Commentaria in Judices
MADIAN,—in Hebrew Midian is the same as litigation, strife, contention, says Pagninus, because although the Madianites were brothers of the Hebrews, as also the Ismaelites or Saracens, and the Idumeans, descendants of Esau, as sprung respectively from the same father Abraham and Jacob, yet they were their perpetual enemies. Again Madian, in Hebrew Midian, is the same as Middin, that is, from judgment, says Pagninus, because by the just judgment of God they invaded the Hebrews to chastise their crimes. Origen, however, interprets Madian as outside judgment; because the Madianites unjustly, as far as concerns themselves, though justly on God’s part, plundered the Hebrews; for these had done them no injury. Whence Tropologically, the Madianites are Turks, heretics, tyrants and other impious men, who unjustly afflict the pious, but with God permitting it either for the chastisement of sins or for the proving of patience.
3. AND WHEN ISRAEL HAD SOWN (had sown wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, etc.), MADIAN AND AMALEC (that is, a licking people) CAME UP, AND THE OTHER NATIONS OF THE EAST.—the sons of the East, born of Abraham and Cethura, dwelling to the East, who are therefore called the sons of the East, Genesis chap. 25, verse 6. Such also may be called the Ismaelites, Moabites, Ammonites, etc.
4. AND PITCHING THEIR TENTS AMONG THEM (the children of Israel), THEY WASTED ALL THINGS AS THEY WERE IN THE BLADE,—feeding on them their camels, oxen, sheep, and not permitting the crops to grow into grain and ripen to harvest; wherefore they cut down all the corn and all the provision, that the Israelites might perish of hunger.
Tropologically the Madianite is the demon and his followers, who disturb, choke and carry off the good seeds of virtue sent into the minds of men either by God, or by the preacher or some like agent, lest they grow into good work.
5. LIKE LOCUSTS.—For these by their countless multitude, as well as by the greed of eating and gnawing, cut down and consume all the shoots to the root, so that no crop can grow up and spring. Hence this was the great eighth plague of Egypt, Exodus chap. 10.
6. AND ISRAEL WAS BROUGHT LOW.—In Hebrew, was made thin; the Septuagint, impoverished and reduced to beggary.
7. AND (that is, therefore, because, namely, hunger compelled) HE CRIED TO THE LORD.—Evidently hunger teaches men who have forgotten God to remember Him; indeed to cry to Him to relieve it. So Superiors who have rebellious subjects often humble them by taking away their food, and bring them back to obedience and duty. For he who feeds another acquires a right over him of commanding what he will. For men are animal, and are led like animals by food. The barking belly will undergo anything to fill itself.
8. AND HE SENT TO THEM A PROPHET,—St. Augustine suspects that he was that Angel who soon, verse 11, appeared to Gedeon. But others passim think he was a man endowed by God with the prophetic spirit, and sent to the Hebrews after the manner of the other prophets. Who he was is unknown, because Scripture does not name him. The Rabbis divine that he was the High Priest Phinees, but rashly; for he had long since died. For if he had lived at this time, he would have been two hundred years old, because such an age in that period was unusual and unaccustomed. Moreover God, wishing to hear the cry of the Hebrews and free them from the Madianites by Gedeon, sent ahead this prophet, to rebuke sharply their ingratitude, idols and crimes, that they might return to their heart, and thereafter serve God alone. Let the Prelate imitate God, who has determined to pardon the offences of his subjects, that he first bathe and prick them with the vinegar of correction, lest they return to their vomit.
10. FEAR NOT THE GODS OF THE AMORRHITES,—that is, worship them not, revere them not. For fear in Scripture signifies all worship of God, both because “fear first made gods in the world”; and because God is chiefly worshipped with awe and reverence, according to that: “If I be a Lord, where is my fear?” Malach. 1:6. For the Lord asks fear from the servant, and wills to be feared and worshipped by him.
11. AND AN ANGEL OF THE LORD CAME, AND SAT UNDER AN OAK THAT WAS IN EPHRA,—a city so called, which was the native place of Gedeon, to whom this Angel was sent. Ephra is therefore different from Ephrata; for this was in the tribe of Manasses, of which Gedeon was, as is plain from verse 15. Again Ephrata is written with aleph: Ephra with ayin. Besides, Ephrata in Hebrew is the same as increase: Ephra the same as dusty, or hind, or doe. Moreover the Angel sat fittingly under an oak, as though about to add strength to Gedeon for fighting against Madian. For the oak, strong, is a symbol of strength. Hence saluting him he says: “The Lord is with thee, most valiant of men.” So Debbora sat under a palm, because by her oracles she was weaving the palm of victory for Barac and the Hebrews against Sisara.
