Judges 6:2

2 And Israel was oppressed of them greatly; and Israel made ditches, and dens to themselves in hills, and most strong places to fight against Midian. (And Israel was greatly oppressed by them; and in the hills they made ditches, and caves, and strongholds for themselves, from which to fight against the Midianites.)

Judges 6:2 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 6:2

And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel
They were too strong for them, and overcame them, and brought them into subjection to them, and no wonder, when the Lord delivered them into their hand:

and because of the Midianites;
because of their usage of them, their manner of coming upon them yearly, and pillaging and plundering their substance, as after related:

the children of Israel made them dens which are in the mountains;
the word for "dens" has the signification of light in it, and are so called either by an antiphrasis, because they were dark, or, as Kimchi thinks, because they had a window at the top of them, which let in the light

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 but Ben Gersom conjectures they were torches, which gave a great light, and when they that held them saw from the mountains the Midianites, by these torches they made a signal to the Israelites to take care and hide themselves and their substance:

and caves, and strong holds;
the caves were for the poorer sort, and the strong holds for the richer to retire to with their goods; though, according to Jarchi, the latter were no other than fences they made in woods, by cutting down trees, and setting them round about them, perhaps much the same as the thickets, ( 1 Samuel 13:6 ) .

F1 So David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 90. 3. or "because men flowed and flocked to them for safety"; so Buxtorf.

Judges 6:2 In-Context

1 Forsooth the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he betook them into the hand of Midian seven years. (And the Israelites did more evil before the Lord, and he delivered them into the hands of the Midianites for seven years.)

2 And Israel was oppressed of them greatly; and Israel made ditches, and dens to themselves in hills, and most strong places to fight against Midian. (And Israel was greatly oppressed by them; and in the hills they made ditches, and caves, and strongholds for themselves, from which to fight against the Midianites.)

3 And when Israel had sown, Midian ascended, and Amalek (was with them), and others of the nations of the east;

4 and they setted their tents beside the sons of Israel, and they wasted all things that were in herbs, either green corn, unto the entering of Gaza, and utterly they left not in Israel anything pertaining to life, not sheep, not oxen, not asses (and they left not utterly any beast alive in Israel, not sheep, nor oxen, nor donkeys).

5 For they and all their flocks came with their tabernacles, and at the likeness of locusts they full-filled all things, and a multitude of men and of camels was without number (yea, they were a multitude without number of men and of camels), and they wasted whatever thing(s) they touched.