Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Gideon pacifies the quarreling Ephraimites, who complained that they had not been called to battle, with a gentle reply. Second, verse 10, he strikes down the remnants of Midian. Then, verse 15, he crushes the citizens of Succoth and Penuel, because they had arrogantly denied him bread. Third, verse 21, he slays the princes of Midian. Fourth, verse 22, he refuses the kingship offered him by the Hebrews. Fifth, verse 27, from the spoils of the enemy he fashions an Ephod, which became a snare of idolatry and ruin for his descendants. Finally, verse 30, his sons, death, and place of burial are recounted, and after 40 years following his death, the Hebrews relapsed into the worship of Baal.
Vulgate Text: Judges 8:1-35
1. And the men of Ephraim said to him: What is this that you wanted to do, that you did not call us when you went to fight against Midian? quarreling fiercely, and nearly resorting to violence. 2. And he answered them: What could I have done such as you have done? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3. The Lord delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeb: what could I have done such as you have done? When he had said this, their spirit, with which they were swelling against him, subsided. 4. And when Gideon came to the Jordan, he crossed it with the three hundred men who were with him; and from weariness they were unable to pursue the fleeing enemy. 5. And he said to the men of Succoth: Give, I beg you, bread to the people who are with me, because they are very faint, so that we may pursue Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. 6. The princes of Succoth answered: Perhaps the palms of the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna are already in your hand, and therefore you ask that we give bread to your army. 7. To whom he said: When the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, I will tear your flesh with the thorns and briers of the desert. 8. And going up from there, he came to Penuel; and he spoke to the men of that place in like manner. And they too answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. 9. So he said to them also: When I return victorious in peace, I will destroy this tower. 10. Now Zebah and Zalmunna were resting with all their army. For fifteen thousand men had remained out of all the troops of the Eastern peoples, one hundred and twenty thousand warriors who drew the sword having been slain. 11. And Gideon, going up by the way of those who dwelt in tents, toward the eastern part of Nobah and Jogbehah, struck the camp of the enemy, who were secure and suspected nothing adverse. 12. And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, whom Gideon pursued and captured, throwing their whole army into confusion. 13. And returning from battle before the rising of the sun, 14. he seized a young man from the men of Succoth: and questioned him about the names of the princes and elders of Succoth, and he listed seventy-seven men. 15. And he came to Succoth and said to them: Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you reproached me, saying: Perhaps the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna are already in your hands, and therefore you ask that we give bread to the men who are weary and exhausted. 16. So he took the elders of the city and the thorns and briers of the desert, and tore and crushed the men of Succoth with them. 17. He also overthrew the tower of Penuel, and slew the inhabitants of the city. 18. And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna: What manner of men were they whom you killed at Tabor? They answered: They were like you, and each one of them was like the son of a king. 19. He answered them: They were my brothers, the sons of my mother; as the Lord lives, if you had spared them, I would not kill you. 20. And he said to Jether his firstborn: Rise and slay them. But he did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a boy. 21. And Zebah and Zalmunna said: You yourself rise and fall upon us; for as is the man's age, so is his strength. Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna; and he took the ornaments and crescents with which the necks of royal camels were adorned. 22. And all the men of Israel said to Gideon: Rule over us, you and your son, and your son's son; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian. 23. And he said to them: I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you, but the Lord shall rule over you. 24. And he said to them: I make one request of you; give me the earrings from your spoils. For the Ishmaelites were accustomed to wearing golden earrings. 25. They answered: We will most gladly give them. And spreading a cloak upon the ground, they threw into it the earrings from the spoils, 26. and the weight of the earrings requested was one thousand seven hundred gold shekels, besides the ornaments, necklaces, and purple garments which the kings of Midian were accustomed to use, and besides the golden chains of the camels. 27. And Gideon made from it an Ephod, and placed it in his city Ophrah. And all Israel committed fornication with it, and it became a snare for Gideon and all his house. 28. And Midian was humbled before the children of Israel, and they could no longer lift up their necks; but the land had rest for forty years, during which Gideon governed. 29. And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house; 30. and he had seventy sons who came from his loins, because he had many wives. 31. And his concubine, whom he had in Shechem, bore him a son named Abimelech. 32. And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulcher of Joash his father in Ophrah of the family of Ezri. 33. But after Gideon died, the children of Israel turned away, and committed fornication with the Baals. And they struck a covenant with Baal, that he might be their God: 34. nor did they remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies round about. 35. Nor did they show mercy to the house of Jerubbaal Gideon, according to all the good that he had done for Israel.
Verse 1: The men of Ephraim quarrel with Gideon
1. AND THE MEN OF EPHRAIM SAID TO HIM, etc., QUARRELING FIERCELY. — For the Ephraimites were arrogant, as is clear from Isaiah XI, 13, because of their numerous and powerful tribe, and because it had been preferred by Jacob over the tribe of Manasseh, from which Gideon came. Therefore they quarrel against him, because he had not called them to battle, especially since the Ephraimites were bound to the Manassites by a closer bond of kinship than to the other tribes, because Ephraim and Manasseh, the fathers of these tribes, had been the immediate sons of Joseph, who was the brother of Judah, Reuben, Gad, etc., from whom the other eleven tribes descended. For Joseph, one of the twelve Patriarchs, established not one tribe, as his other brothers did, but two.
Verse 2: The gleaning of Ephraim
2. AND HE ANSWERED THEM: WHAT COULD I HAVE DONE SUCH AS YOU HAVE DONE? — you who fleeing, you cut down at the Jordan very many and almost innumerable Midianites, and their princes Oreb and Zeb, as was stated from the preceding chapter, verse 24. Wisely did Gideon say this, so as to put the quarrel to rest with a modest and gentle response, according to the saying: 'A soft answer turns away wrath,' Proverbs xv, 1.
Gideon therefore teaches here that the pride and contentiousness of an adversary is appeased by nothing more than if you humble yourself before him, and praise him and prefer him to yourself. He who does this is wise and magnanimous. For truly Philemon in the Ecdicasomenus: 'Nothing, he says, is more pleasant or more worthy of a learned man than to be able to bear one who reviles him.' And Ovid, book III of the Tristia: 'The greater a man is, the more easily he is pacified from anger, And a generous mind accepts gentle impulses.'
Wherefore Josephus, book V, chapter VIII: 'More, he says, this gentle response of Gideon was more beneficial than the Midianite victory.'
IS NOT THE GLEANING OF EPHRAIM BETTER THAN THE VINTAGE OF ABIEZER? — This is a proverb meaning the same thing, as if to say, as the Chaldean explains: The weakest of the tribe of Ephraim are superior to the strongest of my family of Abiezer. Or better, as if to say: The few persons slain by the Ephraimites, namely Oreb and Zeb the princes of Midian, are to be valued more than all the Midianites whom we Manassites slew.
Third and best: Gideon metaphorically calls his own victory the vintage, but the remaining victories the gleaning, which are the grapes collected after the vintage, as if to say: My victory was like a vintage gathering grapes from a full vineyard; for thus I struck and threw into confusion all the camps of Midian; but your pursuit, by which you chased and cut down those I had routed as they fled, was like a gleaning after the vintage, that is, the victory; but this gleaning of yours is worth more than my vintage, both because you cut down the very princes of Midian, and because you slaughtered very many common soldiers. So say Arias, Abulensis, and others.
It could also be vigorously translated from the Hebrew thus: The boyish efforts of Ephraim are greater than the strong assault of Abiezer, that is, mine. For in Hebrew, Oleloth signifies boyish thoughts, efforts, works, from Olel, that is, a boy. Moreover, Gideon was descended from the family of Abiezer, who was a great-grandson of Manasseh.
leading him to be slain. See here how heroic deeds suffer calumny and envy from those who ought to praise and promote them. For this is what Gideon suffers here from the Gadites, just as shortly before he had suffered from the Ephraimites. This was the barbarous inhumanity of the Gadites, by which they denied bread — not meat, but bread — to Gideon their judge, prince, and deliverer, who was fighting for them against the Midianites and therefore making his request; whence he himself sharply punished them.
