Judges 8:10

10 Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor with their army. Of the whole army of desert tribesmen, only about 15,000 were left; 120,000 soldiers had been killed.

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Judges 8:10 In-Context

8 Gideon went on to Penuel and made the same request of the people there, but the men of Penuel gave the same answer as the men of Sukkoth.

9 So he said to them, "I am going to come back safe and sound, and when I do, I will tear this tower down!"

10 Zebah and Zalmunna were at Karkor with their army. Of the whole army of desert tribesmen, only about 15,000 were left; 120,000 soldiers had been killed.

11 Gideon went on the road along the edge of the desert, east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army by surprise.

12 The two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, ran away, but he pursued them and captured them, and caused their whole army to panic.