AND BELONGED (the oak under which the Angel was resting) TO JOAS THE FATHER OF THE FAMILY OF EZRI,—of which Gedeon was. For Joas was father, that is, prince, or first and head of the family of Ezri, from which Gedeon was sprung. Such elsewhere are called princes of houses, that is, of families. The Hebrew is Abiezri, which Vatablus and others take as a proper name, and render, to Joas sprung from Abiezri: for the family of Abiezri was famous, as is plain from verse 34. Moreover Abiezri in Hebrew is the same as father of help; from this was born Gedeon, who was destined by God for the help of Israel, to free it from the Madianites.
AND WHEN GEDEON HIS SON (of Joas) WAS THRESHING AND CLEANSING WHEAT BY THE WINE PRESS, TO FLEE FROM MADIAN.—“Threshing,” namely with a flail, as the Belgians and others beat out the grain from the ears by flailing the crops. Otherwise in Palestine (as is still done in Italy) oxen threshed the crops by trampling with their hoofs, and so beating out the grain; whence that: “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out thy corn,” Deut. 25:4. But Gedeon here threshed with a flail, lest he be discovered by the approaching enemy; and for the same reason he did it in the wine press, where grapes are wont to be pressed and wine drawn from them; for this winepress was in a level place; and perhaps in a barn, as Vatablus will have it, where crops are wont to be flailed and threshed.
Tropologically St. Gregory, book III of the Morals, chap. 17: “What is it,” he says, “to beat corn with a rod, but by rectitude of judgment to separate the grains of virtues from the chaff of vices? But to those who do this an Angel appears: because the more zealously men cleanse themselves from outward things, the more the Lord announces inward things.”
Allegorically St. Augustine, serm. 108 On the Time: “The winepress,” he says, “where he was threshing the harvest, on account of the continual tribulations of the Church bore a type. The harvest that was threshed signified the Christian people, which Christ, coming, separated with the rod of discipline or the staff of his cross from the chaff, that is, from all sins. For that Angel also who came to him is taken as a type of the Lord Saviour. The tree under which he stood, and the rod which he held, signified the cross, it is manifest. That rock upon which Gedeon offered the holocaust was Christ. For so the Apostle says: And the rock was Christ. That kid which was offered signified the human race liable to sins. That the Angel touched the rock with his rod and fire came forth and consumed that kid; the cross touched Christ, and from the rock which was Christ, the fire of charity came forth, which consumed the sins of the human race. For of Himself the true Gedeon, Christ, said in the Gospel: I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?”
And St. Ambrose, preface to book I On the Holy Spirit: “Not idly,” he says, “did he place the fleece not in the field, nor in the meadow, but on the threshing-floor, where is the harvest of wheat (for the harvest is great, but the labourers are few), because through the faith of the Lord there would be a fruitful harvest of virtues.”
12. AND THE ANGEL SAID: THE LORD (be) WITH THEE, MOST VALIANT OF MEN (in Hebrew gibbor hechayil, that is, strong in strength or strenuousness; the Septuagint, powerful in strength, the Chaldee, man of virtue; Vatablus, most valiant man: for gibbor signifies a strong man, powerful, robust, such as the giants were: chayil signifies strength, industry, strenuousness, powers. Whence Serarius suspects that for “of men” we should read “of powers,” but nothing compels us to say this: for “of men” corresponds to the Hebrew gibbor; and gibbor signifies both strong and man; for men are strong. Hence Gabriel is named as it were the strong one of God, or the man of God. Add: he who is strongest in powers is the most valiant of men.)
Moreover Gedeon was strong not only in body but more in mind, with which he generously undertook so great a war. Again he was strong not only with natural but also with supernatural strength, which God here bestowed on him, and was thereafter to bestow, to undertake so arduous a work. For when God attributes some name to anyone, He at the same time gives him the thing and the gift signified by the name. So when the Blessed Virgin was saluted by Gabriel, God’s ambassador, “full of grace,” then God at the same time bestowed on her a new abundance and fullness of grace: for the salutation of God (and of His saints, as of St. Paul, says Chrysostom) is efficacious, and with God to say is to do. So God, changing the name of Simon and calling him Kepha (Cephas), that is, Peter, bestowed on him rock-like strength, by which he should be the foundation of the Church. The same is to be said of John and James, when He called them Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, and of Abram, when He called him Abraham, that is, father of many nations, etc.