Verse 7: I will tear your flesh with thorns
7. I WILL TEAR (dasti, that is, I will thresh) YOUR FLESH WITH THE THORNS AND BRIERS. — For 'briers' the Hebrew has barkanim, which signifies thorns or very sharp briers, which, as lightning penetrates and wounds the eyes, so these wound the body. For barac means lightning. Again, barkanim by metathesis alludes to accrabim, that is, scorpions. Thus were called the great and sharp thorns which tore and mangled the flesh of martyrs like scorpions, venomous animals. Hear Isidore, book VI of the Etymologies, last chapter: 'Rods are the extremities of branches and trees: if smooth, it is a rod; but if knotted or thorny, it is most rightly called a scorpion, because a curved wound is inflicted on the body.'
With these briers or scorpions, therefore, they used to strike the guilty even unto death, and therefore would throw them to the ground, and there by scourging would thresh them as it were, just as grain is threshed. Some think this threshing was done by driving iron-shod wagons (with which they also used to thresh and beat out grain) over them, as David did to the Ammonites, II Kings XII, last verse; but no mention of such wagons is made here. For it is said only that he threshed them with briers, as the Belgians thresh wheat with flails.
Verse 8: He came to Penuel
8. HE CAME TO PENUEL. — A place near Succoth, so called from Jacob, because there, wrestling with the Angel, he had said: 'I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul has been saved,' Genesis XXXII, 30. For Penuel in Hebrew means 'the face of the mighty one,' that is, of God.
Verse 9: I will destroy this tower
9. I WILL DESTROY THIS TOWER — which the Penuelites had built, so that they might flee to it when an enemy attacked, thinking they would be safe in it, and therefore arrogantly responding to Gideon, they denied him bread for the sustenance of his army. Abulensis adds, Question XI, that the Penuelites had responded to Gideon's death threat by saying that they considered his threats as nothing, that they had this tower standing against them; then Gideon replied that he would destroy not only them but the tower as well.
Verse 10: Zebah and Zalmunna with their army
10. NOW ZEBAH AND ZALMUNNA (leaders of Midian) WERE RESTING WITH ALL THEIR ARMY ACROSS THE JORDAN — and therefore not fearing Gideon, by whom others had been slain on this side of the Jordan, but feeling secure; and therefore Gideon attacked them secure and unprepared by surprise and slew them. The Septuagint, the Hebrew, and the Chaldean add that they were resting in Karkor, about which St. Jerome writes thus, in his Book of Hebrew Places: 'Karkor, Zebah and Zalmunna, and there is to this day a fort named Carcaria, one day's journey distant from Petra.' Petra is a city of Arabia, from which Arabia Petraea in the Moabite region was named, to which the tribe of Reuben was bordering.
FOR FIFTEEN THOUSAND MEN HAD REMAINED (who had escaped the slaughter of the Midianites inflicted by Gideon in the preceding chapter), ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND WARRIORS HAVING BEEN SLAIN. — Hence it is clear that the camp of Midian had 135,000 warriors, besides camp followers, sutlers, servants, and the rest of the unarmed crowd, of whom 120,000 were slain by Gideon and his companions, while fifteen thousand escaped, who were here slaughtered by the same. Josephus erroneously has eighteen thousand instead of fifteen.
