Ministries
Resources
4And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing. 5So 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." 6And the officials of Succoth said, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?" 7So 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." 8And 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. 9And he said to the men of Penuel, "When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower."
10Now 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. 11And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, for the army felt secure. 12And 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.
13Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. 14And 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. 15And 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?'" 16And 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. 17And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
18Then 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." 19And 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." 20So 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. 21Then 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.
22Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian." 23Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you." 24And Gideon said to them, "Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil." (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 25And they answered, "We will willingly give them." And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. 26And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. 27And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. 28So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
29Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and lived in his own house. 30Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives. 31And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech. 32And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Gideon acts like a tyrant out of control when he instigates a horrendous crime against his own people. In the case of the Ephraimites his shrewd diplomacy avoided civil war. Now his anger gets the better of him, and Gideon looks more like an enemy of Israel. At the same time, God does no longer speak to Gideon, and the author never mentions the name of Yahweh, whereas chapter 7 frequently noted God's involvement in the events. God's name is on Gideon's lips, but the mention of his name has a hollow, hypocritical ring to it. God has left the building. Gideon and his 300 mercenaries are off on their private campaign, a notion that becomes even more explicit in Gideon's interaction with the captured kings.
Gideon's question to the kings is, "What kind of men were those whom you killed at Tabor?" (8:18). The question comes as a surprise, and the reader is left wondering what this might have to do with the story at hand. But not for long. Gideon himself answers the question: The victims of the Midianite foray he refers to were his own brothers! The fact that Gideon wants vengeance for his murdered brothers is somewhat understandable. But in this context it shows that he is not out to do God's business. If in the past he was ever driven by theological concerns, in the present adventure he is simply taking personal vengeance. This is not about God; it is all about Gideon. Even the invocation of the name of Yahweh ("As Yahweh lives") fails to impress, for this is not God's war anymore. Pious talk can be hollow.
But the portrait of the new Gideon takes a turn for the worse in 8:20. He asks his son, who is no more than a boy, to finish his dirty work. Perhaps Gideon saw a reflection of his former self in the frightened boy who rightly refuses to butcher the kings. Gideon's son Jether is the image of what Gideon used to be, and one cannot help but commend the boy for not yet having developed a taste for violence. So Gideon's attempt to mold his son into the kind of person he himself has become is frustrated.
As for the two Gentile kings, they too look somewhat better than Gideon in this scene. They are defiant to the end, but there is a slight touch of nobility in them. They rebuke Gideon, saying, "If you want us dead, you better come and do it yourself, rather than call upon a child to play the executioner." In particular, their words, "As a man is, so is his strength" (8:21), raises an important question. What sort of man is this Gideon now, and what, after all, is his strength? He has become a leader with a following, but he leads family and nation down a dangerous path. His strength is no longer in God. What does this leave him with? His strength turns out to be weakness, and it is evident in his call to the boy to finish his business. One can only surmise what this event did to the development of poor Jether.
What kind of example are we setting for the people whom God has given us to take care of? Do I want others to follow, and be like me? Or do I want others to see Christ in me? More importantly, what (or who) is my strength?
The author of these devotionals, the Rev. Martin Emmrich, is an ordained OPC minister (Westminster OPC, Corvallis, Oregon) as well as the author of Pneumatological Concepts in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book on the teaching of Hebrews on the Holy Spirit. We are happy to make these devotionals on Ecclesiastes and other passages of Scripture available to you.
© 2025 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
