Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 10:12

The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.

12. The Zidonians Amalekites Maonites ] The generalizing list of oppressors is continued. The Zidonians, i.e. Phoenicians (Jdg 3:3 n.), do not appear elsewhere in this character; perhaps the name was suggested by Jdg 10:6. The Amalekites are mentioned as allies of Moab in Jdg 3:13, and of Midian in Jdg 6:3 (see note); cf. Exo 17:8-16 E. The Maonites ( Maon is the form here) probably = the Meunim, 1Ch 4:41, 2Ch 20:1 (RVm.), 2Ch 26:7 all late passages; the Meunim, who are referred to as hostile to Israel, were an Arab race inhabiting the Edomite country; their name survives in Ma‘n, 6 hours S.E. of Petra. Perhaps the post-exilic editor included Maon in this list as being an enemy familiar to later times. On the supposed connexion between the Maonites (Meunim) and the Minaeans see HDB. s.v. The LXX reads Midian here, and many scholars adopt the correction; but it is suspiciously obvious.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The Zidonians – An allusion to the time of Barak, when the Zidonians doubtless formed part of the great confederacy of Canaanites under Jabin king of Hazor. See Jos 11:8.

The Amalekites – In the time of Gideon (marginal reference).

The Maonites – Probably one of the tribes of the children of the East, who came with the Midianites and Amalekites in the time of Gideon, and may have been conspicuous for their hostility to Israel, and for the greatness of their discomfiture, though the record has not been preserved. The name is Mehununs in 2Ch 26:7.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

The Zidonians also; for though we do not read of any oppression of Israel, particularly, by the Zidonians, yet there might be such a thing; as many things were said and done, both in the Old and New Testament, which are not recorded there; or they might join their forces with the king of Mesopotamia, Jdg 3:8, or with some other of their oppressors; for it is certain these were left among others to prove Israel, Jdg 3:1-3. Of

the Amalekites, see Jdg 3:13; 6:3.

Maonites; either, first, Those who lived in or near the wilderness of Maon, in the south of Judah, 1Sa 23:25; 25:2, whether Edomites or other. Or, secondly, The Mehunims, a people living near the Arabians, of whom 2Ch 26:7. For in the Hebrew the letters of both names are the same, only the one is the singular, the other the plural number. Or, thirdly, The Midianites, whose oppression he would not omit; it being usual for one and the same person or persons to have two names; although the Midianites may be comprehended under the Amalekites, with whom they were joined, Jdg 6:3,33. Or, fourthly, Some other people now unknown, and not expressed elsewhere in Scripture.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

12. Maonitesthat is,”Midianites.”

Jud10:16-18. THEY REPENT;GOD PITIESTHEM.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

The Zidonians also,…. Who were left in the land to distress them, though there is no particular mention of them, and of the distress they gave them, and of their deliverance from it, which yet is not at all to be questioned:

and the Amalekites; both quickly after they came out of Egypt,

Ex 17:13 and when they were come into the land of Canaan, joining the Moabites and the Midianites against them, Jud 3:13

and the Maonites did oppress you; meaning either the old inhabitants of Maon, a city in the mountains of Judah, near to which was a wilderness of this name, Jos 15:55 or rather a people of Arabia, called by Strabo z, and Diodorus Siculus a, Minaeans, the same with Mehunim, mentioned with the Arabians, 2Ch 26:7 and who perhaps came along with the Midianites, when they oppressed Israel; though some have thought of the old inhabitants of Bethmeon and Baalmeon, Nu 32:38

and ye cried unto me, and I delivered you out of their hands; all those mercies and deliverances are mentioned to aggravate their sins, that notwithstanding the Lord hath so often and eminently appeared for them, yet they deserted him and his worship, and fell into idolatry. Jarchi observes, that here are seven salvations or deliverances mentioned in opposition to the seven sorts of false gods or idols they had served,

Jud 10:6.

z Geograph. l. 16. p. 528. a Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 176.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(12) The Sidonians.Jdg. 3:3; Jdg. 18:7-28. Nothing very definite is recorded of deliverance from the Sidonians; but (as we have seen) the narrative of the book is typical rather than exhaustive. (Comp. Psa. 106:42-43.)

The Amalekites.Exo. 17:8, Exod. 6:33, Exo. 3:13.

The Maonites.As the LXX. here read Madian (and in some MSS. Canaan; Vulg., Chanaan), it seems probable that there has been an early corruption of the text. In the Arabic version we have Moabites. There was a town Maon in the desert of Judah (Jos. 15:55; 1Sa. 23:24; 1Sa. 25:2), but this cannot be meant. There is also a Beth Meon in the tribe of Reuben (Num. 22:38; Baal Meon, Jer. 48:23), and a Meon in Arabia Petra. Mehunims are also mentioned in 2Ch. 26:7, and Meonim in 1Ch. 4:41. If this is an allusion to some disaster of which we have no record given we must suppose that Meon was once the capital of some tribe which subsequently dwindled into insignificance.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

12. The Zidonians Who probably joined with Jabin and other northern Canaanites against Israel, but were defeated by Barak. Jdg 5:19.

Amalekites From these ancient foes they had been repeatedly delivered in the days of Moses, and Ehud, and Gideon. Compare Exo 17:13; Jdg 3:13; Jdg 6:3.

Maonites The Hebrew is Maon, but, like Amalek, it here denotes a people, not a place. We have no record elsewhere of any oppressors of Israel bearing this name; hence the Septuagint reads Midian, and this reading Ewald and Keil follow. It is urged that unless we adopt this reading no mention at all is made of the terrible oppression of Midian. But it may be replied, No mention is made of the Moabite oppression, which lasted eighteen years. Jdg 3:14. The sacred writer does not profess to give an exhaustive history; but, true to the spirit of the Old Testament theocratic history, he selects just seven deliverances of Israel, in apparent allusion to the seven classes of false gods mentioned in Jdg 10:6, where see note. In such an instance it is not ours to say what he ought to have written, and what omitted.

The Maonites may be included under “the children of the East,” chap. Jdg 6:3. “Traces of the name Maon are found in several localities. It is given to a town in the south of Judah, (Jos 15:55,) now identified with the ruins of Tell Main. It is given to the bleak and hilly pasture lands which extend away to the southward of the town of Maon. 1Sa 23:25. Jeremiah (Jer 48:23) mentions Beth- meon, which may be the same as Beth-baal- meon of Jos 13:17, and Baal- meon of Num 32:38, and would thus be identical with the ruins of Main, three miles south of Heshbon. Still another Maon is mentioned. 2Ch 26:7. It is probable that all these names indicate the presence of an ancient and powerful nomad tribe, whose earliest settlements were in the vale of Sodom, and with the Amalekites who dwelt in the wilderness south of Palestine.”- Porter.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments