Judges 8

Zebah and Zalmunna Routed

1 Then the men of Ephraim said to him, "¹What is this thing you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight against Midian?" And they contended with him vigorously.

2 But he said to them, "What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

3 "God has given the leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb into your hands; and what was I able to do in comparison with you?" Then their anger toward * him subsided when he said that.

4 Then Gideon and the 300 * men who were with him came ²to the Jordan and crossed over, weary yet pursuing.

5 He said to the men of ³Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian."

6 The leaders of Succoth said, "⁴Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?"

7 Gideon said, "All right, ⁵when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will thrash your bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers."

8 He went up from there to ⁶Penuel and spoke similarly to them; and the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered.

9 So he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, "When I return safely, ⁷I will tear down this tower."

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about 15,000 * * men, all who were left of the entire army of the sons of the east; ⁸for the fallen were 120,000 * * swordsmen * *.

11 Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the camp when the camp was unsuspecting.

12 When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army.

13 Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres.

14 And he captured a youth from Succoth and questioned him. Then the youth wrote down for him the princes of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.

15 He came to the men of Succoth and said, "Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom you taunted me, saying, '⁹Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are weary?' "

16 He took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them.

17 ¹⁰He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, "What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor?" And they said, "They were like you, each one resembling the son of a king."

19 He said, "They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the LORD lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you."

20 So he said to Jether his firstborn, "Rise, kill them." But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth.

21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, "Rise up yourself, and fall on us; for as the man, so is his strength." ¹¹So Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and ¹²took the crescent ornaments which were on their camels' necks.

22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son's son, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian."

23 But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; ¹³the LORD shall rule over you."

24 Yet Gideon said to them, "I would request * of you, that each of you give me an earring from his spoil." (For they had gold earrings, because they were ¹⁴Ishmaelites.)

25 They said, "We will surely give them." So they spread out a garment, and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil.

26 The weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 * * shekels of gold, besides * the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides * the neck bands that were on their camels' necks.

27 Gideon made it into ¹⁵an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

Forty Years of Peace

28 So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was undisturbed for forty years in the days of Gideon.

29 Then ¹⁶Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house.

30 Now Gideon had ¹⁷seventy sons who were his direct descendants, for he had many wives.

31 His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named * him Abimelech.

32 And Gideon the son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

33 Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, ¹⁸that the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made ¹⁹Baal-berith their god.

34 Thus the sons of Israel ²⁰did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side;

35 ²¹nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon ) in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel.

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Judges 8 Commentary

Chapter 8

Gideon pacifies the Ephraimites. (1-3) Succoth and Penuel refuse to relieve Gideon. (4-12) Succoth and Penuel punished. (13-17) Gideon avenges his brethren. (18-21) Gideon declines the government, but given occasion for idolatry. (22-28) Gideon's death, Israel's ingratitude. (29-35)

Verses 1-3 Those who will not attempt or venture any thing in the cause of God, will be the most ready to censure and quarrel with such as are of a more zealous and enterprising spirit. And those who are the most backward to difficult services, will be the most angry not to have the credit of them. Gideon stands here as a great example of self-denial; and shows us that envy is best removed by humility. The Ephraimites had given vent to their passion in very wrong freedom of speech, a certain sign of a weak cause: reason runs low when chiding flies high.

Verses 4-12 Gideon's men were faint, yet pursuing; fatigued with what they had done, yet eager to do more against their enemies. It is many a time the true Christian's case, fainting, and yet pursuing. The world knows but little of the persevering and successful struggle the real believer maintains with his sinful heart. But he betakes himself to that Divine strength, in the faith of which he began his conflict, and by the supply of which alone he can finish it in triumph.

Verses 13-17 The active servants of the Lord meet with more dangerous opposition from false professors than from open enemies; but they must not care for the behaviour of those who are Israelites in name, but Midianites in heart. They must pursue the enemies of their souls, and of the cause of God, though they are ready to faint through inward conflicts and outward hardships. And they shall be enabled to persevere. The less men help, and the more they seek to hinder, the more will the Lord assist. Gideon's warning being slighted, the punishment was just. Many are taught with the briers and thorns of affliction, who would not learn otherwise.

