Judges 6:5

5. as locusts] Repeated in Jdg_7:12; for the comparison see Jer_46:23. The text of Jdg_6:3-5 shews signs of a mixed origin. Thus the grammar is irregular, frequentative tenses in Jdg_6:3 are followed by narrative aorists in Jdg_6:4, and these again by frequentatives in Jdg_6:5. Notice the repetition of came up in Jdg_6:3 and came into in Jdg_6:5; the Amalekites, and the children of the east is due to the same hand as Jdg_6:33 and Jdg_7:12; till thou come to Gaza has the look of an editorial exaggeration. Perhaps in their simplest form the verses may have run: “(3) And it used to happen that when Israel had sown, Midian used to come up against him, (4) and they used to leave no sustenance … nor ass, (5) for they and their cattle used to come up, and their tents, and come into the land to destroy it.” This may have formed the introduction to the earlier of the two narratives which are combined in 6–8; and the remaining sentences may have been derived from the introduction to the later of the two narratives (Moore, Nowack, Lagrange), or they may be merely glosses (Budde). The whole passage has been pieced together by the Dtc. editor.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For they came up with their cattle, and their tents,.... Brought their flocks and their herds with them, to eat up the increase of the earth, and their tents, which they pitched and removed from place to place, for the convenience of feeding their cattle, and while they cut down the fruit of the earth everywhere, which serves to confirm the sense of the Targum and Vulgate Latin version of Jdg 6:5.

and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; or "as locusts" (c), they were like them for their number, and for devouring all they came to:

and their camels were without number; which they brought with them, to load and carry off their plunder they could not eat. Midian was a place famous for camels and dromedaries, Isa 60:6 and so Arabia, the people of which joined the Midianites in this expedition; of whom Leo Africanus says (d), that they reckon of their riches and possessions by their camels; wherefore if anyone speaks of the riches of such a prince or nobleman, he says that he is possessed of so many camels, and not of so many thousands of pieces of gold, see Job 1:3.

and they entered into the city to destroy it; this was their sole view. In suchlike manner as this did Alyattes king of the Lydians make war with the Milesinns, as Herodotus (e) relates; which passage Grotius has quoted at large.

(c) "tanquam locustae", Pagninus, V. L. Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (d) Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 745. (e) Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 17.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Jdg 6:5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; [for] both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.

Ver. 5. And they came as grasshoppers.] Innumerable and devoratory. See Jdg 6:4 Joe 2:25

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 5. They came up with their cattle and their tents] All this proves that they were different tribes of wanderers who had no fixed residence; but, like their descendants the Bedouins or wandering Arabs, removed from place to place to get prey for themselves and forage for their cattle.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(5) As grasshoppers.—See Jdg_7:12. Rather, as locusts. The magnificent imagery of Joe_2:2-11 enables us to realise the force of the metaphor, and Exo_10:4-6 the number of locusts, which are a common metaphor for countless hordes. Aristophanes (Ach. 150) speaks of an army so numerous that the Athenians will cry out, “What a mass of locusts is coming!” The Bedouin call the locusts Gurrud Allah, “Host of God” (Wetzstein, Hauran, p. 138).

Their camels.—These were very uncommon in Palestine, and were brought by the invaders from the Eastern deserts.

Without number.—This is Oriental hyperbole. “When Burckhardt asked a Bedouin, who belonged to a tribe of 300 tents, how many brothers he had, he flung a handful of sand into the air, and replied, ‘Equally numberless’” (Cassel).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Grasshoppers - Rather locusts (compare Exo 10:4-6, Exo 10:14-15; Joel 1; 2; Psa 78:46)

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Locusts. This comparison shews the rapacity and devastation of the enemy. Locusts in those countries often obscure the air with their numbers, and presently eat up every green thing. They proceed in regular order like a great battalion, and it is reported that they send some before to explore the country. (St. Jerome in Joel ii.; Bochart; Calmet) (Genesis x. 4.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Without number, i.e. so many that it was not easy to number them. It is an hyperbole.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. As grasshoppers — Or locusts, a specimen of whose desolating and all-devouring march is depicted in Joe_1:4; Joe_2:1-11. They come in such numbers as to darken all the land, and speedily consume every green thing.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As grasshoppers. See the striking description of the destruction caused by locusts in Joe 3. I have heard travellers in India describe the sudden darkening of the sky by a flight of locusts.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Without number - That is, so many that it was not easy to number them. And not in a regular army to engage, but in a confused swarm, to plunder the country. Yet Israel, being forsaken of God, had not spirit to make head against them; God fighting against them with those very terrors, with which otherwise he would have fought for them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Whenever they and their livestock and tents came up

The land of Midian was south of the land of Israel, near the Red Sea. It was common to use the phrase "came up" when speaking of traveling from Midian to Israel. AT: "Whenever the Midianites brought their livestock and tents to the land of Israel"

they would come as a swarm of locusts

The Midianites are compared to a swarm of locusts because they came in with a great number of people and their livestock ate everything that grew. (See: Simile)

it was impossible to count

This is an exaggeration, a hyperbole, showing the number is very great. (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)

Midian weakened

Here "Midian" represents the people of Midian. (See: Metonymy)

called out to Yahweh

This is an idiom. AT: "prayed to Yahweh for help" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

livestock

tent

locust

camel

Midian

Israel

call

Yahweh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

With their cattle to graze on the produce.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.