John Gill's Exposition on Leviticus 26:8

A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.

Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.

And five of you shall chase an hundred, etc.] One man chase twenty; and an hundred of you put ten thousand to flight; which, had it been in proportion to the other number, should have been two thousand, as in (<053230>Deuteronomy 32:30); where there is a proportion observed; and Abendana observes, there are some that give the sense of it thus, an hundred of you, an hundred times five, that is, five hundred, and so it comes up to a right computation; but here it seems to be a certain number for an uncertain, and only a proverbial expression, signifying that a very few, under the blessing of divine Providence, should get the advantage over a large number, and oblige them to retire, and pursue them closely: instances we have of large bodies of the enemy being defeated by a small number of Israelites, (<070721>Judges 7:21,22); and even many by a single person or two, (<091413>1 Samuel 14:13,14 <102308>2 Samuel 23:8-16); and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword; (see Gill on “<032607>Leviticus 26:7”).

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