Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 8:3
God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
Verse 3. Then their anger was abated] A soft answer turneth away wrath. He might have said that he could place but little dependence on his brethren when, through faint-heartedness, 22,000 left him at one time; but he passed this by, and took a more excellent way.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
His soft and humble answer allayed their rage and envy. See Pro 15:1; 25:15.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb,…. A high honour this conferred upon you, and with which you may be well contented:
and what was I able to do in comparison of you? what he had done in defeating and pursuing the army of Midian, in slaying and taking any of them prisoners, was nothing in comparison of what they had done; nay, he signifies that he was not capable of doing anything worth mentioning without them; the glory of finishing this conquest was reserved for them:
then their anger was abated towards him when he had said that; it being what gratified their pride and was pleasing to them; and this conduct of Gideon showed him to be a wise and humble man.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) Then their anger was abated towards him.The soft answer turned away wrath (Pro. 15:1). The word for anger is mach, wind, or spiritanger expressed by fierce breathing through the nostrils, the blast of the terrible ones (Isa. 25:4). (Comp. Ecc. 10:4 : If the spirit (ruach) of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.) Gideons good words were as victorious as his sword.Bp. Hall.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“ God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger was abated towards him when he said that.’
Note the double repetition of ‘in comparison with you’. Like his father he was a diplomat and by it he pacified the prickly Ephraimites. Contrast the way in which the more abrasive Jephthah dealt with them (Jdg 12:2-3). But we can see from this why God had been afraid that Israel would vaunt themselves (Jdg 7:2) if they won the battle in any other way. The use of ‘God’ rather than Yahweh draws attention to their wrong attitude. They were out for their own glory and not the glory of Yahweh.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 8:3 God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
Ver. 3. And what was I able to do in comparison of you? ] He knew them to be ambitious, and therefore he doth little less than ascribe the victory to them. Yet he saith not, You have done all, and I little or nothing: for then they would have thought he had jeered them. Only he immindeth them of entitling God to all their achievements, when he saith here “God hath delivered into your hands,” &c. This, these proud persons perhaps thought not of.
Then their anger was abated.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
God = Elohim delivered His creatures; not Jehovah the Covenant-God. App-4.
anger. Hebrew. ruach, spirit (App-9). Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause) for the angry manifestations of it.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
God: Jdg 7:24, Jdg 7:25, Psa 44:3, Psa 115:1, Psa 118:14-16, Joh 4:37, Rom 12:3, Rom 12:6, Rom 15:18, Rom 15:19, Phi 2:3
Then: Pro 15:1, Pro 16:32, Pro 25:11, Pro 25:15
anger: Heb. spirit
Reciprocal: Jos 22:30 – it pleased them Zec 6:8 – quieted
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 8:3. Then their anger was abated According to that fine maxim of Solomon, A soft answer turneth away wrath.