Judges 8:5

Succoth On the E. of Jordan, in the territory of Gad (Joshua 13:27), near Penuel (cf. Genesis 33:17), and below it (went up Judges 8:8); and Penuel, as we learn from Genesis 32:22; Genesis 32:30 f., lay not far from the ford of Jabbok (Nahr ez-Zerḳâ). The question is, were Succoth and Penuel north or south of the Jabbok? On the whole, a position S. of the river satisfies the conditions of the narratives: Penuel near the point where the road coming E. from es-Salṭ crosses the road which comes down the Jordan valley from the north (the Ghôr route), i.e. 3 miles due E. of the ford ed-Dâmiyeh; and Succoth to the W. of Penuel, and lower down in the Jordan valley, cf. Psalms 60:6. See Driver, Expos. Timesxiii. 457 ff., Genesis, 300 ff. In the Jerus. Talmud Succoth is identified with Tar-çla (now Deir -Allâ), N. of the Jabbok (Shebi-ithix. 38 d); the identification probably rests only on a guess.

Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian Contrast Judges 7:25, and cf. Psalms 83:11. The Hebr. pronunciation of these Midianite names is intended to convey a contemptuous meaning, -Sacrifice," -Shadow (i.e. protection, Numbers 14:9) withheld," which of course was not the real one. Zalmunna, strictly perhaps Ṣalm-na-, appears to contain the name of the god Ṣalm, who is mentioned in the Aramaic inscriptions (fifth century b.c.) from Tçma in N. Arabia; in Assyrian also Ṣalmu, i.e. -the dark" (a name of the planet Saturn) or -the image," seems to be used of a divinity 1 [39].

[39] See NSI., p. 196 f.; KAT.3, p. 475 f.