Verse 11: Gideon struck the camp by surprise
11. AND GIDEON WENT UP BY THE WAY OF THOSE WHO DWELT IN TENTS — that is, of the Arabs, who are therefore called Scenites; for skene is a tent, so called from the Hebrew sachan, that is, 'he dwelt'; because these Arabs do not have fixed houses, but wandering from one region which they have grazed, they move with their tents to another nearby, and graze it likewise; for they abound in camels, horses, and cattle. Hence they are also called Nomads (for nemein means 'to pasture'), about whom see Pliny, book VI, chapter XXVIII, and Strabo, book XVI. Hence Gideon did not take the direct route, but from the rear through these Arab Scenites he invaded the camp of Zebah and Zalmunna, so as to attack and overwhelm them by surprise while they suspected nothing of the sort, because in this matter he showed himself remarkably skilled in warfare and stratagems.
Verse 13: Before sunrise
13. BEFORE SUNRISE. — In Hebrew the literal reading is: 'from the ascent of the sun,' as Pagninus translates in his Lexicon, that is, before the ascent (that is, the rising) of the sun, as Vatablus translates. Therefore Lyranus, Arias, Cajetan, and others less correctly translate it as 'with the sun above,' as though the sun had already risen, as Arias would have it, or as though it were noon, when the sun's ascent is completed, as Cajetan supposes, or as though it were evening before the setting of the sun, as R. David and Lyranus conjecture. For although in Daniel chapter VI, verse 20, 'the ascent of the sun' is called 'the setting of the sun,' yet this is a Chaldaic expression, in which language the book of Daniel was written. For in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin usage, the ascent of the sun signifies the rising of the sun, by which the sun ascends above the horizon, says Vatablus. Note here again the stratagem of Gideon, by which he attacks and slaughters the enemies at night before sunrise while they are buried in sleep and wine.
Verse 16: He crushed the men of Succoth
16. HE CRUSHED. — In Hebrew it is ioda, that is, 'he made them know,' namely through scourges and beatings, that is, he chastised, he punished. So a teacher threatening rods to a mischievous student says: With these I will teach you, that is, I will chastise you; although Serarius thinks that instead of ioda one should read indus, that is, 'he threshed.' For so it is read in verse 9.
Verse 18: The men you killed at Tabor
18. AND GIDEON SAID TO ZEBAH AND ZALMUNNA: WHAT MANNER WERE THE MEN WHOM YOU KILLED AT TABOR? — Gideon had heard that his own brothers, born of the same mother, when the Midianites were threatening, had as usual fled to Mount Tabor; he had likewise heard that some had been slain there by the Midianites; he therefore suspected that those slain were his own brothers: and his suspicion was correct, as is clear from verse 19.
THEY ANSWERED: LIKE YOU (for brothers not infrequently resemble their brothers, as well as their parents), AND ONE OF THEM WAS LIKE THE SON OF A KING. — The meaning is plain and clear, namely that one of them, more distinguished, had an extraordinary and regal appearance. Some, however, explain it thus: 'one,' that is, each one 'of them' was of such elegant form that he appeared to be the son of a king. Whence the Septuagint in the Roman Codex has: As you, so they, in the likeness of the son of a king. The Complutensian and Royal editions: As you, so they, like you, like them, such as the appearance of sons of kings.
Verse 22: Rule over us
22. RULE OVER US, YOU AND YOUR SON, AND YOUR SON'S SON, FOR YOU HAVE DELIVERED US FROM THE HAND OF MIDIAN. — Gideon was already the judge and prince of the people, appointed by God; therefore the Israelites here do not wish to make him Judge, but offer him full authority, that is, they offer him the kingship, and that hereditary up to the second generation. For this is what 'rule over us' means, namely with absolute and full right, as a king. For a Judge in that age could not dominate the people of Israel, but had to judge and govern them according to the laws. For a king is the absolute lord of all, and therefore like a god on earth; whence many kings wished to be regarded and worshipped as gods, such as Caligula and Domitian, whom accordingly Martial, whether in flattery or rebuke, calls Lord and God: 'The edict, he says, of our Lord and God.' Moreover, Augustus Caesar, hearing that the Messiah King, namely Christ, had been born, did not wish to be called Lord.
