Then all the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and the children
of the east
The Arabians, ( Judges 6:3 ) were gathered together; not as being alarmed with this fact of Gideon in destroying the altar of Baal, and so came to avenge it; but it was their usual time of gathering together to come into Canaan, being harvest time, as appears by Gideon being employed in threshing, to fetch away the increase of the earth, as they had done for some years past:
and went over;
the river Jordan, which lay between the Midianites and the Israelites:
and pitched in the valley of Jezreel;
a very large, delightful, and fruitful plain; of which (See Gill on Hosea 1:5); a very proper place for such a large number to pitch on, and from whence they might receive much; and a suitable place to bring the increase of the land to, from the several parts of it, which was the business they came upon; and as this lay on the borders of Issachar and Manasseh, it was not far from Gideon, and this gave him an opportunity of exerting himself, and executing his commission.