Judges 8:8-18

8 From there Gideon went up to Peniel and again asked for food, but he got the same answer.

9 So he said to the people of Peniel, “After I return in victory, I will tear down this tower.”

10 By this time Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with about 15,000 warriors—all that remained of the allied armies of the east, for 120,000 had already been killed.

11 Gideon circled around by the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, taking the Midianite army by surprise.

12 Zebah and Zalmunna, the two Midianite kings, fled, but Gideon chased them down and captured all their warriors.

13 After this, Gideon returned from the battle by way of Heres Pass.

14 There he captured a young man from Succoth and demanded that he write down the names of all the seventy-seven officials and elders in the town.

15 Gideon then returned to Succoth and said to the leaders, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. When we were here before, you taunted me, saying, ‘Catch Zebah and Zalmunna first, and then we will feed your exhausted army.’”

16 Then Gideon took the elders of the town and taught them a lesson, punishing them with thorns and briers from the wilderness.

17 He also tore down the tower of Peniel and killed all the men in the town.

18 Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “The men you killed at Tabor—what were they like?” “Like you,” they replied. “They all had the look of a king’s son.”

Judges 8:8-18 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew Penuel, a variant spelling of Peniel; also in 8:9, 17 .