Judges 8:10

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of ¹the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men ²who drew the sword.

Judges 8:10 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 8:10

Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor.
&c.] Jerom ^F21 under this word says, there was in his time a castle called Carcuria, a day's journey from Petra, which was the metropolis of Idumea; but whether the same with this is not clear:

and their host with them, about fifteen thousand men;
to which number Gideon and his three hundred men were very unequal; and yet, faint and weary as they were, closely pursued them, attacked and conquered them. Josephus ^F23 very wrongly makes this number to be about 18,000:

all that were left of the hosts of the children of the east;
the Arabians, who with the Amalekites joined the Midianites in this expedition; and perhaps the remainder of the army chiefly consisted of Arabians, the others having mostly suffered in the valley of Jezreel, and at the fords of Jordan:

for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword;
besides infirm men, women, and children, which may reasonably be supposed; so that this host consisted of 135,000 fighting men.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F21 De loc. Heb. fol. 90. B.
F23 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 6. sect. 5.

Judges 8:10 In-Context

8 And from there he went up to Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.

9 And he said to the men of Penuel, "When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower."

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword.

11 And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, for the army felt secure.

12 And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw all the army into a panic.

Cross References

• 1. See Judges 6:3
• 2. Judges 20:2, 15, 17, 25, 35, 46; 2 Samuel 24:9; 2 Kings 3:26; 1 Chronicles 21:5