Judges 8:34 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side,

NIV: and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.

NASB: So the sons of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had saved them from the hands of all their enemies on every side;

CSB: The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God who had rescued them from the hand of the enemies around them.

NLT: They forgot the Lord their God, who had rescued them from all their enemies surrounding them.

KJV: And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:

NKJV: Thus the children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side;

Following the death of God's deliverer, Gideon (Judges 8:32–33), the people of Israel began to sin in three specific ways. First, as described in the previous verse, they became unfaithful to the Lord. They once more worshipped the Canaanite deities known as Baals. They made a god known as Baal-berith their god in place of the One True God (Exodus 3:15; 20:1–6).

Second, in this verse, they once again forgot the Lord—they failed to "remember" Him. This implies an intentional setting aside of something. It doesn't mean they became unaware of God's existence or lost all memory of what had happened in the past. Rather, it means they stopped thinking those things mattered. They lived as if He didn't exist and worshipped as if He was not real.

The third sin is mentioned in the following verse: callousness to Gideon's surviving family (Judges 8:35).

Judges 8:29–35 describes Gideon's enormous family after God's power defeated Midianite raiders. Wealthy and influential, Gideon takes many wives and has seventy sons. This includes one son by a Canaanite concubine. Unrestrained by a deliverer after Gideon's death, the people of Israel dive deeper into worshiping false idols. They abandon God and worship Baal-berith. They also stop caring for Gideon's family. This sudden change factors into the sordid events recorded in chapter 9.

Gideon soothes the anger of the men of Ephraim. Then, with his 300 fighting men, he chases the remnant of the Midianite army. After a difficult pursuit, he finally catches and defeats them in the wilderness. Gideon then returns to two Israelite towns who refused to help him along the way. He flogs the leaders of one town and kills the men of the other. He then executes the captured enemy kings. Gideon collects tribute from Israel but declines to become their official king. He lives to gain seventy sons, many wives, and at least one Canaanite concubine. When Gideon dies, Israel immediately returns to idol worship.

Judges 8 follows the great victory described at the end of the previous chapter. This passage begins with Gideon awkwardly soothing the anger of Ephraimites while trying to chase down an escaping enemy. After capturing the Midianite kings, Gideon punishes two towns for failing to aid their fellow Israelites. Gideon refuses to become a literal king but collects tribute from the people and lives like a king all his days, with many wives and sons. The people return to idol worship after his death. Soon after, the concubine's son, Abimelech, murders Gideon's other sons and briefly rules before meeting a gruesome death.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).

Accessed 11/22/2024 5:45:39 AM