Judges 6:1, commentary and pictures

Judges 6:1 marks another turn in Israel's continual story of backsliding followed by chastisement, then confession followed by deliverance. It comes after the deliverances through Othniel, Shamgar, Ehud, Deborah and Barak and after forty years of peace, when Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. Doing evil meant forsaking the Lord God of their fathers by mingling among the heathen and learning their works, intermarrying with them and serving their idols. By those sins they were separated from God and His strength was removed from them so they could no longer prevail against their enemies but were brought into subjection to the very nations they might have subdued through Him. In wrath He withdrew His protecting hand and delivered them into the hand of Midian. Yet He did not utterly forsake them, for there was ever a remnant true to Him, and from time to time He raised up faithful and valiant men to put down idolatry and deliver them, though when the deliverer died the people gradually returned to their idols again.

The Midianites, whom Israel had nearly destroyed in the days of Moses, had since increased greatly and become numerous and powerful, and thirsting for revenge they joined with the Amalekites to seize the opportunity. Unlike earlier oppressions that had fallen but lightly on the tribes east of the Jordan, those tribes were now the first sufferers, and then ravaging spread through the whole land from the Jordan to the Philistine plain. The wild desert invaders came as soon as the harvests ripened and stayed until the last fruits were gathered, stripping the fields, robbing and maltreating the people, devastating the land and forcing those in the open country to abandon their homes for walled towns, fortresses, caves and rocky fastnesses.

The oppression lasted seven years. During that time the distressed people cried to God without at first truly repenting. Until at last they gave heed to His reproof, confessed their sins and sought His mercy, when He again raised up a helper for them.