 62:8 – Surely I will no more give Jer 5:17 – And they Jer 49:28 – spoil Eze 25:4 – men Hos 8:7 – the strangers Joh 4:37 – One
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 6:3-5. The children of the east Probably the Ishmaelites, or Arabians, especially the eastern part of them. Unto Gaza That is, from the east, on which side they entered, to the west, where Gaza was, near the Mediterranean sea. So that they destroyed the whole land. Without number That is, so many that it was not easy to number them. And not in a regular army to engage, but in a confused swarm, to plunder the country. Yet Israel, being forsaken of God, had not spirit to make head against them; God fighting against them with those very terrors with which otherwise he would have fought for them.