וּמִדְיָ֨ן וַעֲמָלֵ֤ק וְכָל־בְּנֵי־קֶ֙דֶם֙ נֹפְלִ֣ים בָּעֵ֔מֶק כָּאַרְבֶּ֖ה לָרֹ֑ב וְלִגְמַלֵּיהֶם֙ אֵ֣ין מִסְפָּ֔ר כַּח֛וֹל שֶׁעַל־שְׂפַ֥ת הַיָּ֖ם לָרֹֽב׃
Madian, Amalec et toutes les peuplades d’Orient se déployaient dans la vallée, nombreux comme les sauterelles; et l’on ne pouvait compter leurs chameaux, pressés comme le sable qui est au bord de la mer.
Rav Hirsch
V. 10. את כל עריהם במושבתם. Habakuk 3, 7 heißt es: ירגזון יריעות ארץ מדין, woraus zu schließen wäre, daß die Midjaniten nach Nomadenart unter Zeltteppichen wohnten. Ein ähnliches scheint sich aus Richter 6, 5 zu ergeben, wo sie, allerdings mit Anschluss anderer Völker, mit ihren Zelten, Herden und Kamelen, das jüdische Land überzogen. Vergl. auch daselbst 7, 12; 8, 21 u. 24, wo sie als ישמעאלים charakterisiert werden, worunter doch wohl Nomadenvölker zu verstehen sind. Wenn demnach hier von ihren Städten und Burgen gesprochen wird, so müssen sie wohl, obgleich überwiegend als Nomaden lebend, doch auch in Städten sesshaft gewesen sein, und erklärte sich damit die Beifügung: במושבתם zu עריהם, die Städte waren da, wo sie, obgleich sonst Nomaden, doch auch feste Wohnsitze hatten, wohin sie sich zu Zeiten zurückzogen. ואת כל טירתם (siehe Bereschit 25, 16). Zugleich sehen wir auch dort, daß die ישמעאלים doch auch feste Plätze hatten.
Rabbeinu Bahya
Rabbeinu Chananel wrote that G’d had a different reason for leading the Israelites through the desert. He needed an excuse for demonstrating miracles for the people. Had G’d led the Jewish people by the most direct route and had influenced the Philistines to let them travel through their country unmolested, this would have been such a minor miracle that it would not have impressed the people with an appreciation of how G’d had exerted Himself on their behalf. G’d’s desire to demonstrate His power and ability to triumph over what appeared to be insurmountable difficulties made it necessary for Him to lead the people through an inhospitable desert. By leading the people through the desert G’d forced Himself to come up with the heavenly manna as the solution to their food problems, with the extraction of water from a rock and the traveling well as the solution to their water problems, with the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire as the solution to problems of an inhospitable climate, etc., etc. The further the Israelites traveled from civilization the greater were the miracles required to keep them alive and well.
It is characteristic of G’d’s השגחה פרטית, benevolent providence for the righteous, that He performs miracles within miracles. We find, for instance, that when Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah were thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar because they refused to accept him as a deity and to bow before his golden image, G’d could have saved them by the simple expedient of extinguishing the fire in that furnace (Daniel 3,27). Instead, G’d’ troubled Himself not only to allow these men to walk around within that flaming kiln as if they and their garments were totally oblivious to the infernal heat, but He visibly increased the heat and the fire within that kiln; He showed Nebuchadnezzar a vision of three unbound men enjoying themselves within that flaming kiln totally unperturbed by what Nebuchadnezzar thought he had accomplished. Nebuchadnezzar was enabled to look through opaque thick walls, another miracle. When G’d saved Daniel from the den of lions (Daniel 6,23), He also could have done so by means of lesser miracles such as simply killing the lions in that den. Instead, G’d chose to leave the lions alive but to prevent them from harming Daniel. In other words, the miracle within the miracle was that G’d interfered with the lions’ instincts in order to demonstrate His power.
We find something similar in the Book of Judges when Gideon was commanded to fight the Midianites. Seeing that the Midianites were described as “as numerous as the sand of the sea,” (Judges 7,12) G’d could have allowed ten or twenty thousand men to fight them and their victory would surely have been credited to G’d seeing that even such a number of men would have been greatly outnumbered by their opponents. However, G’d chose to allow only three hundred men to go to war against Midian thus increasing the miracle and as a result His reputation. The prophet states that G’d wanted to ensure that no Israelite would be able to take credit for the victory (Judges 7,2). Actually, in response to the call that the faint-hearted Israelites should return home, ten thousand remained after twenty-two thousand had departed. G’d told Gideon specifically that the remaining ten thousand men were still far too numerous to fight against Midian! (7,4). They were to be tested by the manner in which they would lap up water to drink from a pond or river. The people who lapped up water like a dog were chosen as soldiers in G’d’s army, whereas those that drank like human beings, i.e. bringing the water to their mouths instead were sent home! (7,7).
It is characteristic of G’d’s השגחה פרטית, benevolent providence for the righteous, that He performs miracles within miracles. We find, for instance, that when Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah were thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar because they refused to accept him as a deity and to bow before his golden image, G’d could have saved them by the simple expedient of extinguishing the fire in that furnace (Daniel 3,27). Instead, G’d’ troubled Himself not only to allow these men to walk around within that flaming kiln as if they and their garments were totally oblivious to the infernal heat, but He visibly increased the heat and the fire within that kiln; He showed Nebuchadnezzar a vision of three unbound men enjoying themselves within that flaming kiln totally unperturbed by what Nebuchadnezzar thought he had accomplished. Nebuchadnezzar was enabled to look through opaque thick walls, another miracle. When G’d saved Daniel from the den of lions (Daniel 6,23), He also could have done so by means of lesser miracles such as simply killing the lions in that den. Instead, G’d chose to leave the lions alive but to prevent them from harming Daniel. In other words, the miracle within the miracle was that G’d interfered with the lions’ instincts in order to demonstrate His power.
We find something similar in the Book of Judges when Gideon was commanded to fight the Midianites. Seeing that the Midianites were described as “as numerous as the sand of the sea,” (Judges 7,12) G’d could have allowed ten or twenty thousand men to fight them and their victory would surely have been credited to G’d seeing that even such a number of men would have been greatly outnumbered by their opponents. However, G’d chose to allow only three hundred men to go to war against Midian thus increasing the miracle and as a result His reputation. The prophet states that G’d wanted to ensure that no Israelite would be able to take credit for the victory (Judges 7,2). Actually, in response to the call that the faint-hearted Israelites should return home, ten thousand remained after twenty-two thousand had departed. G’d told Gideon specifically that the remaining ten thousand men were still far too numerous to fight against Midian! (7,4). They were to be tested by the manner in which they would lap up water to drink from a pond or river. The people who lapped up water like a dog were chosen as soldiers in G’d’s army, whereas those that drank like human beings, i.e. bringing the water to their mouths instead were sent home! (7,7).
Rashi
נפל (literally, he fell) means ‘‘he dwelt”, as (Judges 7:12) “Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all children of the East dwelt (נופלים) in the valley.” Here it says “He fell” and there (16:12) it says “In the presence of all his brethren shall he dwell”. But it may be explained thus: before Abraham died it could be said “He would dwell in security: after he died, “he fell” (Genesis Rabbah 62:5).