Judges 8:17-27

17 He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the people in that city.

18 Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, "What were the men like that you killed on Mount Tabor?" They answered, "They were like you. Each one of them looked like a prince."

19 Gideon said, "Those were my brothers, my mother's sons. As surely as the Lord lives, I would not kill you if you had spared them."

20 Then Gideon said to Jether, his oldest son, "Kill them." But Jether was only a boy and was afraid, so he did not take out his sword.

21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, "Come on. Kill us yourself. As the saying goes, 'It takes a man to do a man's job.'" So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna and took the decorations off their camels' necks.

22 The people of Israel said to Gideon, "You saved us from the Midianites. Now, we want you and your son and your grandson to rule over us."

23 But Gideon told them, "The Lord will be your ruler. I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you."

24 He said, "I want you to do this one thing for me. I want each of you to give me a gold earring from the things you took in the fighting." (The Ishmaelitesn wore gold earrings.)

25 They said, "We will gladly give you what you want." So they spread out a coat, and everyone threw down an earring from what he had taken.

26 The gold earrings weighed about forty-three pounds. This did not count the decorations, necklaces, and purple robes worn by the kings of Midian, nor the chains from the camels' necks.

27 Gideon used the gold to make a holy vest, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. But all the Israelites were unfaithful to God and worshiped it, so it became a trap for Gideon and his family.

Judges 8:17-27 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.