Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 8:21
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man [is, so is] his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that [were] on their camels’ necks.
21 . The chiefs reply with undaunted spirit like true sons of the desert: as the man is, so is his strength, i.e. a man has a man’s strength (Moore); but the word so is not expressed in the terse Hebrew.
crescents ] lit. moons, metal ornaments worn not only by the kings but by their camels, Jdg 8:26, and by the women of Jerusalem, Isa 3:18. The name is not Israelite, nor is it the ordinary word for ‘moon’; it is related to the old Aramaic name of the moon-god ( sahar).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The ornaments – See marg. and compare Isa 3:18. The custom of adorning the necks of their camels with gold chains and ornaments prevailed among the Arabs so late as the time of Mahomet.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise, thou, and fall upon us] It was disgraceful to fall by the hands of a child; and the death occasioned by the blows of such a person must be much more lingering and tormenting. Some have even employed children to despatch captives. Civilis, a Roman knight, headed a revolt of the Gauls against Rome, in the year of the city 824. Of him Tacitus says, Hist. lib. iv., c. 61: Ferebatur parvulo filio quosdam captivorum sagittis jaculisque puerilibus figendos obtulisse: “He is said to have given to his little son some prisoners, as butts to be shot at with little darts and arrows.” This was for their greater torment and dishonour; and to inure his child to blood! Could any thing like this have been the design of Gideon?
The ornaments that were on their camels’ necks.] The heads, necks, bodies, and legs of camels, horses, and elephants, are highly ornamented in the eastern countries, and indeed this was common, from the remotest antiquity, in all countries. Virgil refers to it as a thing long before his time, and thus describes the horses given by King Latinus to the ambassadors of AEneas. – AEn. lib. vii., ver. 274.
Haec effatus equos numero pater eligit omni.
Stabant tercentum nitidi in praesepibus altis:
Omnibus extemplo Teucris jubet ordine duci
Instratos ostro alipedes pictisque tapetis.
Aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent:
Tecti auro fulvum mandunt sub dentibus aurum.
“He said, and order’d steeds to mount the band:
In lofty stalls three hundred coursers stand;
Their shining sides with crimson cover’d o’er;
The sprightly steeds embroider’d trappings wore,
With golden chains, refulgent to behold:
Gold were their bridles, and they champ’d on gold.”
PITT.
Instead of ornaments, the Septuagint translate , the crescents or half-moons; and this is followed by the Syriac and Arabic. The worship of the moon was very ancient; and, with that of the sun, constituted the earliest idolatry of mankind. We learn from Jdg 8:24 that the Ishmaelites, or Arabs, as they are termed by the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic, had golden ear-rings, and probably a crescent in each; for it is well known that the Ishmaelites, and the Arabs who descended from them, were addicted very early to the worship of the moon; and so attached were they to this superstition, that although Mohammed destroyed the idolatrous use of the crescent, yet it was universally borne in their ensigns, and on the tops of their mosques, as well as in various ornaments.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
As the man is, so is his strength: thou excellest him, as in age and stature, so in strength; and it is more honourable, as well as easy, to dig by the hands of a valiant man.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, rise thou and fall upon us,…. Since they must die, they chose rather to die by the hand of so great a man and valiant a commander as Gideon, which was more honourable than to die by the hand of a youth:
for as the man is, so is his strength; signifying, that as he was a stout able man, he had strength sufficient to dispatch them at once, which his son had not, and therefore they must have died a lingering and painful death: wherefore as they consulted their honour, so their ease, in desiring to die by the hand of Gideon:
and Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna; nor was it unusual in those early times for great personages, as judges and generals, to be executioners of others, as were Samuel and Benaiah,
1Sa 15:33
and took away the ornaments that were on their camels’ necks; the Targum calls them chains, as in Jud 8:26 no doubt of gold; so the horses of King Latinus b had golden poitrels or collars hanging down their breasts. They were, according to Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Gersom, in the form of the moon; see Isa 3:18 some have thought that these were worn in honour of Astarte, or the moon, the goddess of the Phoenicians, from whom these people had borrowed that idolatry.
b Virg. Aeneid. l. 7. v. 278.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(21) Rise thou, and fall upon us.They deprecated the pain and shame of falling by the irresolute hands of a boy.
For as the man . . . his strength.Deu. 33:25. As thy days, so shall thy strength be.
Ornaments.Saharonim, little moons, crescent-shaped ornaments of gold and silver, still in common use to decorate animals. Isa. 3:18, round tires like the moon. Niveo lunata monilia dente (Stat. Theb. ix. 689). After one of his battles Mohammed found a slain camel adorned with these lunul and with strings of emeralds. The Roman senators (for another reason) wore silver crescents on their shoes.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. As the man his strength As the boy is not a man, so he has not the strength to execute this order.
Ornaments Or, little moons; crescent-shaped ornaments, hung often, as here, upon the necks of camels, and also (compare Jdg 8:26; Isa 3:18) upon the necks of men and women.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jdg 8:21 a
‘Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You rise and fall on us, for as the man is, so is his strength.” ’
The two kings, no doubt tightly bound, made no plea for mercy. Now that they knew that Gideon was brother to the men they had themselves executed they knew that they could expect none. Gideon would be betraying his own family if he failed to exact blood vengeance (Gen 9:6). But they preferred to die at the hands of a worthy opponent rather than those of a callow youth, which in terms of those days would have been demeaning. And they even probably felt sorry for the boy.
Jdg 8:21 b
‘And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescents which were on their camels’ necks.’
Now that it was clear that he was acting on behalf of family vengeance Gideon carried out the execution himself. Gideon’s sense of justice and fair play comes out all through the account. He exacted only the punishments that justice and custom required, and never slew unnecessarily. To us he may appear merciless. In terms of his own day he was a model of reasonableness.
“And he took the crescents which were on their camels’ necks.” Crescents are mentioned only here and in Isa 3:18, but crescent-shaped objects have been found in many excavations in Palestine. At some stage they were probably connected with the moon, but we must not necessarily connect them with moon worship wherever they are found. They had become delightful shapes for use in ornamental jewellery.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 8:21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man [is, so is] his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that [were] on their camels’ necks.
Ver. 21. Rise thou, and fall upon us. ] For thou wilt quickly despatch us; and we will die with honour.
“ Hoc tamen infaelix miseram solabere mortem,
Aeneae magni dextra cadis. ” – Virg. Aeneid.,
For as the man is, so is his strength.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
ornaments = crescent-shaped ornaments used still on necks of horses and camels.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rise thou: It was disgraceful to fall by the hands of a child; and death by the blows of such a person must be much more lingering and tormenting. Some have employed children to dispatch captives. Jdg 9:54, 1Sa 31:3, 1Sa 31:5, Rev 9:6
slew: Psa 83:1
ornaments: or, ornaments like the moon, Isa 3:18
Reciprocal: Jos 10:26 – Joshua Jdg 6:5 – their camels Jdg 8:26 – chains Jdg 15:12 – fall 1Ki 2:25 – he fell Jer 49:29 – camels
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 8:21. Rise thou, and fall upon us They thought it better to die by the hand of Gideon, who was as eminent for his strength as his dignity, and would despatch them with more speed than a stripling could.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
8:21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for {l} as the man [is, so is] his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that [were] on their camels’ necks.
(l) Meaning, that they would be freed from their pain at once, or else have a valiant man put them to death.