Discovery BoxJudges 8:28 
Context8:28 The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites’ fighting spirit was broken. 1 The land had rest for forty years during Gideon’s time. 2
Judges 9:23
Context9:23 God sent a spirit to stir up hostility 3 between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem. He made the leaders of Shechem disloyal 4 to Abimelech.
Judges 11:29
Context11:29 The Lord’s spirit empowered 5 Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went 6 to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites. 7
1 tn Heb “Midian was humbled before the Israelites, and they no longer lifted their heads.”
2 tn Heb “in the days of Gideon.”
3 tn Heb “an evil spirit.” A nonphysical, spirit being is in view, like the one who volunteered to deceive Ahab (1 Kgs 22:21). The traditional translation, “evil spirit,” implies the being is inherently wicked, perhaps even demonic, but this is not necessarily the case. The Hebrew adjective רָעַה (ra’ah) can have a nonethical sense, “harmful; dangerous; calamitous.” When modifying רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) it may simply indicate that the being in view causes harm to the object of God’s judgment. G. F. Moore (Judges [ICC], 253) here refers to a “mischief-making spirit.”
4 tn Heb “The leaders of Shechem were disloyal.” The words “he made” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 tn Heb “was on.”
6 tn Heb “passed through.”
7 tn Heb “From Mizpah in Gilead he passed through [to] the Ammonites.”
