Judges 8:10

10 Zebah and Zalmunna and their army were in the city of Karkor. About fifteen thousand men were left of the armies of the peoples of the east. Already one hundred twenty thousand 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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Judges 8:10 In-Context

8 Gideon left Succoth and went to the city of Peniel and asked them for food. But the people of Peniel gave him the same answer as the people of Succoth.
9 So Gideon said to the men of Peniel, "After I win the victory, I will return and pull down this tower."
10 Zebah and Zalmunna and their army were in the city of Karkor. About fifteen thousand men were left of the armies of the peoples of the east. Already one hundred twenty thousand soldiers had been killed.
11 Gideon went up the road of those who live in tents east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked the enemy army when they did not expect it.
12 Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian, ran away, but Gideon chased and captured them and frightened away their army.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.