Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 10:8
And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that [were] on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which [is] in Gilead.
8. they vexed ] The subject is ‘the children of Ammon’ (see on Jdg 10:17).
that year: eighteen years ] cannot be right; either that year (marking the beginning of the oppression, Jdg 11:4) has slipped in from some other place, or eighteen years belonged originally to the end of Jdg 10:7, cf. Jdg 3:14. The extension of the oppression to all the children of I. on both sides of the Jordan is probably due to the latest editor.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That year – Perhaps the closing year of the oppression, when the Ammonites passed over the Jordan. For it was this crowning oppression which brought the Israelites to repentance Jdg 10:10, Jdg 10:15-16, and so prepared the way for the deliverance. Possibly in the original narrative from which this portion of the Book of Judges is compiled, that year was defined.
The land of the Amorites – Namely, of Sihon king of the Amorites, Num 21:21; Deu 1:4; Jos 13:10; Psa 135:11.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Or, that year they had vexed and oppressed the children of Israel eighteen years. Or, they vexed them in that year, that was the eighteenth year, to wit, of that vexation. This was the eighteenth year from the beginning of that oppression. And these eighteen years are not to be reckoned from Jairs death, because that would enlarge the time of the judges beyond the just bounds, as may appear from 1Ki 6:1; nor from Jephthahs beginning to reign, because he reigned but six years, and in the beginning thereof put an end to this persecution; but from the fourth year of Jairs reign; so that the greatest part of Jairs reign was contemporary with this affliction. And although this oppression of the Ammonites and Philistines, and the cause of it, the idolatry of the Israelites, be not mentioned till after Jairs death, because the sacred penman would deliver the whole history of this calamity entirely and together; yet they both happened before it; and Jairs death is mentioned before that only by a prolepsis or anticipation than which nothing is more frequent in Scripture. The case of Jair and Samson seem to be much alike. For as it is said of Samson, that he judged Israel in the days of the tyranny of the Philistines twenty years, Jdg 15:20, by which it is evident that his judicature and their dominion were contemporary; the like is to be conceived of Jair, that he began to judge Israel, and endeavoured to reform religion and purge out all abuses; but being unable to effect this, through the backwardness and baseness of the people, God would not enable him to deliver the people, but gave them up to this sad oppression; so that Jair could only perform one half of his office, which was to determine differences amongst the Israelites, but could not deliver them from their enemies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel,…. The Philistines on one side, and the children of Ammon on the other; meaning either that year in which Jair died, as Jarchi; or the first year they began to bring them into bondage, as R. Isaiah: “and from that year”, as Kimchi and Ben Melech, that they vexed and distressed them, they continued to vex and distress them
eighteen years; or, as Abarbinel interprets it, “with that year”, they vexed and oppressed them eighteen years, that is, so many more, or reckoning that into the number of them; and these eighteen years of their oppression are not to be reckoned into the years of Jair’s government, and as commencing from the fourth of it, as Bishop Usher, Lightfoot, and others; for it does not appear that there was any oppression in his days, but from the time of his death to the raising up of Jephthah a new judge: and the people oppressed by the children of Ammon during that time
were all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan, in the land of the Ammonites, which is in Gilead; even the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) That year.The narrative is evidently imperfect, as no year is specified.
Vexed and oppressed.This again is a paronomasia, or assonance, like broke to yoke in English,
The land of the Amorites.The kingdoms of Og and Sihon.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Vexed and oppressed Literally, broken and crushed. Henry forcibly suggests that with the Philistines on one side and the Ammonites on the other, Israel was miserably crushed as between two millstones.
That year eighteen years The oppression commenced that very year in which they were sold into the hands of their enemies, and continued eighteen years; not, as some say, that year completed eighteen years of oppression. The bitterness of the oppression was enhanced by the fact that it came not on gradually, but a breaking and crushing tyranny over them began with the very first year of their subjection.
Israel on the other side Jordan So this oppression distressed especially the tribes east of the Jordan.
Land of the Amorites Which Israel had formerly taken from their king, Sihon. See at Num 21:21-32. “ Gilead, being a more precise epithet for the land of the Amorites, is here used in a wider sense to denote the whole of the country east of the Jordan, so far as it had been taken from the Amorites and occupied by the Israelites, as in Num 32:29; Jos 22:9.” Keil.
Jdg 10:8. And that year they vexed, &c. Houbigant renders this, therefore at that time the children of Ammon afflicted and oppressed the children of Israel eighteen years, namely, all those who dwelt on the other side.
REFLECTIONS.One tumultuous reign we have had, which needed two peaceable ones to repair its desolations.
1. Tola, of the tribe of Issachar, succeeded Abimelech; not an usurping king, but raised up of God to be a righteous judge, to reform their abuses, decide their controversies, heal their intestine divisions, and protect them from foreign invasions. For the greater convenience of administering justice, he resided in mount Ephraim, and judged Israel twenty-three years. Note; Though a warlike king shines more splendidly in the annals of history, a peaceable and mild government is more for the prosperity and comfort of every nation.
2. Jair, of the half tribe of Manasseh, beyond Jordan, followed; for God now divided the honour, sometimes calling men of one tribe, sometimes of another, to the office of judge and captain. During his administration, the peace of Israel was maintained; his thirty sons, a numerous family, as his assistants, for the people’s convenience, rode their circuits to administer justice, each of them possessed of a noble patrimony, having a lordship to themselves, which bore their names in after-times. Twenty-two years this government lasted. Note; The impartial administration of justice, is, next to the Gospel, the greatest blessing of any land.