Verse 23: The Lord shall rule over you
23. AND HE SAID TO THEM: I WILL NOT RULE OVER YOU, etc., BUT THE LORD SHALL RULE OVER YOU. — Modestly Gideon refuses the title of lord and the right of king, and ascribes it to God, who was properly the king and lord of the Israelites, and therefore afterwards bore it ill that they asked Samuel for a king; yet when they persisted, He gave them Saul; because a king seemed to take away something both from the name and from the right of God over His people, and could with impunity violate the laws and commands of God, indeed introduce new gods, as did Jeroboam, Manasseh, Solomon, and other kings of Israel.
Verse 26: One thousand seven hundred gold shekels
26. ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED GOLD SHEKELS — which amount to 6,800 French crowns, or nearly 70 pounds of gold. For a shekel is half an ounce. Therefore it is not plausible that all this gold was spent on the Ephod alone. For what High Priest, indeed what man, could wear an Ephod, that is, a garment weighing 70 pounds? Therefore part of this gold was spent on other ornaments. In a similar way, David is said, I Paralipomenon chapter XX, verse 2, to have made himself a diadem from the crown placed on the idol Milcom, which weighed a talent of gold, II Kings XII, 30. Because, namely, he fitted part of the crown into a diadem, not the whole. Who, for who could bear a talent of gold on his head?
27. AND GIDEON MADE FROM IT AN EPHOD — that is, a shoulder-garment, Exodus XXVIII, 6. The question is: what kind of Ephod was this, and did Gideon sin in making it?
First, Procopius and others cited by Abulensis think this Ephod was an idol, whence for 'placed' the Hebrew is iatseb, that is, 'he set it up,' as statues of idols are usually set up. Hence also Israel committed fornication, that is, practiced idolatry with it: 'Hence also it became a ruin for Gideon and all his house.' But who would believe that a holy man, indeed one familiar with God, and loved and chosen by Him, such as Gideon was, after so great a victory received from God, would have turned from God to idols and been the author of idolatry, as was Jeroboam the first king of Israel, by fashioning golden calves and setting them up to be worshipped as gods in Dan and Bethel?
Second, Arias thinks that this Ephod, being golden, was different from the Ephod of the High Priest made of scarlet, purple, fine linen, and blue, Exodus chapter XXVIII, verse 6, and was made by Gideon only for the purpose of being a perpetual monument of so admirable a victory. Whence Cajetan thinks this Ephod was a breastplate of beaten gold, to serve as a sign of military service, battle, and victory. For a breastplate covers and protects the shoulders and chest, just as does an Ephod or shoulder-garment. The Hebrew words sufficiently favor this opinion, which read: 'and he made it into an Ephod, and set it up in Ophrah'; these words suggest that this Ephod was made from the gold of the spoils, and therefore was like a golden breastplate, which accordingly his descendants worshipped as an idol. This explanation is very fitting.
Third, Lyranus takes Ephod properly to mean the Pontifical Ephod, and by it understands the other sacerdotal vestments, as if Gideon had made them so that he himself might sacrifice in them for his household, and therefore 'sinned mortally,' but repented of it before his death. But neither here nor elsewhere do we read anything about this repentance of his.
Fourth, more plausibly St. Augustine, Question XLI; Theodoret, Question XVI; Dionysius, Serarius, and others think that Gideon made a Pontifical Ephod and the other vestments of the High Priest; for these are understood under the Ephod as the primary garment, says St. Augustine both here and in chapter XVII, 5, and chapter XVIII, verses 14 and 18. Whence Hosea III, 4, the Septuagint translates Ephod as ta hierateia, that is, the priesthood and every priestly instrument. So then by Ephod here understand all the furnishings necessary for sacrifice. Gideon therefore made this Ephod, first, as a perpetual memorial of his victory; for he had obtained it through sacrifice, offered on the altar erected by him at God's command. Whence also after he had refused the kingship offered him by the Hebrews, and had resigned it to God, he made this Ephod to profess himself a devout minister of God, and to show that he took upon his shoulders God's commands and the care of the people, to bear their burdens and infirmities on his shoulders, and to be a mediator and intercessor between God and the people. For this is what the Ephod or shoulder-garment represented. Hence also from the spoils of the enemy he fashioned this Ephod. Whence the Hebrew reads: 'And he made it (namely, the whole gift of gold from the spoils) into an Ephod,' that is, from it and its value he fashioned the Ephod.