Verses 18-21 The kings of Midian must be reckoned with. As they confessed themselves guilty of murder, Gideon acted as the avenger of blood, being the next of kin to the persons slain. Little did they think to have heard of this so long after; but murder seldom goes unpunished in this life. Sins long forgotten by man, must be accounted for to God. What poor consolation in death from the hope of suffering less pain, and of dying with less disgrace than some others! yet many are more anxious on these accounts, than concerning the future judgment, and what will follow.

Verses 22-28 Gideon refused the government the people offered him. No good man can be pleased with any honour done to himself, which belongs only to God. Gideon thought to keep up the remembrance of this victory by an ephod, made of the choicest of the spoils. But probably this ephod had, as usual, a teraphim annexed to it, and Gideon intended this for an oracle to be consulted. Many are led into false ways by one false step of a good man. It became a snare to Gideon himself, and it proved the ruin of the family. How soon will ornaments which feed the lust of the eye, and form the pride of life, as well as tend to the indulgences of the flesh, bring shame on those who are fond of them!

Verses 29-35 As soon as Gideon was dead, who kept the people to the worship of the God of Israel, they found themselves under no restraint; then they went after Baalim, and showed no kindness to the family of Gideon. No wonder if those who forget their God, forget their friends. Yet conscious of our own ingratitude to the Lord, and observing that of mankind in general, we should learn to be patient under any unkind returns we meet with for our poor services, and resolve, after the Divine example, not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 21

1. Judges 12:1
2. Judges 7:25
3. Genesis 33:17
4. Judges 8:15
5. Judges 7:15
6. Genesis 32:31
7. Judges 8:17
8. Judges 6:5; Judges 7:12; Isaiah 9:4
9. Judges 8:6
10. Judges 8:9
11. Psalms 83:11
12. Judges 8:26
13. 1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 10:19; 1 Samuel 12:12; Psalms 10:16
14. Genesis 25:13-16
15. Exodus 28:6-35; Judges 17:5; Judges 18:14-20
16. Judges 7:1
17. Judges 9:2, 5
18. Judges 2:11, 12
19. Judg 9:4, 27, 46
20. Deuteronomy 4:9; Judges 3:7
21. Judges 9:16-18

Footnotes 22

[a]. Lit "spirit"
[b]. Lit "this thing"
[c]. Lit "Is the palm"
[d]. Lit "For thus"
[e]. Or "trample"
[f]. Lit "flesh"
[g]. In Gen 32:30, "Peniel"
[h]. Or "camps"
[i]. Or "camp"
[j]. Lit "men who drew sword"
[k]. Lit "smote"
[l]. Or "secure"
[m]. Or "camp"
[n]. Or "from"
[o]. Lit "of the men of"
[p]. Lit "Is the palm"
[q]. Lit "made the men...to know"
[r]. Lit "like the form of the sons"
[s]. Lit "request a request"
[t]. Or "a nose ring"
[u]. Lit "came from his loins"
[v]. Lit "appointed his name"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 8

In this chapter we are told how Gideon pacified the Ephraimites, who complained because they were not sent unto to fight the Midianites, Jud 8:1-3 how he pursued the Midianites, until he took their two kings, and on his return chastised the men of Succoth and Penuel, because they refused to relieve his men with food as they were pursuing, Jud 8:4-17 how he slew the two kings of Midian, Jud 8:18-21 and after this conquest refused to take the government of Israel when offered him, Jud 8:22,23 how he requested of the Israelites the earrings they had taken from the Midianites, with which he in weakness made an ephod, which proved a snare to his house, Jud 8:24-27 how that the people were in peace forty years during his life, and that he had a numerous issue, and died in a good old age, Jud 8:28-32 but that after his death the Israelites fell into idolatry, and were ungrateful to his family, Jud 8:33-35.