Judges 8:16

Jdg 8:16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.

Ver. 16. And he took the elders of the city, and thorns, &c.] Wherewith he tore them, as well as taught them what it was to be so barbarous, and that he had not threatened them in terrorem only. God also chastiseth his children, and thereby "teacheth them," but after another manner, "out of his law, that he may give them rest from the day of adversity." {Psa 94:12-13} He whippeth them, but it is with sweetbrier. But let scorners of God and his people, deriders and discouragers of the good, look for a Gideon to torture them, with briers and thorns, with scourges and scorpions.

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.

Jdg 8:16-17. With them he taught the men of Succoth — He tore their flesh with these thorns, (as he had threatened, Jdg 8:7.) It is not said that he tormented them till they expired, and therefore he perhaps only put them to torture for some time; but if he put them to death, then the expression, with them he taught the men of Succoth, must mean, that he made their death an example to the rest of the inhabitants, to terrify them from such ungenerous behaviour for the future. “As their crime was the same,” says Dr. Dodd, “as that of the men of Penuel, it seems likely that it was a punishment unto death. However severe, this chastisement was just. In refusing Gideon the succour which he demanded for the troops employed to save the state, they rendered themselves guilty of a species of rebellion; they sinned against the laws of humanity; they joined insult to their cruelty; and their refusal, unworthy a people who had any respect for religion, and any love for their country, merited a more public chastisement; as otherwise their example might have proved contagious, and have defeated all the good effects of Gideon’s government.” He slew the men of the city — Not all of them; probably only those who had affronted him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, break in pieces, as one thresheth corn.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

he took . . . the thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth--By refusing his soldiers refreshment, they had committed a public crime, as well as an act of inhumanity, and were subjected to a horrible punishment, which the great abundance and remarkable size of the thorn bushes, together with the thinness of clothing in the East, has probably suggested.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 16. He taught the men of Succoth.] Instead of וידע he taught, Houbigant reads וידש he tore; and this is not only agreeable to what Gideon had threatened, Jdg 8:7, but is supported by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. The Hebrew text might have been easily corrupted in this place by the change of ש shin into ע ain, letters very similar to each other.

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

(16) He taught.—Literally, made to know (Pro_10:9); but דע may be a misreading for ישׂ “he threshed,” as in Jdg_6:7. (Vulg. contrivit atque comminuit.)

The men of Succoth.—i.e., the elders. Gideon would be well aware that in an Oriental city the mass of the people have no voice in any decision. Ewald takes it to mean, “By them (the slain elders) he taught the (rest of the) people of Succoth to be wiser in future.”

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

16. and with them he taught] Read, changing one letter, threshed as in Jdg_8:7, with LXX. B ἠλόησεν, A κατέξανεν. The Vulgate gives a double rendering: et contrivit cum eis, atque comminuit viros Soccoth. Peshitto and Targ. paraphrase. The meaning seems to be that Gideon dragged thorns and teasels over their prostrate bodies, i.e. carded them; a form of torture well known in antiquity. For ‘threshing’ in this metaphorical sense cf. Amo_1:3, Mic_4:13, Isa_41:15.

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.

And he took the elders of the city,.... All of them, especially those of them who had been most guilty, and had them to a proper place, where they might be made public examples of:

and thorns of the wilderness, and briers; which were near at hand, and soon cut up, for which he gave orders to proper persons:

and with them he taught the men of Succoth; either the inhabitants of the place, as distinct from the elders, whose punishment he taught them to be cautious not to follow such examples, or to behave ill to their superiors; or the princes and elders of the city are meant by the men of it, whom Gideon taught or chastised with thorns and briers; and so it is usual with us for a parent or master to say to his child or servant that has offended, I will "teach" you to do so or so, or to do otherwise, when he threatens to chastise: or "with them he made them to know" (z); that is, their sin and the heinousness of it, by the punishment he inflicted on them. Abarbinel thinks the word "know" has the signification of mercy in it, as in Exo 2:25 in that he did not punish in general the men of that city, only the elders of it. The Targum is,"he broke upon them, or by them, the men of Succoth;''so Jarchi and others; that is, he broke the briers and thorns upon them, scourging them with them; or rather broke and tore their flesh by them: whether they died or no is not certain.

(z) "et cognoscere fecit", Montanus; so some in Vatablus; "notificavit", Piscator.

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

He taught - Thought to be a false reading, for “he threshed,” as in Jdg 8:7 margin.

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

Tore. Hebrew seems to be corrupted in this place. "And he shewed (instructed or chastised) with these thorns." The Septuagint and Vulgate read the same word as ver. 7. He crushed the people with such instruments as are used to beat out corn. It is probable that he only treated the magistrates of Soccoth and of Phanuel in this manner. (Calmet)

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).

By that severe punishment (of which Jdg 8:7) he made the men, i.e. the elders of Succoth, to know their sin and folly, though it was too late for their good, but not for the instruction and warning of others.

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

16. Taught the men — Made them know his power, and their own guilt, in refusing him supplies. He gave them such a severe scourging, by means of the whips of thorns and briers, that the lesson of respect for God’s chosen conqueror could thenceforth neither be misunderstood nor forgotten.

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

He taught, i.e. corrected, punished. It is, however, very probable that the true leading is Ire threshed or tore (yadash for yadah, the final letters and (being very similar). We have then the fulfilment of Gideon"s threat in ver. 7 recorded in the same words with regard to Succoth, just as the breaking down of the tower of Penuel in ver. 17 is in verbal agreement with ver. 9. The Septuagint and Vulgate both seem to have found he threshed in their copies.

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

Tore with them. "Broke apart" with them.

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.