Second, he made this Pontifical Ephod splendid and gleaming with gold, because in it were the Rational of the Urim and Thummim, through which God, consulted by the High Priest, gave oracles to the prince and the commonwealth, Exodus chapter XXVIII; not so that Gideon himself might use it, but so that the High Priest, who did not live far from his city Ophrah at Shiloh where the tabernacle with the ark was, being summoned by him to Ophrah and wearing this Ephod, might consult the Lord on his behalf, just as David used to consult Him through Abiathar the High Priest; for Gideon was the Judge of the people, and in doubtful and perplexing matters that frequently arose, he needed the response and oracle of God.
Third, it seems that Gideon made this Ephod so that the High Priest, wearing it, might sacrifice on his behalf and that of the people at the altar that Gideon had erected by God's command in Ophrah, chapter VI, verse 26. For what is an altar for, unless to sacrifice upon it? Serarius adds that Gideon himself sacrificed upon it in person. For since he himself at God's command had immolated a bull upon it in chapter VI, verse 26, he seems to have judged that God had dispensed with the ordinary rule for him, so that although he was not a priest from the tribe of Levi, he might sacrifice upon it as one extraordinary commissioned by God. For this reason God seems to have commanded him to erect this altar. For an altar essentially pertains to sacrifice; for, as Aristotle says, book I On the Heavens, chapter IV: 'A shoe of which there is no use is useless.'
Therefore Gideon did not sin in making this Ephod.
This is proved first, because it is said here that he rested in a good old age; second, because by St. Paul, Hebrews chapter XI, he is placed in the catalogue of Saints and heroes of the Old Testament, who excelled in outstanding faith and heroic works of faith; third, because while Gideon lived, under his leadership Israel served God; but after his death they turned aside to the Baals, as is stated in verse 33.
St. Augustine favors this, Question XLI, when he says: 'God patiently bore that deed of Gideon, so that peace might continue in the land, because although what had been prohibited was done, yet they had not gone far from Him who had commanded something similar to be made in the tabernacle in His honor'; indeed God had nowhere prohibited such an Ephod from being made, nor such a tabernacle similar to the Mosaic one, as Serarius rightly observes. For Solomon made such a tabernacle, II Paralipomenon chapter I, verses 4 and 5.
Nevertheless the descendants of Gideon sinned, who, driven by the memory of the miraculous victory obtained through this splendid Ephod as it were, paid it divine honors. Whence follows:
AND ALL ISRAEL COMMITTED FORNICATION WITH IT. — In Hebrew acharau, that is, 'after him,' namely after the death of Gideon. So the Septuagint, the Chaldeans, and others. Our translator, however, refers 'after him' to the Ephod, meaning that Israel committed fornication mystically in it and with it, that is, committed idolatry by worshipping it as an idol and a god, or certainly by misusing it for the cult of the Baals, namely that a priest of Baal would sacrifice to it wearing and adorned with this Ephod. For the devil delights in stealing God's possessions and converting to his own worship those things by which God is worshipped.
