What Does Judges 8:11 Mean?

(11) **By the way of them that dwelt in tents.**—He seems to have taken a wide circuit, through some nomad district, leaving the main road, which runs through Nobah and Jogbehah, so as once more to make up for his inferior numbers (for there were still 15,000 left of these children of the East) by surprise and stratagem. **Nobah.**—In Gilead, belonging to the half-tribe of Manasseh (Numbers 32:42). It was originally called Kenath, but the name was altered in honour of a Manassite hero, who is otherwise unrecorded. Jewish tradition says that he was born in Egypt, and died during the passage of the Jordan (*Seder Olam Rabba*)*. *The original name displaced its rival, for the site is now called *Kenâwat.* **Jogbehah.**—In Gad (Numbers 32:34). It is not mentioned elsewhere, and has not been identified. **The host was secure.**—They would have thought it most unlikely that the Israelites, with their mere handful of men, would pursue so large an army for so long a distance. They fancied themselves beyond the reach of pursuit because they miscalculated the energy and powers of Gideon, who, not improbably, once more attacked them by night.