3. No sooner were these good men gone, than the people, as before, returned to their abominations. Their idolatry grew worse and worse; their idols were multiplied; God was forgotten, and his service neglected; and, as the consequence, when they leave him he leaves them. The Philistines on one side, and the Ammonites on the other, oppressed and crushed them, as the corn between the upper and nether mill-stone. Eighteen years this servitude continued extremely rigorous, and yet the people returned not to God. At last the Ammonites, having thoroughly plundered those on one side of Jordan, seek to increase their spoil, by attacking Ephraim, Judah, and Benjamin; while these disheartened tribes, having lost the presence of God, lose all courage, and are unable to make head against their invaders. Note; (1.) Reformation, without conversion of heart, will be of no long continuance. (2.) God never leaves us till we forsake him. (3.) They fall an easy prey to Satan who are left destitute of divine grace and protection.
Jdg 10:8 And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that [were] on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which [is] in Gilead.
Ver. 8. And that year they vexed and crushed the children, &c. ] That year, quo scilicet desciverunt a cultu divino, a wherein they fell off from God’s true worship, b their bonds were increased: the Ammonites before, and the Philistines behind, devoured Israel with open mouth. “For all this his anger was not turned away, but his hand was stretched out still.” Isa 9:12 We read in the Turkish history, that when Solyman II saw a company of his Christian subjects, many thousands, fall down before him, and hold up the forefinger, as their manner of conversion to Mohammedanism is, he asked, What moved them to turn? They replied, It was to be eased of their heavy taxations. He, disdaining that baseness, or not willing to lose in tribute for an unsound accession in religion, rejected their conversion, and doubled their taxations.
a Vatab.
b Or, that year, that is, the last of the eighteen of their oppressing Israel
vexed and oppressed = brake and crushed. See note on Jdg 10:3, above.
that year: Jdg 10:5, Isa 30:13, 1Th 5:3
oppressed: Heb. crushed
Reciprocal: Num 10:9 – oppresseth Deu 28:29 – thou shalt be Jdg 11:26 – three hundred Psa 129:1 – have they Ecc 4:1 – and considered Jer 2:27 – but in the time Jer 49:1 – their king Lam 1:15 – crush Eze 47:18 – from Gilead
10:8 And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, {b} all the children of Israel that [were] on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which [is] in Gilead.
(b) As the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
2. Oppression under the Ammonites 10:8-18
The Israelites felt the main influence of the Ammonites on the east side of the Jordan River that bordered Ammon (Jdg 10:8). However the Ammonites also attacked the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim west of the Jordan (Jdg 10:9).
The Ammonite oppression lasted 18 years (Jdg 10:8; evidently about 1123-1105 B.C.). Finally the Israelites confessed their sin of apostasy and cried out to God for deliverance (Jdg 10:10; cf. Jdg 3:9; cf. Jdg 3:15; Jdg 4:3; Jdg 6:6). They had waited only seven years before appealing for His help against the Midianites (Jdg 6:6). This may indicate that their hearts had become even harder toward Yahweh. Jdg 6:1-6 gives the most detailed description of Israel’s oppression and of Israel’s response to their oppression. For the first time in the book, the Israelites confessed that they had sinned, but it seems that their change of heart had come too late.
The Lord reminded them, presumably through a prophet, that their behavior had fallen into a pattern of apostasy, oppression, confession, and deliverance (Jdg 10:11-12). God had delivered Israel from many enemies. They were the Egyptians (cf. Exodus 1-14), Amorites (also known in Scripture as Midianites, cf. Num 31:3), Ammonites (Jdg 3:12-30), Philistines (Jdg 3:31), Sidonians (ch. 4?), Amalekites (cf. Exo 17:8-16), and Maunites. The Maunites were probably the Midianites (chs. 6-8), according to the Septuagint. Possibly Israel had defeated each of these nations already during the amphictyony.
We need to understand God’s promise to deliver the Israelites "no more" (Jdg 10:13) as conditional. He did deliver the nation later (ch. 11; cf. Exo 32:14). Jdg 10:13-14 reveal God’s "tough love" for Israel (cf. Jdg 2:3; Jdg 6:8-10).
". . . the emphatic declaration, ’I will deliver you no more,’ is to be understood conditionally, in case their idols were kept among them; for the divine threatenings always imply a reserve of mercy to the truly repentant." [Note: Bush, p. 140. Cf. Jeremiah 18:5-12; Jonah 3:4.]
The genuine confession and repentance of the Israelites and God’s compassion for them combined to secure Israel’s deliverance eventually (Jdg 10:16). God’s wayward son, Israel, had broken His heart. These verses illustrate the tension God felt as He loved Israel loyally and yet found it necessary to discipline His first-born.
"The greatness of Jehovah and His intense love for His people is nowhere more evident than in this particular situation [Jdg 10:13-16]." [Note: Davis and Whitcomb, p. 121.]
The writer introduced the battle in which God provided deliverance for His people in Jdg 10:17-18. The Ammonites advanced into Gilead from the east, and the Israelites in that area congregated not far from them anticipating conflict. Even though the Israelites had confessed their sin and repented genuinely, they approached this battle carnally. Rather than inquiring of God for strategy, the Israelites looked among themselves for a human leader whom they could persuade to lead them, by promising him kingship as a reward (cf. Jdg 1:1). They were rejecting Yahweh’s authority over them by doing this (cf. 1Sa 8:7). They soon learned that the man they chose had some glaring weaknesses (cf. King Saul).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)