Do to them as to the Midianites. The faithful, having complained of the very grievous oppressions to which they were subjected, with the view of inducing God the more readily to succor them, now call to their remembrance the many occasions on which he had afforded relief to his people, when brought into the most desperate circumstances. From this, it is an obvious inference, that God wisely delays his aid to his servants under oppression, that when they seem to be reduced to the last extremity, he may appear in a miraculous manner for their succor. The prophet, in this verse, mingles together two histories. Strict accuracy would have required him to have said in one connected sentence, Do to them as to the Midianites at the brook Kishon. But he inserts in the middle of this sentence, the slaughter of Jabin and Sisera. It was, however, of no great importance to distinguish particularly between the two histories. He considered it enough for his purpose, to bring to the remembrance of himself and other pious Jews, the miracles which God in the days of old had so often wrought in delivering his people. The great object aimed at is to show, that God, who had so often put his enemies to flight, and rescued his poor trembling sheep out of the jaws of wolves, was not now without the power of effecting the same deliverance. The wonderful manner in which he succoured his people by the hand of Gideon is well known: Judges 6 and 7; It might have seemed altogether ridiculous for Gideon to venture to engage in battle against a very powerful army, with no greater a number of men of war than three hundred, and these, be it observed, such as had been in a state of bondage during their whole lives, and whom the mere look of their lords might have thrown into consternation. And yet, it came to pass, that the Midianites perished by turning their swords against each other. The same goodness God displayed in the slaughter of Sisera and king Jabin, Judges 4:13. Barak, under the conduct of a woman, Deborah, discomfited them both, when, with a small handful of soldiers, he intrepidly gave battle to their mighty host. And Sisera, the general of the army, did not die bravely on the field of battle, but was smitten by the hand of a woman after he had retired to some hiding-place. That the faithful may not be overwhelmed with terror and fall into despair, they seasonably fortify themselves with these examples of deliverance, by which God had shown that in himself alone there resides a sufficiency of power to defend his people, whenever, destitute of the resources of human aid, they should betake themselves to him. From that astonishing and unwonted mode of granting deliverance, they came to the conclusion, that he is a wonderful worker in preserving his Church; in order to encourage themselves to entertain the fullest confidence, that in his breath alone they would have sufficient strength to overthrow all their enemies. Nor is it only in this passage that the slaughter of the Midianites is related for this purpose. Isaiah also (Isaiah 9:4) introduces it for confirming the truth of the Church's restitution: "For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian." When it is stated that they became manure for the earth, the expression may be explained as meaning, either, first, that their carcases lay rotting upon the earth; or, secondly, that they were trampled under foot as manure. This latter exposition is the most appropriate; but I do not reject the former. The reason why it is said, They perished at Endor, it is somewhat difficult to ascertain. The name, Endor, is to be found in Joshua 17:11; and it is probable, that the army of king Jabin was destroyed there. [1] The opinion entertained by some, that Endor is here used as an appellative, conveying the idea that their discomfiture was open and visible to the eye, is what I cannot approve.

Footnotes

1 - Endor is not mentioned in the account given of the discomfiture of Jabin's host, and the slaughter of Sisera, in Judges 4; but it appears from Joshua 17:11, which Calvin quotes, to have been a part of the portion which fell to the tribe of Manasseh. In that passage, Taanach and Megiddo are mentioned as districts adjoining to Endor. And in the song of Deborah, the kings of Canaan who fought on the occasion referred to, against the Israelites, are said to have fought "in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo," Judges 5:19. This may explain why they are said to have perished at Endor, which was near the place where Sisera's army were destroyed.

Do unto them as unto the Midianites - That is, Let them be overthrown and destroyed as the Midianites were. The reference here is to the complete overthrow of the Midianites, as related in Numbers. 31.
As to Sisera - The captain or commander of the army of Jabin, king of Canaan. He was conquered by the Hebrew armies under the direction of the prophetess Deborah, by the instrumentality of Barak Judges 4:4, Judges 4:6,Judges 4:14-15, and was slain by Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, Judges 4:17-21.
As to Jabin - The king of Canaan, in whose service Sisera was.
At the brook of Kison - Judges 4:13. This is a stream which rises near Mount Tabor, and empties itself into the Bay of Ptolemais. In Judges 5:21, in the song of Deborah on occasion of this victory, it is mentioned as "that ancient river, the river Kishon;" that is, it was a stream which was well known; which had been referred to in ancient tales and poetry; not a newly discovered river, but a river whose name and locality were familiar to all.

