Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 7:18

When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that [are] with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, [The sword] of the LORD, and of Gideon.

Verse 18. The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.] The word chereb, “sword,” is not found in this verse, though it is necessarily implied, and is found in Jdg 7:20. But it is found in this place in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, and in eight of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS. The reading appears to be genuine.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

He mentions his own name, together with Gods, not out of vain ostentation or arrogance, as if he would equal himself with God; for he mentions God in the first and chief place, and himself only as his minister; but from prudent policy, because his name was grown formidable to them, and so was likely to further his design, and their flight, as it did.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me,…. He being at the head of one of the three companies, Jud 7:19 perhaps the middlemost, which might stand for the body of the army; and the other two be one to the right and the other to the left of him, and so could more easily discover his motions:

then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp; for it seems they were so disposed as to be around the camp, which when the trumpets were blown at once on every side, with such a blaze of light, and crashing of the pitchers, must be very terrifying, as if there was no way for them to escape, and especially when they should hear the following dreadful sounds:

and say, [the sword] of the Lord, and of Gideon; or “for the Lord, and for Gideon”; and which may be supplied, either the light is for the Lord, and for Gideon; or the victory is for the Lord, and for Gideon; we supply it from Jud 7:20. The name Jehovah, these Heathens had often heard, as the God of Israel, would now be dreadful to them, and the name of Gideon also; whose name, as appears by the interpretation of the dream, was terrible among them; for which reason Gideon added it, and not out of arrogance and vanity; and puts it after the name of the Lord, as being only an instrument the Lord thought fit to make use of, otherwise all the glory belonged to him.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(18) The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.Literally, for Jehovah and for Gideon (LXX., ; Vulg., clangite et conclamate Domino et Gedeoni), but the particle le often has the meaning of, as in a Psalm to David, which is found at the beginning of many Psalms. Our version here understands the word sword (chereb) from Jdg. 6:20, as is also done in some MSS. of the LXX. It is better to omit it. The watchword and war-cry, then, resembles that given by Cyrus to his soldiersZeus, our ally and leader (Cyrop. iii. 28). The mention of his own name was only for the purpose of terrifying the enemy (Jdg. 7:14).

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

Jdg 7:18. The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon Though the word sword is not in the Hebrew in this place, yet, as it is read in the 20th verse, our translators have very properly added it. It is evident, says Houbigant, that in these words Gideon alludes to the interpretation of the dream given in the 14th verse. As the three hundred men were divided into three companies, detached to different parts of the Midianitish camp, Gideon, as appears from the next verse, was attended only by one hundred men.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Jdg 7:18 When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that [are] with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, [The sword] of the LORD, and of Gideon.

Ver. 18. The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. ] Domino et Gideoni; this was the word. a Against Jehovah there was no fighting: and Gideon’s name was now grown terrible to them, as Scipio’s afterwards was to the Carthaginians, Hunniades’s to the Turks, &c.

a Tessera et symbolum fuit quo terrerent hostes, et ipsi se mutub cognoscerent. – Lav.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)