Shofetim 6:1

1 And the Bnei Yisroel did evil in the sight of Hashem; Hashem delivered them into the yad Midyan [See Gn.25:2] sheva shanim.

Shofetim 6:1 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 6:1

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,
&c.] After the death of Deborah and Barak, during whose life they kept to the pure worship of God, and who, perhaps, lived pretty near the close of the forty years' rest, or of the twenty years from their victory over Jabin; but they dying, the children of Israel fell into idolatry, for that that was the evil they did appears from ( Judges 6:10 ) , even worshipping the gods of the Amorites:

and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years:
this was not the Midian where Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, lived, which lay more southward, but that which joined to Moab, and was more eastward. This people had been destroyed by the Israelites in the times of Moses, in their way to the land of Canaan, ( Numbers 31:1 ) wherefore they might bear them a grudge, and now took the opportunity to revenge themselves on them, God permitting them so to do for their sins; and though the destruction of this people by Israel was very general, yet as some of them might make their escape, and afterwards return to their own land, and this being about two hundred years ago, might, with others joining them, repeople their country by this time, and become strong and powerful.

Shofetim 6:1 In-Context

1 And the Bnei Yisroel did evil in the sight of Hashem; Hashem delivered them into the yad Midyan [See Gn.25:2] sheva shanim.

2 And the yad Midyan prevailed against Yisroel; and because of Midyan the Bnei Yisroel made them dens in the mountains, and caves, and strongholds.

3 And so it was, when Yisroel had sown, that Midyan came up, and Amalek, and the Bnei Kedem, even they came up against them;

4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of ha’aretz, till thou come unto Azah (Gaza), and left no sustenance for Yisroel, neither seh, nor ox, nor donkey.

5 For they came up with their cattle and their ohalim, and they came as a swarm of arbeh for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number; and they entered into ha’aretz to destroy it.