Judges 08
8:1 The Ephraimites said to him, “Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us when you went to fight the Midianites!” They argued vehemently with him.
In the last chapter, 300 Israelite soldiers miraculously routed 135,000 Midianite soldiers. This great victory was all done by the sovereign will of God. However, not everyone in Israel was excited about their national victory over the Midianites.
The Ephraimites were the largest tribe in Israel. They were descendants from the favorite son of Joseph. They were overly proud of their Jewish heritage, their military power, and their population size. They were jealous of Gideon's victory. They were upset that they lost the spoils of war. They were upset that they were not included in the glory of the victory.
The Ephraimites could have volunteered for the battle, but they did not. They were more concerned with the material spoil and the glory of winning the battle than they were in serving God. They are typical of the modern peacocks in today's satanic world system. They are slow to volunteer, slow to act, quick to complain, and concerned only about their own personal greed.
The Ephraimites were angry about three things. First, they were not summoned in the original call. Second, they were not involved in the primary rout of the Midianites. Third, they were only called in as mop-up troops to cut off the escape of the Midianites. They felt as though they had been snubbed.
8:2 He said to them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Even Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest!
Gilead answered humbly and softly. The gentle message from Gideon was that the tribe of Ephraim was essential in the victory. The Tribe of Abiezer ignited the battle, but the Ephraimites brought in the biggest harvest of dead Midianite soldiers.
Gideon took the criticism of his enemies and turned it against them with kindness. Whenever one is doing the will of God, then he will be criticized by those of the satanic world system. Unbelievers and carnal Christians are the biggest critics of a man who is doing the will of God.
8:3 It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?” When he said this, they calmed down.
God turned the two Midianite generals over to the Ephraimites. This soft answer calmed Ephraim’s hot heads. This was an example of Proverbs 15:1, “a soft answer turns away wrath."
The irony of the Gideon account is that some were so fearful that they would rather not fight, while others were offended when they were not asked to fight. Ephraim was not-headed, self-centered, easily offended, and they estimated their own self worth. This type of Ephraimite pride will arise again in chapter 12.
Gideon Tracks Down the Midianite Kings
8:4 Now Gideon and his three hundred men had crossed over the Jordan River, and even though they were exhausted, they were still chasing the Midianites.
Gideon and his 300 men chased the Midianites over the Jordan River. Gideon’s army was experiencing fatigue from the battle.
8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Give some loaves of bread to the men who are following me, because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
The men of Succoth were from the tribe of Gad. The Hebrew meaning of Gad is "to cut" or "to invade". Gideon's men needed substance to continue their chase.
8:6 The officials of Succoth said, “You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your army?”
The leaders of Succoth were not living up to their name. They refused to help. If Gideon lost the battle, Succoth did not want the Midianites coming after them. The cohesiveness between the Cisjordanian (West Bank) and the Transjordanian tribes (East of the Jordan River) had now been eliminated. Each saw themselves as two different and distinct people.
Gideon was following the will of the Lord. He was doing the work of the Lord. When the men of Succoth refused to help Gideon, then they were working against God Himself. Because of fear, the men of Succoth were working under Satan and the demons of the satanic world system.
Fear is a very strong emotion. It is a powerful weapon of Satan. Satan and his demons will scare carnal Christians from serving the Lord.
Jesus said, "Do not fear those who can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul". Mature believers do not fear the world. They do not fear Satan or his demons.
Mature believers fear God. If their money is taken, then they know that God will take care of their needs. Unless a believer is called to wear the martyr's crown, then God has promised all believers food, clothing, and shelter. If believers are placed in prison, then the Holy Spirit will still be living inside of them. If believers are killed, then they will be absent from the body but present with the Lord.
The most honorable death is that of the Christian martyr. The Christian martyr will receive the martyr's crown. This crown is an eternal crown which will never erode away.
8:7 Gideon said, “Since you will not help, after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh your skin with desert thorns and briers.”
Gideon promised to return and thresh the leaders of Succoth. He would drag them to their death over thorns and briars.
8:8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request. The men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth had.
The men of Penuel also refused to help their fellow Israelites. The Midianite kings were in danger of escaping.
8:9 He also threatened the men of Penuel, warning, “When I return victoriously, I will tear down this tower.”
Penuel lived in a town with no walls. The tower was their stronghold in times of danger. Gideon threatened to take away their refuge.
8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies. There were about fifteen thousand survivors from the army of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand sword-wielding soldiers had been killed.
Zebah and Zalmunna were the two Midianite kings who were on the run. They escaped to Karkor, which was about 100 miles from the Dead Sea and close to their homeland. Gideon and his men chased these men a long way without provisions. The two kings started out with an army of 135,000, but only 15,000 Midianites remained. Gideon and the Ephraimites had wiped out over 80% of the Midianite army. Gideon and his men picked up all of the swords from the dead Midianites and used the Midianite's own weapons against them.
8:11 Gideon went up the road of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and ambushed the surprised army.
The Midianites thought that they were secure in their tents. They did not expect Israel to chase them all the way back to their homeland. This type of attack was a complete surprise.
The Midianites had violated the Abrahamic Covenant. They wanted to route the army of Israel, but it was Israel who routed them. The Midianites received the kind-for-kind judgement of the Abrahamic Covenant.
8:12 When Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, Gideon chased them and captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. He had surprised their entire army.
Gideon captured the two Midianite kings.
8:13 Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the pass of Heres.
Gideon began his journey home. He saved Israel from the Midianites.
8:14 He captured a young man from Succoth and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth’s officials and city leaders – seventy-seven men in all.
