Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 6:1

"And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah: and Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years." — Judges 6:1 (ASV)

Did evil. —Judges 2:11; Judges 3:12; Judges 4:1.

Midian.—Midian was the son of Abraham and Keturah (Genesis 25:2), and from him descended the numerous and wealthy nomadic tribes which occupied the plains east of Moab (Numbers 31:32–39). The name belongs, properly, to the tribes on the southeast of the Gulf of Aqaba (1 Kings 11:18). Moses himself had lived for forty years among them (Exodus 3:1; Exodus 18:1); but the Israelites had been commanded to maintain deadly hostility against the nation because of the shameful worship of Baal-peor, to which, under the instigation of Balaam, the Midianites had tempted them (Numbers 25:1–18).