Judges 8

And the men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you treated us like this, not calling us when you went to fight against the Midianites?” And they rebuked him sharply.

2 And he said to them, “What have I done now compared with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?

8:2 Gideon is saying that Ephraim’s final pursuit of the enemy (“gleanings of the grapes of Ephraim”) was far more important than his own initial attack (“the grape harvest of Abiezer”. Abiezer was Gideon’s clan – Jud 6:11).⚜

3 God has delivered the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hands. And what was I able to do compared with you?” Then their anger toward him subsided, when he said that.

4 And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed it, he and the three hundred men with him, weary but still pursuing the enemy. 5 And he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me; for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian”.

6 And the princes of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?”

7 And Gideon said, “So when the LORD delivers Zebah and Zalmunna into my hands, then I will rip up your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briars”.

8:7 Compare Jud 5:23.⚜

8 And he went up from there to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way. And the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered him. 9 And he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, “When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower”.

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the armies of the eastern peoples. For a hundred and twenty thousand men who drew sword had fallen. 11 And Gideon went up by way of the tent dwellers to the east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army; for the army was off guard. 12 And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and seized the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army.

13 And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up, 14 and caught a young man of the men of Succoth and questioned him; and the youth wrote down for him the names of the leaders of Succoth, and its elders, seventy-seven men. 15 And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “See Zebah and Zalmunna about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your weary men?’ ” 16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns and briars from the wilderness, and with them gave a lesson to the men of Succoth. 17 And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

8:15-17 Again we see the seriousness of the sin of refusing to help God’s servants in their fight against God’s enemies. Note at 5:23.⚜

18 Then said he to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men were those whom you killed at Tabor?” And they answered, “They were like you. Each one looked like the children 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 And he said to Jether his firstborn, “Get up and kill them”. But the youth did not draw his sword, because he was afraid; for he was still a youth.

21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “You rise up and strike us down. For as the man, so is his strength”. And Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

Gideon makes an idol

22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you and your son and your grandson; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian”.

23 And Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD shall rule over you”. 24 And Gideon said to them, “I would request that each one of you give me the earrings from his plunder”. (For they had golden earrings, because the enemy had been Ishmaelites.)

8:24 Ishmaelites formed a part of the defeated army.⚜

25 And they answered, “We will willingly give them”. And they spread a cloth, and each man threw on it the earrings from his plunder. 26 And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand seven hundred shekels of gold. Besides there were ornaments and necklaces and purple clothing that had been on the kings of Midian, besides the chains that were around the necks of their camels. 27 And with this gold Gideon made an ephod and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel went there prostituting themselves to it. This became a snare to Gideon and to his household.

Gideon’s death

28 In this way Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, so that they no longer lifted up their heads. And the country had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon.

29 And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. 30 And Gideon had seventy sons, his bodily descendants; for he had many wives. 31 And his concubine, who was in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech. 32 And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

33 And it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned back and prostituted themselves to the Baals and made Baal-Berith their god. 34 And the children of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. 35 And they did not show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, for all the good which he had done to Israel.

8:35 People who are not grateful to God may not show much gratitude to His servants either.⚜