Judges 8:1-27

Zebah and Zalmunna

1 Now the Ephraimites asked Gideon, “Why have you treated us like this? Why didn’t you call us when you went to fight Midian?” And they challenged him vigorously.

2 But he answered them, “What have I accomplished compared to you? Aren’t the gleanings of Ephraim’s grapes better than the full grape harvest of Abiezer?

3 God gave Oreb and Zeeb, the Midianite leaders, into your hands. What was I able to do compared to you?” At this, their resentment against him subsided.

4 Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it.

5 He said to the men of Sukkoth, “Give my troops some bread; they are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

6 But the officials of Sukkoth said, “Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your troops?”

7 Then Gideon replied, “Just for that, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.”

8 From there he went up to Peniel^[a] and made the same request of them, but they answered as the men of Sukkoth had.

9 So he said to the men of Peniel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower.”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.

11 Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the unsuspecting army.

12 Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.

13 Gideon son of Joash then returned from the battle by the Pass of Heres.

14 He caught a young man of Sukkoth and questioned him, and the young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven officials of Sukkoth, the elders of the town.

15 Then Gideon came and said to the men of Sukkoth, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me by saying, ‘Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’ ”

16 He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Sukkoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers.

17 He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.

18 Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” “Men like you,” they answered, “each one with the bearing of a prince.”

19 Gideon replied, “Those were my brothers, the sons of my own mother. As surely as the LORD lives, if you had spared their lives, I would not kill you.”

20 Turning to Jether, his oldest son, he said, “Kill them!” But Jether did not draw his sword, because he was only a boy and was afraid.

21 Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Come, do it yourself. ‘As is the man, so is his strength.’ ” So Gideon stepped forward and killed them, and took the ornaments off their camels’ necks.

Gideon’s Ephod

22 The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”

23 But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”

24 And he said, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)

25 They answered, “We’ll be glad to give them.” So they spread out a garment, and each of them threw a ring from his plunder onto it.

26 The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to seventeen hundred shekels,^[b] not counting the ornaments, the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian or the chains that were on their camels’ necks.

27 Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Judges 8:1-27 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Cross References

• 1. S Judges 6:11
• 2. S Genesis 25:2
• 3. Judges 12:1
• 4. 2 Samuel 19:41
• 5. S Numbers 26:30
• 6. S Judges 7:25; Proverbs 15:1
• 7. Judges 7:25
• 8. S Genesis 33:17
• 9. Job 16:7; Psalms 6:6; Jeremiah 45:3
• 10. ver 7,12; Psalms 83:11
• 11. ver 14
• 12. 1 Samuel 25:11
• 13. ver 15
• 14. S ver 5; Judges 7:15
• 15. ver 9,17; Genesis 32:30; 1 Kings 12:25
• 16. ver 17
• 17. S Judges 6:5; Judges 7:12; Isaiah 9:4
• 18. Numbers 32:42
• 19. S Numbers 32:35
• 20. S Judges 6:11
• 21. Judges 1:35
• 22. ver 6
• 23. S Exodus 3:16
• 24. ver 6
• 25. 1 Samuel 14:12; ver 7
• 26. S ver 8
• 27. ver 9
• 28. S Joshua 19:22; Judges 4:6
• 29. S Numbers 14:21
• 30. ver 26; Isaiah 3:18; Psalms 83:11
• 31. S Exodus 16:8; S Numbers 11:20; 1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 10:19; 1 Samuel 12:12
• 32. S Genesis 35:4
• 33. S Genesis 49:27
• 34. S Genesis 16:11; Genesis 25:13
• 35. S ver 21
• 36. S Exodus 25:7; Judges 17:5; Judges 18:14
• 37. S Joshua 18:23
• 38. S Exodus 10:7; Deuteronomy 7:16; Psalms 106:39
• 39. S Exodus 32:2

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "Penuel," a variant of "Peniel" ; also in verses 9 and 17
• [b]. That is, about 43 pounds or about 20 kilograms