Shofetim 6:29

29 And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gid’on ben Yoash hath done this thing.

Shofetim 6:29 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 6:29

And they said one to another, who hath done this thing?
&c.] They were struck with amazement, and could not devise who could be so daring and wicked as to do such an action:

and when they inquired and asked;
one and another, everyone present, or they could think of as proper to inquire of; they were very diligent and industrious to find it out; and perhaps they inquired of the family and servants of Joash and Gideon, in whose ground the altar stood:

they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing;
when they had inquired of everybody they could, and thought of one person and another, there was none appeared to them more likely to have done it, than Gideon; partly because they knew he was no friend of Baal, and partly because he was a man of spirit and courage, and they concluded none but such an one would have ventured to have done it; and besides, they considered he was the son of Joash, who perhaps was their chief magistrate, and that he might presume on his father's protection, as they might surprise; and being near the premises, he was the most likely person they could think of; and it is not improbable, that upon inquiry they got it out of the servants concerned, or that had knowledge of it from them, or from some that saw him that morning at the sacrifice, or returning from it, and therefore peremptorily assert he was the man that did it.

Shofetim 6:29 In-Context

27 Then Gid’on took ten men from his avadim, and did just as Hashem had said unto him; and so it was, because he feared his Bais Avi, and the men of the Ir, that he could not do it yomam (by day), that he did it by lailah.
28 And when the men of the Ir arose early in the boker, hinei, the mizbe’ach of Baal was cast down, and the Asherah was cut down that was beside it, and the second bull was offered upon the Mizbe’ach that was built.
29 And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gid’on ben Yoash hath done this thing.
30 Then the men of the Ir said unto Yoash, Bring out thy ben, that he may die; because he hath cast down the mizbe’ach of Ba’al, and because he hath cut down the Asherah that was beside it.
31 And Yoash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Ba’al? Will ye save him? He that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet boker; if he be Elohim, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his mizbe’ach.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.