AND IT BECAME A RUIN FOR GIDEON AND HIS HOUSE. — In Hebrew lemokes, that is, 'a snare,' both of the guilt of idolatry and of the punishment for it; for on account of that guilt the entire posterity of Gideon was cut off, as we shall hear in the following chapter. And Gideon himself also underwent this punishment, who incautiously fashioned this Ephod, which for his descendants, so prone to idols, would become an occasion of idolatry. For because of this Gideon lost all his posterity. But the guilt of idolatry was committed not by Gideon himself, but by his descendants. Gideon did not foresee this; therefore he is to be excused at least from mortal sin, though venial imprudence and inadvertence may be admitted in him. Hence in this sense when it says: 'for Gideon and his house,' the word 'and' should be taken expositively by way of exegesis, meaning 'that is,' as if to say: 'for Gideon,' that is, for the house or posterity of his; for they worshipped this Ephod, just as the Israelites worshipped the bronze serpent erected by Moses, Numbers XXI, which was therefore broken by King Hezekiah, IV Kings chapter XVIII, verse 4.
Morally, let princes learn here how dangerous and destructive it is to involve themselves in sacred matters. Behold, Gideon there, making the Ephod though with good intention, lost all his offspring. So King Uzziah, wishing to offer incense to God, was struck with leprosy, II Paralipomenon XXVI, 17. Attempting the same thing, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were swallowed alive by the earth, Numbers XVI.
Verse 28: The land had rest forty years
28. THE LAND HAD REST FOR FORTY YEARS — that is, up to the fortieth year of Gideon; hence under these forty years Scripture includes the seven years in which Israel served the Midianites, as I said on chapter VI.
Verse 29: Jerubbaal went to his house
29. AND JERUBBAAL WENT — that is, the contender and destroyer of Baal, the false god, namely Gideon.
Verse 30: Seventy sons
30. AND HE HAD SEVENTY SONS — precisely, including also Abimelech, about whom the following verse speaks, says Serarius, though others take the seventy sons as those he had from his wives, excluding the one he had from the concubine, so that with Abimelech he would have had seventy-one.
Moreover, these sons after Gideon's death seem to have worshipped idols, and especially the Ephod fashioned by Gideon, and therefore by God's vengeance they were slain and cut off. For this is what was already said: 'And it became for his house (that is, his family, namely his sons) a ruin.' Learn here how vain is parents' hope and glory in their children; for none of so many sons succeeded their father Gideon in the principate, indeed all were soon killed, as indeed 'the sons of heroes are their bane.' So, 'for Artaxerxes,' says Justin, book X, 'king of the Persians, from concubines one hundred and fifteen sons there were, but only three conceived from legitimate marriage, Darius, Ariareles, and Ochus, all of whom perished ingloriously.'
Verse 31: His concubine in Shechem
31. AND HIS CONCUBINE — named Druma, says Josephus, book V, chapter IX. A concubine was a secondary wife, who was as a servant, and consequently her son did not share in the father's inheritance with the sons of the wives. Therefore Abimelech was not a bastard or illegitimate, as Josephus calls him, but a legitimate son of Gideon.
IN SHECHEM. — He says this to indicate the occasion by which Abimelech aspired to the kingship; namely because he was advanced to it by his fellow citizens the Shechemites.
SHE BORE HIM A SON NAMED ABIMELECH. — Abimelech in Hebrew means 'father is king,' or 'father of the king,' or 'royal father.' His mother gave him this name to gain dignity for herself and her son, inasmuch as he was the son of Gideon, who was judge and as it were king of Israel; perhaps also she wished this name to be an omen of kingship, namely that he himself would someday reign, as she hoped. So Agrippina, consulting diviners whether her son Nero would become king and emperor, and hearing that he would, but that he would kill his mother, eager for her son's reign answered: 'Let him kill me so long as he reigns,' and indeed, having been killed by him, she paid the deserved penalties for her rash wish.
Hear what Trebellius writes about Regalianus in his book On Tyrants: 'Perhaps it would seem remarkable, if the origin of his rule were to be explained. For he obtained kingdoms through a military jest. For when certain soldiers were dining with him, Valerian the Tribune stood up and said: From what do we believe the name Regalianus is derived? Another immediately replied: We believe it is from "reign." Then a scholar who was present began to decline it grammatically, as it were, and say: Rex, regis, regi, Regalianus. The soldiers, as the human race is prone to what they are thinking about, said: Therefore he can be king. Likewise another: Therefore he can rule us. Likewise another: God has given you the name of king. In short, after these words, when he had gone forth the next morning, he was saluted as Emperor by the leaders. Thus what others obtained through audacity or judgment, this man obtained through playful cleverness.'