Do unto them as unto the Midianites - Who were utterly defeated by Gideon, Judges 7:21, Judges 7:22.
As to Sisera - Captain of the army of Jabin, king of Canaan, who was totally defeated by Deborah and Barak, near Mount Tabor, by the river Kishon; and himself, after having fled from the battle, slain by Jael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite. See Judges 4:15, etc.

Do unto them as [unto] the (h) Midianites; as [to] Sisera, as [to] Jabin, at the brook of Kison:
(h) By these examples they were confirmed that God would not permit his people to be completely destroyed, (Judges 7:21, Judges 4:15).

Do unto them as unto the Midianites,.... In the times of Gideon, who destroyed one another, trod in whose destruction the hand of the Lord was very visible, Judges 7:20, and much in the same manner was the confederate army of the Moabites, Ammonites, and others, destroyed in the times of Jehoshaphat, 2-Chronicles 20:20,
as to Sisera, as to Jabin: Jabin was a king of Canaan, who oppressed Israel, and Sisera was his general; the latter was slain by a woman, Jael, the wife of Heber; and the former the hand of Israel prevailed against, until they destroyed him, Judges 4:2, the great victory which they obtained over them was
at the brook of Kison, or "Kishon", Judges 4:7 with this compare 2-Chronicles 20:16.

All who oppose the kingdom of Christ may here read their doom. God is the same still that ever he was; the same to his people, and the same against his and their enemies. God would make their enemies like a wheel; unsettled in all their counsels and resolves. Not only let them be driven away as stubble, but burnt as stubble. And this will be the end of wicked men. Let them be made to fear thy name, and perhaps that will bring them to seek thy name. We should desire no confusion to our enemies and persecutors but what may forward their conversion. The stormy tempest of Divine vengeance will overtake them, unless they repent and seek the pardoning mercy of their offended Lord. God's triumphs over his enemies, clearly prove that he is, according to his name JEHOVAH, an almighty Being, who has all power and perfection in himself. May we fear his wrath, and yield ourselves to be his willing servants. And let us seek deliverance by the destruction of our fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.

Compare the similar fate of these (2-Chronicles 20:23) with that of the foes mentioned in Judges 7:22, here referred to. They destroyed one another (Judges. 4:6-24; Judges 7:25). Human remains form manure (compare 2-Kings 9:37; Jeremiah 9:22).

With כּמדין reference is made to Gideon's victory over the Midianites, which belongs to the most glorious recollections of Israel, and to which in other instances, too, national hopes are attached, Isaiah 9:3 [4], Isaiah 10:26, cf. Habakkuk 3:7; and with the asyndeton כּסיסרא כיבין (כּסיסרא, as Norzi states, who does not rightly understand the placing of the Metheg) to the victory of Barak and Deborah over Sisera and the Canaanitish king Jabin, whose general he was. The Beth of בּנחל is like the Beth of בּדּרך in Psalm 110:7 : according to Judges 5:21 the Kishon carried away the corpses of the slain army. ‛Endôr, near Tabor, and therefore situated not far distant from Taanach and Megiddo (Judges 5:19), belonged to the battle-field. אדמה, starting from the radical notion of that which flatly covers anything, which lies in דם, signifying the covering of earth lying flat over the globe, therefore humus (like ארץ, terra, and תבל, tellus), is here (cf. 2-Kings 9:37) in accord with דּמן (from דמן), which is in substance akin to it. In Psalm 83:12 we have a retrospective glance at Gideon's victory. ‛Oreb and Zeēb were שׂרים of the Midianites, Judges 7:25; Zebach and Tsalmunna‛, their kings, Judges 8:5.
(Note: The Syriac Hexapla has (Hosea 10:14) צלמנע instead of שׁלמן, a substitution which is accepted by Geiger, Deutsch. Morgenlnd. Zeitschr. 1862, S. 729f. Concerning the signification of the above names of Midianitish princes, vid., Nldeke, Ueber die Amalekiter, S. 9.)
The pronoun precedes the word itself in שׁיתמו, as in Exodus 2:6; the heaped-up suffixes ēmo (êmo) give to the imprecation a rhythm and sound as of rolling thunder. Concerning נסיך, vid., on Psalm 2:6. So far as the matter is concerned, 2-Chronicles 20:11 harmonizes with Psalm 83:13. Canaan, the land which is God's and which He has given to His people, is called נאות אלהים (cf. Psalm 74:20).