Gideon gained the names of the 77 leaders of Succoth.
8:15 He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me, saying, ‘You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’”
Gideon reminded the 77 leaders of Succoth of their taunting words.
8:16 He seized the leaders of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then “threshed” the men of Succoth with them.
Gideon threshed the 77 leaders to their death.
8:17 He also tore down the tower of Penuel and executed the city’s men.
Gideon also tore down the tower and executed the Jewish leaders of Penuel. Gideon did to the Jewish cities what the Jews should have done to the Canaanite cities.
8:18 He said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Describe for me the men you killed at Tabor.” They said, “They were like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.”
Not only did the Midianites plunder the Jewish cities, but they killed the citizens as well. Gideon asked the two kings for the description of the men that they killed in Zebah and Zalmunna.
8:19 He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. I swear, as surely as the Lord is alive, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”
Gideon must become the avenger of the blood.
8:20 He ordered Jether his firstborn son, “Come on! Kill them!” But Jether was too afraid to draw his sword, because he was still young.
Gideon offered the avenger of the blood opportunity to defend his firstborn son. This would add to the humiliation of the two kings, because they would be killed by an inexperienced youth. However, the son was not yet ready to perform an execution.
8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Come on, you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.” So Gideon killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.
The two kings were not afraid to die, but they did not want to experience a lingering death at the hand of an inexperienced soldier. Therefore, they asked Gideon to perform the execution. Gideon executed them himself and then plundered the crescent-shaped ornaments from the camels of the two kings.
Gideon Rejects a Crown but Makes an Ephod
8:22 The men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us – you, your son, and your grandson. For you have delivered us from Midian’s power.”
Israel saw the advantage of administering a central government to protect Israel from her enemies. Israel offered Gideon a dynasty of monarchy rule for his family. This offer was not the direct will of God at this time. The Mosaic Law allowed for a king, but the king was not to be Gideon or Saul. Jehovah's choice of king would be David. King David would become "a man after God's own heart".
This offer was a secular temptation to Gideon. Man is totally depraved and evil. He craves secular power from the satanic world system. Satan understands the weaknesses of men. He has used this temptation on many men from all time periods of history. For example, Adam failed when he was offered a similar temptation. Jesus was offered all of the kingdoms of the world without the cross, but he turned down this offer.
8:23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.”
Gideon rejected this monarchy, because Jehovah was the King of Israel. However, this was a statement of false humility. Gideon sounded righteous, but he had some selfish interior motives. He would later act and live like a king.
It is interesting to note that the Bible is not like other ancient secular history texts. The Bible does not over-glorify its heroes. The Bible, unlike secular history, also shows the sins, weaknesses, and failures of its leaders.
Gideon knew that it was not him who defeated the enemy. God was the power. Gideon was the instrument. The people should have thanked God and worshipped him for the victory that they had graciously received.
8:24 Gideon continued, “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.” (The Midianites had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)
The Midianites descended from Abraham and Keturah. The Ishmaelites were the Bedouins of the east. They descended from Ishmael, the first illegitimate son of Abraham and Hagar. When Ishmaelites gave an earring to Gideon, this was a symbolic gesture of submission. Gideon was accepting the trappings of royalty.
8:25 They said, “We are happy to give you earrings.” So they spread out a garment, and each one threw an earring from his plunder onto it.
This symbolic gesture made the people vassals umto Gideon. They would have to accept him as king and pay tribute to him.
8:26 The total weight of the gold earrings he requested came to seventeen hundred gold shekels. This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry, purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels.
This plunder was as large as many ancient kings' treasuries.
8:27 Gideon used all this to make an ephod, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.
The ephod was a jacket in which the High Priest wore on the Day of Atonement. Gideon made himself a jacket similar to that of the High Priest. He was symbolically making himself a High Priest of Israel.
Instead of worshiping at the location in which God chose, people now began to worship in Gideon’s hometown of Ophrah. Gideon undermined the theocracy of Israel. Israel began to prostitute herself by worshiping at a different location than God had chosen.
Gideon’s Story Ends
8:28 The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites’ fighting spirit was broken. The land had rest for forty years during Gideon’s time.
The Midianites never became a major force again. They violated the Abrahamic Covenant against their half-brother Israel, and they were reduced almost to extinction. Gideon remained a judge for over forty years. There was a time of peace and prosperity during his judgeship era.
8:29 Then Jerub-Baal son of Joash went home and settled down.
Jerub-Baal was the name that was given to Gideon by his father. He settled in his own house for the next forty years.
8:30 Gideon fathered seventy sons through his many wives.
Gideon took on the harem prerogatives of many pagan kings.
8:31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech.
Not only did Gideon possess multiple wives like many ancient kings, but he also added concubines. Abimelech would become a major player in the next chapter. Abimelech means “my father is king."
8:32 Gideon son of Joash died at a very old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash located in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Gideon went from poverty, to prosperity, to corruption. He rejected the monarchy, but lived like a king. He possessed multiple wives and concubines and named his son “my father is king."
Israel Returns to Baal-Worship
8:33 After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-Berith their god.
After Gideon died, Israel returned to Baal worship. Baal-Berith means “Baal of the Covenant." This name meant that Israel did not make their covenant with Jehovah, but instead, they made their covenant with Baal.
8:34 The Israelites did not remain true to the Lord their God, who had delivered them from all the enemies who lived around them.
Israel entered into syncretism, meaning that they mixed the worship of Jehovah with the worship of Baal.
8:35 They did not treat the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel.
The nation of Israel had lost respect for the Gideon family line.