A wide, shallow ford of the Jordan at first light, reeds and tamarisks on the near bank, the dry hills of Gilead rising beyond with a faint track climbing east into them.

The Book of

Judges 8

Three hundred tired men crossed the Jordan after two kings. Then Israel offered Gideon a crown.

35 verses≈ 7 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–2Not finishedThe land left half-taken
3–5The cycleSin, oppression, a deliverer
6–10Gideon and afterA weak man, a strong GodChapter 8
11–16Jephthah and SamsonFlawed deliverers
17–21No king in IsraelEveryone did as he saw fit

Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna

The men of Ephraim

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.

Gideon

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? 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.

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Then Gideon and his three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it, exhausted yet still in pursuit.

exhausted yet still in pursuit

Judges 8:4

Gideon

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.”

The leaders of Succoth

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?”

Gideon

“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!”

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.

Gideon

So Gideon told the men of Penuel, “When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower!”

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.

And Gideon went up by way of the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and he attacked their army, taking them by surprise. When Zebah and Zalmunna fled, Gideon pursued and captured these two kings of Midian, routing their entire army.

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Across the Jordan

Gideon crossed the Jordan to Succoth, then went up to Penuel by the Jabbok, the Peniel where Jacob once wrestled. Both refused his men bread. He pressed on east by the caravan route past Nobah and Jogbehah to Karkor, out in the desert beyond this map, and caught the kings by surprise. Succoth and Penuel are probably Tell Deir Alla and Tell edh-Dhahab; the sites of Nobah and Karkor are not known.

After this, Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle along the Ascent of Heres. 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.

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?’” Then he took the elders of the city, and using the thorns and briers of the wilderness, he disciplined the men of Succoth. He also pulled down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

Gideon

Next, Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?”

Zebah and Zalmunna

“Men like you,” they answered, “each one resembling the son of a king.”

Gideon

“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.”

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.

Zebah and Zalmunna

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.

Question

Quick question

Gideon asked two towns east of the Jordan for help on the chase.

Why did Gideon say the men of Succoth and Penuel would be punished?

Gideon’s Ephod

The Israelites

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.”

Gideon

But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.”

I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.

Judges 8:23

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.)

But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

Reflect

A snare

Gideon told Israel, “The LORD shall rule over you.” Then he gathered their gold and made an ephod, and soon “all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there.” Nothing in the text says he meant it to go that way. Good things can quietly take God’s place. What in your life, even something good or religious, is drawing more of your trust and love than the LORD Himself? Write it down, and write what it would look like to give Him back the first place.

Forty Years of Peace

A small hill village of flat-roofed mud-brick houses among terraces at golden evening, a man winnowing grain on a threshing floor, sheep coming home and smoke rising from a roof.

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, and he—Jerubbaal son of Joash—returned home and settled down.

0:13

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives. His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

Gideon’s Death

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.

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.

The Israelites failed to remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. They did not show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good things he had done for Israel.

Pray

You shall rule over me

As soon as Gideon was dead, Israel “failed to remember the LORD their God who had delivered them.” Ask Him to keep you from forgetting. Lord, You alone are King. Gideon said, “The LORD shall rule over you”; rule over me, and over everything I love. Keep me from turning Your good gifts into snares. Help me to remember all You have done for me in Jesus, and give me grace to finish well. Amen.

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Judges 8

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A verse to carry with you

But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The LORD shall rule over you.”

Judges 8:23

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