Verse 10:[1] Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of (Judg. 7:12) all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword (or, an hundred and twenty thousand, everyone drawing a sword,[2] Judg. 20:2,[3] 15, 17, 25; 2 Kings 3:26).
[Now, Zebah and Zalmunna were resting] In Hebrew it is בַּקַּרְקֹר, in Karkor, although there is a suspicion that something has been lost from our text (Bonfrerius). [Bochart otherwise:] The Vulgate (says he) translates that בַּקַּרְקֹר, they were resting; for to the Arabs קַרְקַרַה/CARCARA is a land in which life is passed safely and peaceful; and the verb קַרַּ/CARRA, whence is קַרְקַרַ/CARCARA, signifies to rest and to be in safety, especially in the tenth conjugation. Thus in Psalm 107:29, the waves of the sea אסתקרת, were calm (Bochart’s Sacred Geography “Canaan” 1:23:505). There is no mention of the קַרְקַר/Carcar of this passage anywhere else in Scripture or in Josephus (Bonfrerius). It was a city beyond Jordan (Vatablus).
Men that drew sword: that is, Persons expert and exercised in war, besides the retainers to them, Judges 6:5.
[1] Hebrew: וְזֶ֙בַח וְצַלְמֻנָּ֜ע בַּקַּרְקֹ֗ר וּמַחֲנֵיהֶ֤ם עִמָּם֙ כַּחֲמֵ֤שֶׁת עָשָׂר֙ אֶ֔לֶף כֹּ֚ל הַנּ֣וֹתָרִ֔ים מִכֹּ֖ל מַחֲנֵ֣ה בְנֵי־קֶ֑דֶם וְהַנֹּ֣פְלִ֔ים מֵאָ֙ה וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים אֶ֛לֶף אִ֖ישׁ שֹׁ֥לֵֽף חָֽרֶב׃
[2] Hebrew: מֵאָ֙ה וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים אֶ֛לֶף אִ֖ישׁ שֹׁ֥לֵֽף חָֽרֶב׃.
[3] Judges 20:2: “And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword (אַרְבַּ֙ע מֵא֥וֹת אֶ֛לֶף אִ֥ישׁ רַגְלִ֖י שֹׁ֥לֵֽף חָֽרֶב׃).” Similarly in Judges 20:15, 17, 25; 2 Kings 3:26.
Jonathan Edwards' Original Sin: 'God from time to time very publicly manifested himself to the nations of the world, by wonderful works wrought in the time of the Judges, of a like tendency with those already mentioned. Particularly in so miraculously destroying, by the hand of Gideon, almost the whole of that vast army of the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the children of the east, consisting of about 135,000 men. (Judges 7:12 and 8:10.) But no reformation followed this, or the other great works of God, wrought in the times of Deborah and Barak, Jephthah and Samson.'
Matthew Henry: 'Gideon, as a valiant general, pursuing the remaining Midianites, and bravely following his blow. A very great slaughter was made of the enemy at first: 120,000 men that drew the sword, Judges 8:10. Such a terrible execution did they make among themselves, and so easy a prey were they to Israel. But, it seems, the two kings of Midian, being better provided than the rest for an escape, with 15,000 men got over Jordan before the passes could be secured by the Ephraimites, and made towards their own country. Gideon thinks he does not fully execute his commission to save Israel if he let them escape. He is not content to chase them out of the country, bu…