Judgeschapter 8

A.Ephraim's complaint; Succoth refuses breadvv. 1-12

1 Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you done this to us? Why did you fail to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him violently. 2 But Gideon answered them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? 3 God has delivered Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian, into your hand. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he had said this, their anger against him subsided. 4 Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit. 5 So Gideon said to the men of Succoth, “Please give my troops some bread, for they are exhausted, and I am still pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” 6 But the leaders of Succoth asked, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your army?” 7 “Very well,” Gideon replied, “when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness!” 8 From there he went up to Penuel and asked the same from them, but the men of Penuel gave the same response as the men of Succoth. 9 So Gideon told the men of Penuel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower!” 10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army of about fifteen thousand men—all that were left of the armies of the people of the east. A hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had already fallen. 11 And Gideon went up by way of the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, taking them by surprise. 12 When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, Gideon pursued and captured these two kings of Midian, routing their entire army.

B.Zebah and Zalmunna answer for Taborvv. 13-21

13 After this, Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle along the Ascent of Heres. 14 There he captured a young man of Succoth and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth. 15 And Gideon went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your weary men?’” 16 Then he took the elders of the city, and using the thorns and briers of the wilderness, he disciplined the men of Succoth. 17 He also pulled down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. 18 Next, Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” “Men like you,” they answered, “each one resembling the son of a king.” 19 “They were my brothers,” Gideon replied, “the sons of my mother! As surely as the LORD lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” 20 So he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword; he was fearful because he was still a youth. 21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and kill us yourself, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from the necks of their camels.

C.Gideon refuses a crown and makes an ephodvv. 22-27

22 Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you and your son and grandson—for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” 23 But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.” 24 Then he added, “Let me make a request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his plunder.” (For the enemies had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 “We will give them gladly,” they replied. So they spread out a garment, and each man threw an earring from his plunder onto it. 26 The weight of the gold earrings he had requested was 1,700 shekels, in addition to the crescent ornaments, the pendants, the purple garments of the kings of Midian, and the chains from the necks of their camels. 27 From all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

D.Seventy sons, and Israel back to the Baalsvv. 28-35

28 In this way Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. So the land had rest for forty years in the days of Gideon, 29 and he—Jerubbaal son of Joash—returned home and settled down. 30 Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives. 31 His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. 32 Later, Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 33 And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god. 34 The Israelites failed to remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. 35 They did not show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for Israel.

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Chapter summary

Victory brings quarrels.

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Victory brings quarrels. Ephraim complains at being called late, and Gideon disarms them with a proverb about their gleaning being better than Abiezer's vintage. Succoth and Penuel refuse bread to the pursuit, and are repaid with thorns and a broken tower once Zebah and Zalmunna are taken. Then Israel offers Gideon a dynasty, and his refusal is the book's high theological moment: 'I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: Jehovah shall rule over you.' Yet he asks for the golden earrings of the spoil and makes an ephod, and all Israel plays the harlot after it, a snare to Gideon and to his house. Forty years of rest end at his grave.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament.

Context

History · Samuel — Judges overview

A. 1–12 Ephraim's complaint; Succoth refuses bread
B. 13–21 Zebah and Zalmunna answer for Tabor
C. 22–27 Gideon refuses a crown and makes an ephod
D. 28–35 Seventy sons, and Israel back to the Baals

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Judges 98 verses
- Judges 9:1Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and said to them and to all the clan of his mother,
- Judges 9:2“Please ask all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and blood.”
- Judges 9:4So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him.
- Judges 9:5He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.
- Judges 9:8One day the trees set out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’
- Judges 9:16Now if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done well by Jerubbaal and his family, and if you have done to him as he deserves—
- Read Judges 9: 2 more there →
Judges 85 verses
- Judges 8:6But the leaders of Succoth asked, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your army?”
- Judges 8:7“Very well,” Gideon replied, “when the LORD has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will tear your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness!”
- Judges 8:9So Gideon told the men of Penuel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower!”
- Judges 8:17He also pulled down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
- Judges 8:26The weight of the gold earrings he had requested was 1,700 shekels, in addition to the crescent ornaments, the pendants, the purple garments of the kings of Midian, and the chains from the necks of their camels.
- Read Judges 8 →
Judges 74 verses
- Judges 7:1Early in the morning Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the men with him camped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.
- Judges 7:12Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.
- Judges 7:15When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Get up, for the LORD has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.”
- Judges 7:24Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim to say, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth-barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth-barah.
- Read Judges 7 →
Judges 63 verses
- Judges 6:11Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
- Judges 6:24So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
- Judges 6:32So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he had torn down Baal’s altar.
- Read Judges 6 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Genesis 372 verses
- Genesis 37:25And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.
- Genesis 37:28So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
- Read Genesis 37 →
Judges 202 verses
- Judges 20:2The leaders of all the people and all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God’s people: 400,000 men on foot, armed with swords.
- Judges 20:15On that day the Benjamites mobilized 26,000 swordsmen from their cities, in addition to the 700 select men of Gibeah.
- Read Judges 20 →
Numbers 322 verses
- Numbers 32:35Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,
- Numbers 32:42And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages and called it Nobah, after his own name.
- Read Numbers 32 →
Joshua 102 verses
- Joshua 10:16Now the five kings had fled and hidden in the cave at Makkedah.
- Joshua 10:24When they had brought the kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had accompanied him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So the commanders came forward and put their feet on their necks.
- Read Joshua 10 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.