CHAPTER 8. EVENTS TO THE DEATH OF GIDEON. In this chapter we are told how Gideon pacified the Ephraimites, who complained because they were not sent for to fight the Midianites; how he pursued the Midianites until he took their two kings; and how on his return he chastised the men of Succoth and Pe... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 8. EVENTS TO THE DEATH OF GIDEON. In this chapter we are told how Gideon pacified the Ephraimites, who complained because they were not sent for to fight the Midianites; how he pursued the Midianites until he took their two kings; and how on his return he chastised the men of Succoth and Pe... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he said to them, “What have I done in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?” ' Gideon revealed that he had learned from his wise father. He did not try to argue the position, or point out that Yahweh alone had received any glory... [ Continue Reading ]
“ God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger was abated towards him when he said that.' Note the double repetition of ‘in comparison with you'. Like his father he was a diplomat and by it he pacified th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, faint, yet pursuing.' Gideon came to the Jordan. The last part of Judges 7:25 and Judges 8:1 had been looking ahead, now in Judges 8:4 we return to Gideon's pursuit of the enemy. He was not satisfied just w... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said to the men of Succoth, “Give, I pray you, loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are faint and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” ' Succoth was in the region of Gad in the Jordan rift valley not far from Zarethan (1 Kings 7:46). It is probably T... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hands that we should give bread to your army.' These would be the chief men of the town, honoured among the elders. ‘Said' is in the singular. One spoke for them all. They were frightened of the sword arms of the Midia... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Gideon said, “Therefore when the Lord has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will thresh your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness, and with briers.” ' Harsh though this may sound it was in fact comparatively merciful. Their breaking of the covenant with Yahweh strictly dema... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he went up thence to Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.' He and his men received the same treatment at Penuel. Again the tribal covenant with Yahweh was ignored in the interests of safety. The only possible inferenc... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.” ' His response to the elders of Penuel was similar. They had a tower which was the strongpoint of the town, in which they took great pride. This suggests that the town guarded an important p... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen eleph men, all that were left of the host of the children of the east, for there fell a hundred and twenty eleph men that drew sword.' Here the term ‘children of the east' includes the whole armies of Midian, Amalek an... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And Gideon went up by the way of those who dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host for they were off their guard.' With his men hungry and fainting Gideon visited the semi-nomads who were keeping their flocks to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, where it seems they found... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited with terror all the host.' The name Zebah means ‘slaughter, sacrifice'. It was intended to indicate his fearsomeness as a warrior, but here indicates his destiny. Before t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle, from the ascent of Heres.' Gideon ‘returned from battle.' That was the last thing that the leaders of Succoth or Penuel had expected. They had not realised that Yahweh was with him. “FROM THE ASCENT OF HERES”. This means the ascent of ‘the sun'.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and enquired of him. And he wrote down for him the names of the princes of Succoth, and its elders, even seventy seven men.' Gideon would not kill haphazardly. The covenant had been broken and due punishment was required, but he would only exact it... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he came to the men of Succoth, and said, “Behold, Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?” ' Their words had clearly hit Gideon hard. He could not forgive what they ha... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness, and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.' The words are expressive. They were taught what it meant to breach the covenant, with thorns and briers, probably by a severe beating. It may be that he spared their lives fo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he broke down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.' Penuel was a fortified city and thus had less excuse for their cowardice and breach of covenant, so he destroyed their fortifications and slew their chief men, ‘the men of the city'. This latter interpretation is probable becau... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ Then said he to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What manner of men were they whom you slew at Tabor?” And they answered, “As you are, so were they. Each one resembled the children of a king.” ' “THEN SAID HE TO ZEBAH AND ZALMUNNA.” This was clearly later when he had returned home, for his son was now with h... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he said, “They were my brothers, even the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.” ' They were guilty out of their own mouths and had determined their own punishment. They had by their actions forfeited mercy. As they had done, so would be done t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Up, and slay them”.' But the youth drew not his sword, for he feared, because he was yet a youth.' The men had slain members of his own family. It was therefore required that revenge be obtained through a blood relative, and he wanted his son to have the hon... [ Continue Reading ]
Judges 8:21 a ‘Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You rise and fall on us, for as the man is, so is his strength.” ' The two kings, no doubt tightly bound, made no plea for mercy. Now that they knew that Gideon was brother to the men they had themselves executed they knew that they could expect none.... [ Continue Reading ]
GIDEON IS MADE AN HEREDITARY PRINCE AND MAKES AN EPHOD (JUDGES 8:22). Judges 8:22 ‘ Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “You rule over us, both you and your son, and your son's son also. For you have saved us out of the hand of Midian.” ' As a Judge of Israel Gideon did have authority over the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. Yahweh shall rule over you.' There are good grounds for thinking that in fact this was a speech of acceptance couched in pious terms. He certainly proceeded to behave like a ruling prince (Judges 8:27; Judges 8:... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Gideon said to them, “I would desire a request of you, that you would give me, every man, the earrings (or nose-rings) from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings (or nose rings) because they were Ishmaelites).' Ishmaelites were rated as Midianites, possibly as a sub-tribe (see also Genesis... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And they answered, “We will willingly give (literally ‘giving we will give') them,” and they spread a garment, and cast in it every man the earrings from his spoil.' The people responded willingly, probably having been informed of his purpose. They spread a long robe and filled it with the earrin... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescents and the pendants, and the purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were on their camels' necks.' A large amount of gold was thus gat... [ Continue Reading ]
Judges 8:27 A ‘And Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah.' We do not know for certain what an ephod (a metallic sacral robe) in this context was for. In Exodus 28:6 it was a garment worn by the priests, which contained the precious stones which represented the tribes o... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ So Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.' As a result of Gideon's work under Yahweh's hand Midian was removed as a problem for the next generation. The forty years also indicates a period... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FINAL DAYS OF GIDEON (JUDGES 8:29). Judges 8:29 ‘ And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.' He was now accepted as a ruler in his own right and set up his own household, no longer subject directly to his father. He was of course already a married man of some years as w... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Gideon had seventy sons begotten from his own body (literally ‘going out of his thigh'), for he had many wives. And his concubine who was in Shechem she also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech.' Having been made sole ruler of his territory he began to behave like it. He married... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.' The reference to his ‘good old age' demonstrates to the writer that his life had pleased God. He was gathered to his fathers in the family sepulchre. From now on... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And so it was that, as soon as Gideon was dead, the children of Israel turned again, and went a-whoring after the Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.' This is illustrated further in Judges 9. It was partially the result of his many wives, as Judges 9 demonstrates. Baal-berith, ‘lord of the cove... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the children of Israel did not remember Yahweh their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side, nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had showed to Israel.' Once again the children of I... [ Continue Reading ]