Judges 8:21

21 And Zebee and Salmana said, Rise thou and fall upon us, for thy power as that of a man; and Gedeon arose, and slew Zebee and Salmana: and he took the round ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

Judges 8:21 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 8:21

Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, rise thou and fall upon us
Since they must die, they chose rather to die by the hand of so great a man and valiant a commander as Gideon, which was more honourable than to die by the hand of a youth:

for as the man is, so is his strength;
signifying, that as he was a stout able man, he had strength sufficient to dispatch them at once, which his son had not, and therefore they must have died a lingering and painful death: wherefore as they consulted their honour, so their ease, in desiring to die by the hand of Gideon:

and Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna;
nor was it unusual in those early times for great personages, as judges and generals, to be executioners of others, as were Samuel and Benaiah, ( 1 Samuel 15:33 ) ( 1 Kings 2:25 1 Kings 2:34 )

and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks;
the Targum calls them chains, as in ( Judges 8:26 ) no doubt of gold; so the horses of King Latinus F2 had golden poitrels or collars hanging down their breasts. They were, according to Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Gersom, in the form of the moon; see ( Isaiah 3:18 ) some have thought that these were worn in honour of Astarte, or the moon, the goddess of the Phoenicians, from whom these people had borrowed that idolatry.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 Virg. Aeneid. l. 7. v. 278.

Judges 8:21 In-Context

19 And Gedeon said, They were my brethren and the sons of my mother: the Lord lives, if ye had preserved them alive, I would not have slain you.
20 And he said to Jether his first-born, Rise and slay them; but the lad drew not his sword, for he was afraid, for he was yet very young.
21 And Zebee and Salmana said, Rise thou and fall upon us, for thy power as that of a man; and Gedeon arose, and slew Zebee and Salmana: and he took the round ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
22 And the men of Israel said to Gedeon, Rule, lord, over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son; for thou hast saved us out of the hand of Madiam.
23 And Gedeon said to them, I will not rule, and my son shall not rule among you; the Lord shall rule over you.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. round like the moon; perhaps circular, or in the form of a crescent.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.