(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.)

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

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.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.