Judges 8:1-21--Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna

Judges 8:1-21
English Standard Version

Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna
8 Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they accused him fiercely. 2 And 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 grape harvest of Abiezer? 3 God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger against him subsided when he said this.

4 And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing. 5 So he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” 6 And the officials of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?” 7 So Gideon said, “Well then, when the LORD has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” 8 And from there he went up to Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. 9 And he said to the men of Penuel, “When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword. 11 And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, for the army felt secure. 12 And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw all the army into a panic.

13 Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. 14 And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men. 15 And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?’” 16 And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson. 17 And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

​18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?” They answered, “As you are, so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a king.” 19 And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the LORD lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.” 20 So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise and kill them!” But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a young man. 21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.” And Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

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I posted a map last time that includes the final skirmishes of the battle against Midian.   Ephraim was upset that they were not invited to the original battle (because they wanted glory for themselves), but Gideon humbled himself and said that they were the ones that defeated two Midianite princes and that their "harvest" (their victory in battle) was superior to his own.  However, very few people know of the contribution of the Ephraimites, but most children that have gone to Sunday school know of Gideon.  However, the anger of the Ephraimites was subdued.

 Now Gideon pursued the kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, whom all the residents of the Trans-Jordan area seemed to fear, for Gideon came to the people of Succoth and asked for provisions for his men as they were in pursuit of these pagan kings, and the people refused to help them for fear that they would not defeat Zebah and Zalmunna and that these kings would take their vengeance on anyone who helped Gideon and the 300 men with him.  So, Gideon then promised that he would be back to take his vengeance out on the town of Succoth.  Similarly, he went to the town of Penuel to ask for provision and they similarly refused and Gideon promised that he would return and tear down their tower that they had built there.

Now we finally get some idea of the number of men that Gideon's 300 men went up against.  Only 15,000 men remained of the 120,000 that the Midianite army started off with, but even the small part of that army that remained was 50 times the size of Gideon's army (it was originally 400 times their size).  Gideon attacked them where they felt they were safe from attack and threw all the soldiers into a panic and their two kings rand for their lives.

Then Gideon returned to Succoth and questioned a man from the city about the names of all the elders of the city, and once he had a list of all their names, he rounded all of them up and punished them as he had promised for failing to help him in his battle against the Midianite kings.  He then returned to Penuel and broke down the tower and killed the men of the city.

Gideon asked the Midianite kings for any prisoners of war they had taken, but they gave the command for all of the prisoners to be killed--yet their men did not obey out of fear.  However, they did not tell Gideon of the location of the prisoners and demanded that their lives be taken instead, so Gideon happily complied and killed them and took the crescent symbols from the necks of their camels (most likely as a trophy, but maybe as proof of what he had done).

Unfortunately, Gideon is not the perfect man of God that we want him to be and this story will have a less-than-perfect ending that we'll talk about in the next two articles.