Jueces 8:21

21 Zeba y Zalmuna dijeron:—Vamos, mátanos tú mismo. “¡Al hombre se le conoce por su valentía!”Gedeón se levantó y mató a Zeba y Zalmuna, y les quitó a sus camellos los adornos que llevaban en el cuello.

Jueces 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Jueces 8:21 In-Context

19 —¡Eran mis hermanos —replicó Gedeón—, los hijos de mi propia madre! Tan cierto como que vive el SEÑOR, si les hubieran perdonado la vida, yo no los mataría a ustedes.

20 Volviéndose a Jéter, su hijo mayor, le dijo:—¡Vamos, mátalos!Pero Jéter no sacó su espada, porque era apenas un muchacho y tenía miedo.

21 Zeba y Zalmuna dijeron:—Vamos, mátanos tú mismo. “¡Al hombre se le conoce por su valentía!”Gedeón se levantó y mató a Zeba y Zalmuna, y les quitó a sus camellos los adornos que llevaban en el cuello.

22 Entonces los israelitas le dijeron a Gedeón:—Gobierna sobre nosotros, y después de ti, tu hijo y tu nieto; porque nos has librado del poder de los madianitas.

23 Pero Gedeón les dijo:—Yo no los gobernaré, ni tampoco mi hijo. Solo el SEÑOR los gobernará.