Judges 6:8

That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) A prophet.—He is here left nameless, but Jewish legend says that he was Phinehas, the son of Eleazar. Their Hagadah (legendary information) generally enables them to name these nameless prophets. Thus they say that the prophet who came to Bethel was Iddo (1 Kings 13), and that the young man who anointed Jehu was Jonah.

Unto the children of Israel.—Perhaps assembled at some solemn feast, like the Passover.

I brought you up.—With the prophet’s message compare Judges 2:1-3; 2Kings 17:36-38.

Out of the house of bondage.—A clear reference to Exodus 20:2. (Comp. Psalm 44:1-2.)

Benson Commentary

Jdg 6:8. The Lord sent a prophet — We have reason to hope God is designing mercy for us, if we find he is by his grace preparing us for it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:7-10 They cried to God for a deliverer, and he sent them a prophet to teach them. When God furnishes a land with faithful ministers, it is a token that he has mercy in store for it. He charges them with rebellion against the Lord; he intends to bring them to repentance. Repentance is real when the sinfulness of sin, as disobedience to God, is chiefly lamented.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A prophet - His name is not given. (Compare 1 Kings 13.) This message is somewhat similar to that of the Angel, Judges 2:1-3. The reference to Exodus 20:2 is plain, and supposes the people to whom the prophet addresses these words to be familiar with the facts recorded in that text.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel—The curse of the national calamity is authoritatively traced to their infidelity as the cause.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel,.... "A man, a prophet" (f), as in the Hebrew text, not an angel, but a man; and this not Phinehas, as say some Jewish writers (g); for it is not probable he should live so long as more than two hundred years; and had he been living, it is very much he should not have been heard of in the times of the preceding judges, and that he was not made use of before now to reprove the people for their sins; but who the prophet was we have no account now nor hereafter, here or elsewhere. Abarbinel supposes he was raised up for a short time:

which said unto them, thus saith the Lord God of Israel; he came in the name of the Lord, and using the form and manner of speech the prophets of Israel did, putting them in mind of the true God they had forgot, and who yet was their Lord and God:

I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; reminding them of the benefits they received from God, and the obligations they lay under to serve him, who, when they were bond slaves in Egypt, he appeared for them, and brought them out of their miserable condition.

(f) "virum prophetam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (g) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 20. p. 53.

Geneva Study Bible

That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - A prophet. Literally, a man, a prophet, just as Deborah was described as a woman, a prophetess (Judges 4:4). It is interesting to observe the flow of the spirit of prophecy in those early days between Moses and Samuel, before the dispensation of the prophets had risen to its height. I brought you up from Egypt. Note the constant reference to the exodus as a fixed point in their national and religious life (see ver. 13; Judges 2:1).

CHAPTER 6:11-24 Judges 6:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But before helping them, the Lord sent a prophet to reprove the people for not hearkening to the voice of their God, in order that they might reflect, and might recognise in the oppression which crushed them the chastisement of God for their apostasy, and so be brought to sincere repentance and conversion by their remembrance of the former miraculous displays of the grace of God. The Lord God, said the prophet to the people, brought you out of Egypt, the house of bondage, and delivered you out of the hand of Egypt (Exodus 18:9), and out of the hand of all your oppressors (see Judges 2:18; Judges 4:3; Judges 10:12), whom He drove before you (the reference is to the Amorites and Canaanites who were conquered by Moses and Joshua); but ye have not followed His commandment, that ye should not worship the gods of the Amorites. The Amorites stand here for the Canaanites, as in Genesis 15:16 and Joshua 24:15.