Verse 32: Gideon died in a good old age
32. AND GIDEON THE SON OF JOASH DIED IN A GOOD OLD AGE. — 'Good,' that is first, advanced, great, aged. Second, 'good,' that is, quiet and tranquil. Third, 'good,' that is, glorious, such that all venerated, respected, and admired him. Fourth, 'good' with the goodness of virtue from a good conscience, uprightness, and holiness; for this is the source and origin of all other goods. Cicero too recognized this, who in his book On Old Age says: 'The most fitting weapons of old age are the arts and exercises of the virtues, which when cultivated at every age, after you have lived long and much, bring wonderful fruits, and not only never desert you, not even at the very last period of life (though indeed this is the greatest thing). But also because the consciousness of a well-spent life, and the recollection of many good deeds, is most delightful.'
So Abraham died in a good old age, Genesis XXV, 8; David, I Paralipomenon XXIX, 28; Tobit, chapter XIV, 15; for 'old age, venerable not by years but by character, should be the harbor of one's former life, not the shipwreck of one's former life,' says St. Ambrose, in his book On Jacob and the Blessed Life, chapter X. The same author, in his book On Abel, chapter I: 'Let our thoughts, he says, be unfolded in the progress of good works, so that our end may find nothing imperfect, the limit of our life may encounter nothing unexplained, and the use of our work may leave nothing as if still on the anvil.' And shortly after: 'Let our birth be faith, let our nourishment be the precepts of doctrine. With these let a certain infancy of our heart be imbued, let its childhood be trained, let its adolescence grow youthful, let its old age grow gray. For the age of old age is an unspotted life. And so that old age of the soul is truly good which no stains of treachery have defiled.'
The same author, book I of the Hexameron, chapter VIII: 'But old age itself, he says, is sweeter in good morals, more useful in counsel, more ready for the constancy of facing death, more firm in repressing passions. The weakness of the body, too, is the sobriety of the mind. Whence the Apostle says: When I am weak, then I am strong. And so he gloried not in strengths, but in weaknesses. The divine response also shone forth with a salutary oracle; because virtue is perfected in weakness.'
Verse 33: Israel turned away to the Baals
33. BUT AFTER GIDEON DIED, THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TURNED AWAY (from God and the worship of God), AND COMMITTED FORNICATION WITH THE BAALS (idols, the gods of the nations) AND THEY STRUCK A COVENANT WITH BAAL, THAT HE MIGHT BE THEIR GOD. — In Hebrew: they set up Baal for themselves by a covenant as God; that is, they entered into a covenant with Baal, that he might be their God; in Chaldean: they set him up for themselves by a covenant unto error; the Septuagint: they set up Baal-berith for themselves in a covenant, that he might be their God. So also St. Augustine reads it. Hence from the Hebrew and the Septuagint it is clear that the Hebrews worshipped as God Baal-berith, that is, Baal of the covenant, whom they confederated with themselves as their God through this covenant, as the presider over covenants: for berith means covenant.
Verse 35: No mercy to the house of Jerubbaal
35. NOR DID THEY SHOW MERCY TO THE HOUSE OF JERUBBAAL (who was called by his proper name) GIDEON — because they allowed his house, that is, all his sons to be killed by the tyrant Abimelech; indeed they assisted in the killing, as will be clear in the following chapter. Mercy, in Hebrew chesed, signifies every virtue that exercises itself toward one's neighbor, namely beneficence, piety, gratitude, justice, fidelity, etc. Therefore the Israelites, faithless to God, were also faithless, wicked, impious, ungrateful, and unjust toward Gideon, as will be clear from chapter IX.